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At the end of my patience

6K views 39 replies 13 participants last post by  Blackbetty78 
#1 ·
Hoping someone can help me no one seems to have any idea what's going on. About a year ago my traction control light started coming on intermittently and then one day my cruise stopped working. When they scan it the scanner shows its a brake switch fault but the brake lights work fine and they have replaced the switch 3 times now. We have tried replacing the buttons on the wheel and put new abs/wheel sensors in it and still have the same issue no cruise and traction control light comes on when it's wet out. The traction control works fine even when the lights on when Its wet outside. When I turn the cruise control on the light illuminates on the dash and when I press set it lights up for a second but doesn't set and the cruise doesn't work. Hopefully someone will have an idea.
 
#6 ·
Did you replace the brake light switch with a genuine Kia part? In the past, there was a lot of problems with the brake light switch in Hyundai and Kias of that era. They eventually had a recall and replaced it with an updated switch and that took care of the issues I used to have on my old Elantra and Soul.

Edit—- oh I just saw your post that you had a Kia replace the switch before. Hmm 🤔
 
#9 ·
In order for us to be able to help you it would really help if you posted the model year and which engine is in your car. There are some differences between the models. It would really help if you know the actual code, perhaps it is on some of the paperwork from the shops you have been to although I doubt their competence as they replaced the same part 3 times and a brake light switch is super easy to test as it only has 2 sets of contacts one that is normally open and one that is normally closed. It is important to know the code as a brake switch code can be in 3 different modules ABS, ECM and TCU and they all need to see it's position correctly so if the code is in one module or all of them makes a difference. I hope you aren't being charged for someone throwing cruise switches etc..that do not fix your problem at this car because they have no clue how to diagnose it. Give us all the info you can and we will see if we can point you in the right direction.
 
#11 ·
It is absurd to me that someone would replace the switch 3 times and have the same problem. Please find a competent mechanic and have them perform some simple tests, this will take less than 30 minutes for a competent mechanic and prevent them from replacing parts that are absolutely unnecessary and do not fix the car. The stop lamps switch has 4 wires to it, there should be power at the white and red wires at all times. The other 2 wires the blue one should have power when the brake pedal is up and no power when you press the brakes, the red wire with orange tracer should have no power with pedal up and power when the brake is pressed. If that checks out you move on to the abs module, pin 9 is the blue wire from the brake switch and pin 23 is the red with orange tracer, you should have the same results at those pins. Check for this with an incandescent test light not a power probe. If those all check out the problem is internal to the ABS module but they have to be certain they have good power not just voltage and that's why you can't use a power probe or multi meter but a test light with a bulb that draws power. Before they even try all this it would be a good idea to pull up the data from the ABS module and see if it is seeing the input from the brake switch. Your problem is going to be in the wiring or the abs module itself although they very rarely fail so I would guess it is in the wiring and if the problem is intermittent it will be a little more difficult to find.
 
#12 ·
Could it have anything to do with the clutch because this problem with the cruise didn't start happening until after kia replaced the slave cylinder. Wen I mentioned it to the dealer they said no it has to do with the brake code and the traction control light coming in intermittently.
 
#27 ·
Betty have they ruled out a faulty abs wheel speed sensor? It can cause traction control, brake & cruise control to behave erratic.
 
#31 ·
I know this sounds like a broken record, but you really, really need to bring it to another mechanic. Not necessarily another dealer, but another competent mechanic. As bwdz75 mentioned, it just seems like people are throwing parts at your car, and doing nothing as far as actual diagnostic work. Please, do not let anyone else replace a part that has already been replaced and done nothing.
 
#32 ·
This is an unfortunate story, one I see too often, someone takes their car to a "mechanic" but it is really just a barely competent parts replacer and the vehicle owner ends up out lots of money and frustration. Vehicle speed sensors and nearly every aspect of a car can be tested and determine whether it is working properly or causing issues and there is absolutely no reason you should have been charged for any of the things they replaced that have nothing to do with the issue you brought it in for. I have a car in the shop that has been to several shops and still isn't fixed despite 1000s spent on unnecessary parts. It supposedly randomly stalls or doesn't start on the first try. I have been driving and running the car in the shop at different intervals for 2 days without issue. Yesterday it actually stalled once while idling while I was away from it but I was recording data on the sensors, still nothing was odd when it stalled. This morning it started and ran perfect for an hour. I had some time as I was waiting for a part for another car so I was going to drive it again, I stopped the car and when I went to restart it the car cranked but did not fire up for about 5 seconds. I finally saw a glitch in the crank position signal and then it ran perfect again. The car does not throw any codes for anything. I hooked up an oscilloscope and could see the signal get weaker after the car warms up. I recommended to replace the CPS (just waiting on customer to call back) The moral of the story is that codes or no codes doesn't mean much if you don't know how to be a mechanic, meaning be persistent and find the real source of your issue through testing. I hope that you find a mechanic that actually knows what they are doing and get this fixed once and for all.
 
#35 ·
I think take it to bwdz75 and put your money where his mouth typing fingers are. :D

I would but it's way too far.
Not sure where the poster is from but I am in Michigan and I assure you I would find the problem and would not replace parts that aren't broken, may take some time if it's intermittent but it can be found. Would not be the first time a car tested our patience but they leave repaired or the customer can take it at no charge as no parts would be replaced unless they are confirmed to cause the issue.
 
#39 ·
I did see the Canadian flag by your screen name but wasn't sure where in Canada you are as I am in Detroit area so I can cross the bridge to Canada in a half hour if the border was open for non essential travel that is (it will be soon as I hear)
One thing you can mention to the dealer, don't tell them where you heard this from, but Kia dealers have a device called a flight recorder. It plugs into your obd port and it will record sensor data as a tech drives the car around. It can have a trigger set to record data and when the check engine or an abs light comes on it will automatically save data for up to 30 minutes before it was triggered. Sometimes going back over the sensor and input data leading up to the light and seeing what the module saw provides the necessary clues to what is going on. This may not be necessary in your case as often times the type of problem you are experiencing is caused by a wiring issue but for that Kia dealers have the "wiggle test" on their tablet as well. It allows you to monitor sensor data while you wiggle harnesses and it will literally beep at you while you are under the dash or the like when an input exceeds a parameter you have set so that you know you are in the problem area. Kia gives your dealer all the tools and information that they need to properly diagnose this so I am sure they will be able to find it for you.
 
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