Ford endeavour (aka ranger) power steering electrical issues

[SureshR]

My 2018 ford endeavour (basically a ranger but with a suv body) run around 72k miles / 115k kilometers suddenly threw a bunch of error codes related to park pilot, hill hold and esc, had the yellow esc warning light come on and the steering locked up, or rather became like an old fashioned non power or hydraulic assisted steering mid drive.

Changing the battery seems to have improved things in that the error pops up randomly but clears itself if I switch the car on and off. It is due a couple of new lower arms due to worn ball joints + cut / damaged ball joint boots. These are on order and should reach a ford dealer in my home city sometime later this week. This happened on a highway so that I had to get the car loaded on a flatbed and taken to a Ford dealer in another city about 150 miles from where I live

As far as I can see from the u3000 and other dtcs listed in the picture below (a snippet from the Ford job card), it seems related to the power steering motor but every link I can find seems to point to older fords not 2018 ones.

Suggestions welcome on how to go past this. The Ford guy is all for replacing the sensors in question without doing too much trouble shooting on what the root cause is.

 

[f355spider]

I think you would be much better off on a Ford Ranger forum and discussing with other owners. I am sure you will find others with a similar experience that can give you good direction to what your next steps are.

 

[SureshR]

I think you would be much better off on a Ford Ranger forum and discussing with other owners. I am sure you will find others with a similar experience that can give you good direction to what your next steps are.

Asked on an endeavour forum, no luck so far

 

[f355spider]

Certainly worth a try here, but I think it may be a long shot.

 

[Kira]

A Ranger site here has a "2019+" forum. If your 2018 Endeavor is a Ranger-based vehicle released the year prior, you might be in luck.
Do people refer to your Endeavor as built on the "Australian designed" Ranger?

Did you write the codes down? ...or were they erased by someone? Do you have a code reader?
Congrats to you if you can read those chicken scratches on that paper.....downright insulting.

Go to: www.ranger-forums.com and see the fora selection.

What engine is in your Endeavor?

 

[SureshR]

A Ranger site here has a "2019+" forum. If your 2018 Endeavor is a Ranger-based vehicle released the year prior, you might be in luck.
Do people refer to your Endeavor as built on the "Australian designed" Ranger?

Go to: www.ranger-forums.com and see the fora selection.

What engine is in your Endeavor?

The endeavour is what gets called a ford Everest in Australia. This is the 3.2 duratorq L5 diesel. I’ll check the ranger forums, thanks! (Edit - searching for the error codes there turned up zip zilch nada)

 

[Kira]

No diesels in No. America so I doubt you'll get any satisfaction. Definitely seek an Australian site.
Best of luck.

 

[SureshR]

No diesels in No. America so I doubt you'll get any satisfaction. Definitely seek an Australian site.
Best of luck.

Yeah but these power steering components are near universal across a bunch of fords - transit onwards.

The codes were written by the service advisor at the dealer - and yeah my doctor would puke at that handwriting

From what I can make out from the guy’s handwriting, the dtcs are u0420 (invalid data from power steering control module A), u2011 (power steering control motor), u3000:49 (power steering module internal electronic failure), cib00 (steering angle sensor)

 

[Kira]

If you're the affable type, ask at a dealership parts department if the steering angle sensor is a common failure point.
Don't just throw parts at it as that's expensive.

Codes are "double edged". Codes which are not generated can be as informative as those which are.
The u2011 can be secondary to...caused by a bad sensor...or come from somewhere else.
The u0420 can be secondary as well.
For all you know (meaning you don't know) the u3000 code could simply mean, "something's wrong".

Also, in the modern world of CAN, the 'park pilot' and 'hill hold' parts could generate spurious codes which seem to migrate about.
A known good battery is a good place to start.

I know zero about this stuff, but I do know experience with troubleshooting is irreplaceable.

Your worn control arms could be loose enough to create errant readings.
Wouldn't it be ironic if replacing the worn arms / ball joints (common maintenance items) cleared some things up.
Maybe replace your known worn parts first and see what that improves?

I bet those 150 mile tows add up. Best of luck. Are you near Mumbai? (just curious)

 

[Creekside]

I have no idea on troubleshooting these systems, never dealt with electric power steering. However I think I would follow whatever diagnostic info is related to U0420 first. It looks like a communication issue. Surely Ford has a trouble tree or something to serve as guidelines for each code.

In school we were taught to look at all codes present and try to decide if one or two stand out among the rest. IE: you have 15 codes related to sensor faults or improper values but one code for low ECM voltage... you follow and correct the low voltage code first and then re-verify the others.

This doesn't work for every fault all the time but has worked for me the majority of the time in my career.

 

[SureshR]

If you're the affable type, ask at a dealership parts department if the steering angle sensor is a common failure point.
Don't just throw parts at it as that's expensive.

Maybe replace your known worn parts first and see what that improves?

I bet those 150 mile tows add up. Best of luck. Are you near Mumbai? (just curious)

Yeah thanks -

1. Yes common error for the steering angle sensor

2. The vehicle wasn’t towed anywhere it was loaded onto a flatbed truck through Ford roadside assistance

3. There’s a new calibration for the abs module that’s being installed, the power steering module doesn’t have any updates

4. I’m having the control arms delivered later this week or so, and the battery is the first thing I suspected and so has been replaced by a brand new one.

Thanks!

 

[SureshR]

Update - so Ford updated the abs module and it was fine over a ten kilometer test drive with no errors. Fine, I figured it’d hold till I got back to my city and drove off.

About a third of the drive or so done and hello abs error my old friend. Driving the next 250 km back wrestling with the steering was a good upper arm work out I guess.

I’ll take it in to a local Ford dealer for more detailed troubleshooting.

 

[SureshR]

There’s also a U0415-68 (abs module again but related to the park pilot) that turned up when I scanned using another scan tool and forscan which is a ford specific third party scanner. The usual culprits are a bad wheel speed sensor (or broken / rubbed through wiring to them), or a wiring harness break somewhere. Rarely, an actual module failure.

 

[wtd]

It's highly that all of those things broke at once so I bet that one problem is causing all of the codes. I would start with diagnosing the most obvious fault first or the easiest component to get to. You really need to have service data so you know how these systems work and what causes the code to set. Look at a wiring diagram to see what they all share in common.

 

[SureshR]

The main culprit I can think of is an abs sensor fitted to one of the wheels - just in the right sort of place for a connecting wire to fray or get damaged by moisture and cause all of this. Every service center is maxed out with cars and staff on holiday so the car’s parked till after the new year. That said, happy new year all of y’all

(I can say that, I’m from the Deep South .. of India)