ESP engaged during straight away hill climb while towing?

1690 Views 9 Replies 5 Participants Last post by NE Wrangling, May 30, 2008

NE Wrangling

Discussion Starter · May 30, 2008

Ok I'm towing a 3500lb tent trailer behind me and I'm climbing a hill on a rough backroad. Jeep seemed to be struggling going up the hill and I noticed the ESP kept kicking in. Adventually the esp/bas light stays on and the esp skid signal. I had to turn off the jeep and turn on 2 times and finally the lights went away.

I cannot find anything that could of caused it. At the campsite I had allot of my tools with me and so I made sure the front toe in was aligned and the wheel looks centered. Any ideas what could of triggered this? May I state that once it started it took my jeep from a tough climb to an aggrivating crawl as the esp was kicking in all the way up the 1/2 mile hill.

is there a senor that could of failed on this?

Spec's of my jeep...

2.5" TF bb, 4.10 gears Unlimited 4dr x, 33" xterrain tires and manual transmission.

As you can see this is already tough until I get the 4.88 gears with max tow weight. So you can understand my frustration.

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tgrt

· #2 · May 30, 2008

Pardon the pun, but that ESP BAS system seems a little skiddish. I had it come on offroad last fall and didn't think about it. A few miles later it went away. Then after my suspension lift I was going down a dirt road after offroading and it popped on (with no ill effects). This time it stayed on. I recentered the steering wheel, because it seemed a little off but the lights remained. So, I returned the programming to stock with the Hypertech Max Energy and the problem was gone. After that I reprogrammed it and I haven't seen the problem again.

I don't know if the problem will be back or if the steering wheel just needed to be centered and the computer reset.

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JR

· #3 · May 30, 2008

In my experience I have grown to despise this ESP system that they're using in the JK.

It has given me nothing but headaches in the last 4 JK's we've had in here. ESP sucks.

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NE Wrangling

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 30, 2008

Almost ripped the fuse out of the jeep but wanted the ABS to still work since I was towing.

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John L

· #5 · May 30, 2008

Even after a new computer mine randomly goes on and off (the indicators that is, not the actual mechanical system). After a few key cycles it goes away. Still killing me around highway ramps, though

issed:

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NE Wrangling

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 30, 2008

The ramp issue I found to be the centering of the wheel as that happended to me once before. As soon as I dialed the steering wheel in it never happened again. I think it;s crazy on a straight away for it to go off... weight must of triggered it.

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· #7 · May 30, 2008

When it went off, were you in 4Hi, 4Lo, 2WD? Were you experiencing any wheelspin at the time? Were you perhaps in a rut or off camber such that your wheel was turned away from your direction of travel to compensate? I think any of these might trigger the ESP system and it would be legitimate. If you're travelling offroad and not in 4lo, it's probably best to just shut the system off.

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WTF_LOL

· #8 · May 30, 2008 (Edited)

Well, one of the aspects of the ESP is it will reduce engine power as well as pulsating the brakes so that is certainly the reason you had little power going up.

The reason the ESP errored out I bet had to due with going up the hil but not exactly straight. What I mean is, possibly the weight of the trailer was enough causing you to turn the wheel slightly to go straight.

The reason I say that is I have had a (kinda) similar situation. I pulled a trailer from Washington to Colorado. This drive just happened to be during a blizzard,lol. The roads where slick and there was a 50 mph crosswind most of the drive. When the wind was really blowing, I would have to turn the wheel slightly against the wind to keep going straight. The ESP never pulsated the brakes but after a few miles the ESP system errored out and the dashlights lit up. I also cycled the key till the system reset but after a few miles it errored out again. for what it is worth, I have noticed when it does error out and all the lights are on the system appears to be fully disengaged. Another time, I bent my Draglink and my wheel was really off center and it made the system error out as well. I belive the ESP system has some sort of paramiters that will shut the ESP sytem down when exceded, for example, if it is getting a signal to activate for over a defined length of time.

Was the road a dirt road when this happened?

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tgrt

· #9 · May 30, 2008

Interesting thought. It definitely is a possibility in my situation, because I was going kind of fast on a loose dirt road that had some washboard and some washout areas. I wanted to test out how the new suspension felt. I'm sure that in some cases I was compensating by turning into an anticipated slide. It was probably too much data for the computer.

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NE Wrangling

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 30, 2008

paved road, what was left of it due to all the frost heaves.

Also 2wd.

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