Nissan NP300 D22 2010 unsolvable ABS problem

Good evening everybody,

my name is Dean and I hope you guys can help me with this "new" car my dad bought a few months ago. It's 2010 Nissan NP300 D22 with the 2.5 YD25 diesel engine, ABS unit 47660-VL30A, front sensors 47910-VL30A ad 47911-VL30A, rear sensors should be 47901-VL30A and 47900-VL30A.

He got it with the ABS warning light already on but we are having trouble finding the reason for this. The ABS warning lamp turns on with the ignition, it just won't turn off again. Actually, maybe 2 out of 100 times it went off but came back on after driving faster than 30km/h for a few meters. So basically, the ABS light is always on and here's what we already did to find out why:

We already tried to read the errors via the OBD2 connector, but neither a Hella Gutmann, nor two other pretty expensive devices were able to connect to the car/read any errors. One device eventually read the errors C1104, C1105 and C1106 or something like that. They occurred randomly though; like one day it was C1105 and C1106, next day one was gone and another came without us changing anything.

- Checked tires for unnormal wear or pressure - ok
- Checked wheel bearings and replaced rear right one (that was done by a long time Nissan guy) - ok
- Checked ABS sensor rings for dirt, oil or deformation - ok
- Checked ABS sesors for dirt, loose bolts or anything abnormal - ok
- Checked and measured harness from all sensors to the ABS unit - rear harness had a high resistance and the connectors were rusty - replaced the complete rear harness
- Checked ABS sensor signals with oscilloscope - ok
- Front sensors seem to be 'active sensors' and create a clean rectangle signal (don't ask me any numbers, device has no freeze frame feature but the 'curve' was pretty clean and the valures on both sides were similar
- Rear sensors should be 'passive sensors' and create a rather clean sinus curve on both sides - the resistance of both sensors is nearly identical with something around 1,6kOhm
- ABS unit was removed and checked by a professional 'ABS guy' who does nothing else but check ECUs, ABS units and so on - nothing abnormal was detected, also no error codes (!?)
- Whole brake system has been overhauled including lines, fluid and many other stuff - the whole system was bled, brake pressure and brake force have been tested and are ok

Normally we would also do:
- Replace ABS sensor(s) to see if it changes anything BUT: Spare parts seem to be super expensive if available at all and stuff we ordered via typical deales (local and internet) usually turns out to be for the newer D23 or D40 models although ordered via VIN. Nissan wants ~900€ for two rear sensors which aren't even available - so that ain't an option either
- Try to chance left and right or front and rear sensor to see if the error 'travels' with the sensors/code changes BUT: Nobody around here seems to be able to read the error codes correctly. I asked Nissan for an appointment but they didn't want to deal with a rare model like that..also they told me that they'd do the exact same things we already did and then just buy new sensor to try to fix it

What's weird:
- The signal of every ABS sensor can be received at the respective pins of each sensors in the plug of the ABS unit (pin numbers don't match with neither of the maintenance/repair manuals I have though) BUT: The signal of the rear left sensor disappears as soon as the ignition is turned on. I usually get something like 7mV~ as a starting signal which rises as the wheel is being spinned. With the ignition on though, I get a constant value like +-3mV~. If that was the case with the other sensor as well I wouldn't care, but this seems abnormal to me. If I'm not mistakin I even get the 12V= battery voltage on those respective pins but I could be mixing things up here (it's been to long since I checked).
- Various manual and the forum describe different ways of either deleting or reading the error codes via bridging certain pins of the OBD2 socket - neither technique seems to work for this vehicle. The OBD2 has only like for or so pins that are actually connected to something, therefore some of the pins I am supposed to ground check or connect to others (depending on what you wanna do) just 'don't exist'
- Why was there no error code in the ABS unit detected by the ABS repair service although the part was removed when the light was constantly on ? Does the error get lost after a while without voltage on the ABS unit ? They said no, if there's an error it should be there or there is no error and the warning lamp is 'broken'

This leaves me asking you guys a few questions..well only one big question actually: What the..nissan..is wrong with this car ?
Did we make any mistakes in our ways of repairing and thinking ?
Are the things I stated as 'weird' normal ?
Is there something we overlooked or can check before spending hundres of euros for stuff that might not even be broken ?
Can this car even be read with anything else but a Nissan Consult device ?

Well it's late and I'm afraid I can't add anything else to the issue right now but maybe anyone has an idea of how to fix the problem.
Thank you very much in advance and have a good night or day.

Best regards,
Dean

Welcome to the forum.

Out here in Australia where we usually get things a bit slower than the rest of the world the 2010 D22 didn't have any "NP300" logo on it, the NP300 only came about in about 2015, maybe 2016.

The 2010 D22 (here) used a Nissan-specific OBD language.

Your problem-solving methods seem fine to me, usually the ABS light comes on when one wheel is not rotating the same as the others (and most often this is due to debris in the ABS ring). How's the tyre sizes on all 4 wheels? Are they all in good condition? 3 brand new tyres and one almost-bald might give similar results.

If the signals from all of the sensors are good, and the tyres are all close in size but you're still getting errors, there are a couple more things to try.

1) Fuses. ABS system should have a fuse in the engine bay in one of the distribution boxes. Because I don't know the exact layout of your car, I can't direct you precisely to the location but in my D40, there's a box near the ABS unit that contains its fuse.

2) Power reset. The easiest way to do this is to remove the battery but you'll need the radio PIN and the tripmeter details if you use those for measuring fuel usage.

Try checking those things and see what happens.

Hi,



thanks for the fast reply and additional information about the OBD and availability of the NP300. So there's no way to communicate with the vehicle without any Nissan software?



The tires are actually not original size but all the same age, ca. diameter (hard to measure) and wear index.



I checked the fuses right away but they're all good. I tried disconnecting the battery for a while, even a few days but nothing changes.



I'm still confused by the behavior of the ABS signals though. Seems weird that one disappears as soon as the ignition is turned on.



Best regards

Dean

That really does point to an electrical problem. Okay, there's another possibility, I've been trotting this one out a fair bit lately but then I suppose with the cars getting older, more and more are going to have debris or oxidisation in the electrical connections, so this might be worth a try.

For whatever reason, Nissan chose to use a common earth for both the stereo and the instrument cluster. We discovered this particular problem some years ago, I think when someone's system was getting a good earth through the car radio antenna and that was removed for some reason - and suddenly things got really weird. A new earth from the stereo case to one of the dash mounting bolts fixed it.

The other possibility for you is the other earth points. I'm not 100% on the D22's points, but on the D40 there are a couple of important ones in the engine bay - one near the ECU, another under the air filter. One of the connections under the air filter is to the ABS unit on terminals 16 and 47 of the ABS control plug. If yours is similar you could check these out.

just looking through the manual there seams to be a couple different control modules, a euro version and a non-euro version. also a 3 wheels sensor version and 4 sensor version. i wonder if someone fitted the wrong part at some point. euro version has g sensor. i do not see any mention of codes in the book.
it seams to be a simplistic abs system.

the other thing is check if its actually working. are you sure its not a dash issue ie light problem.

my other thought is to check the rings that they are the same, ie one might have been replaced.

found codes, try this.

SELF-DIAGNOSIS PROCEDURE
Drive vehicle over 30 km/h (19 MPH) for
at least one minute.
Turn ignition switch “OFF”.
Ground terminal “4” of “Data link connector
for CONSULT” with a suitable harness.
Turn ignition switch “ON” while grounding
terminal “4”.
Do not depress brake pedal.
After 3.0 seconds, the warning lamp
starts flashing to indicate the malfunction
code No. (See NOTE.)
Verify the location of the malfunction with
the malfunction code chart. Refer to
BR-53. Then make the necessary repairs
following the diagnostic procedures.
After the malfunctions are repaired, erase
the malfunction codes stored in the control
unit. Refer to BR-52.
Rerun the self-diagnostic results mode to
verify that the malfunction codes have
been erased.
Disconnect the check terminal from the
ground. The self-diagnostic results mode
is now complete.
N

Code No.
(No. of warning lamp flashes)
Malfunctioning part Diagnostic procedure
45 Actuator front left outlet solenoid valve 2
46 Actuator front left inlet solenoid valve 2
41 Actuator front right outlet solenoid valve 2
42 Actuator front right inlet solenoid valve 2
55 Actuator rear outlet solenoid valve 2
56 Actuator rear inlet solenoid valve 2
25 H3 Front left sensor (open-circuit) 1
26 H3 Front left sensor (short-circuit) 1
21 H3 Front right sensor (open-circuit) 1
22 H3 Front right sensor (short-circuit) 1
35 H1, H3 Rear sensor (open-circuit) 1
36 H1, H3 Rear sensor (short-circuit) 1
31 H2, H3 Rear right sensor (open-circuit) 1
32 H2, H3 Rear right sensor (short-circuit) 1
35 H2, H3 Rear left sensor (open-circuit) 1
36 H2, H3 Rear left sensor (short-circuit) 1
18 H3 Sensor rotor 1
17 H2 G sensor and circuit 5
61 H5 Actuator motor or motor relay 3
63 Solenoid valve relay 2
57 H4 Power supply (Low voltage) 4
71 Control unit 6

Thank you guys for the support so far. I am happy to announce that the problem has been solved.

Here's how:
Since getting the error codes 'manually' via ground checking didn't work at all, we had to look for a OBD scanner again.
We finally found a working OBD tester/reader by randomly buying what the internet had to offer, ending up with a handheld device called 'Thinkscan SD' which is actually able to connect to the D22.

The model is not listed but communication still works fine chosing the Nissan Navara D40 from 2007. We then we're able to live-read the signals from the ABS sensors and.. surprisingly no signals from the rear came through.

That's when I started to question if the mounted rear sensors are even the original, even though they worked and fitted perfectly (but you never know). After multiple calls and back and forth with local Nissan dealers I got confirmation of something that had been bugging me from the start regarding the OE part number: I found rear sensors on partsouq (a Saudi-Arabian dealer) for the D22 that looked different from the ones in our vehicle.

Turns out: The Nissan OE number and the one on those you could by over in Saudi-Arabia match. Since Nissan charges 600-800€ for EACH sensor, I took the risk of not being able to return the sensors and bought them online for ca. 380€ (not my style, but the price difference was too high and even the Nissan guy said, they're overpriced and he hasn't seen as expensive sensors in his entire career).

So..we got the alternate sensors which are also active sensors and as soon as I plugged them in and tested them with a screwdriver, the OBD scanner showed a km/h signal for the regarding sensor!

Now it's obvious why the old sensors were 'okay' couldn't work..but who would've thought that some idiot put in two wrong sensors!?

Anyways, I took the car for a test drive after deleting the error and the light stays off and the ABS works properly.

I hope this helps someone and you guys have a nice weekend.

Best regards,
Dean

P.S. I don't have anything to do with partsouq or Thinkscan, I am just a customer who didn't get paid for anything I wrote (seems, you have to clarify that nowadays)

Awesome result, who would have thought someone would put two bad sensors in ... it just shows that it's not always the "usual things" that go wrong.

Thanks for getting back and giving us the result.

i'm thinking someone has replaced the rear end (or ecu) from a different version. the book mentions a couple different version of ABS (eg EU models are different). eg a non-EU D22 and rear end (or ecu) from an EU model.