I am getting a "ESP unavailable Please see operator's manual" message that comes and goes every 10 minutes of driving. While it does not affect drivability it is very annoying. After researching it it appears that the only way to know what's wrong is to hook it up to a star machine.

About a week before I flipped down the rear seat for the first time to haul some bulky cargo. I read somewhere that there is a sensor that affects ESP under the rear seat. Does anyone know where this is and if it is easy to check? I'm hoping it is a couple loose wires.

This problem also started happening after I left the car for 3 days at an airport valet parking place. I suspect it was moved around a lot so maybe I have a weak battery?

 

The yaw sensor etc are mounted in front of the spare wheel in the trunk. Check all modules are plugged in properly.

Check ABS wheel sensors. Check ESP plug for corrosion. ESP module is mounted on the front of the ABS block under the hood.

Turn steering from lock to lock 5 times to reset SAS ~ (steering angle sensor)

 

I finally got around to checking this.

Unfortunately all connections looked good, and jiggling the wires around didn't help. Looks like I'll have to hook it up to a start machine to see what's going on.

Thanks again for your help.

 

Hi did you resolve this issue. If yes ehat was the problem?

 

Hi,

I recently had the same issue pop up and Glyn M Ruck's post helped me solve the problem (I think!) and it didn't cost me a cent. so thanks!

Let me trace back my whole issue, and if yours is similar, this may help. I suddenly started getting the ESP Malfunction visit workshop and ABS malfunction visit workshop notices a couple of days ago. as well as the "ESP unavailable please see operator's manual" notice every time i started the car.

Luckily for me i can trace exactly when this started, so it was fairly easy to fix once this thread pointed me in the right direction. For me it happened IMMEDIATELY after exiting a new automated car wash i'd never visited before. The second i put the car in drive and rolled out of the car wash i got the 2 errors. Initially i thought maybe those high power jets had damaged a sensor in the wheels or something. but the l;ights went off after driving a few miles (it was a hot sunny day. there's a hint)

Well it was rainy and damp here yesterday and all of the sudden the ESP and ABS warnings came right back on and stayed. after reading this thread and noticing the post about the yaw sensor in the trunk, i decided to have a look.

as soon as i opened the trunk i could tell something was up! there is apparently a bad rubber seal aroudn the trunk and it was letting water (a lot of it) leak in! the wheel well for the spare and the carpet had a lot of moisture.

as soon as i pulled the rug over the spare and located the yaw sensor i could see it was SOAKED. the little blue terminal block to the right of the yaw sensor was soaked and since it's got a little plastic lip around it it was basically holding water in there! I soaked it up with a paper towel, gave it a squirt or two of canned air to blow out the moisture and then a quick spray of WD-40.

I also left the trunk open for a while in the sunshine while i worked on some other stuff up front (air filters, etc) to give it a chance to air out.

When i started the car, the ESP unavailable was still showing up on the dash, but i did the 'reset steering' thing, turning the steering hard left then hard right a couple of times. then i drove off, as soon as the car hit about 15 mph or so, it looks like the sensors all got the right data. the ESP and ABS warnings both disappeared and after about 100miles or so of driving, street and highway, so far so good!

I guess this means i definitely have to replace the rubber seals in the trunk to make sure no more moisture gets in, i'll be keeping an eye on that. but at least i was able to fix it without spending any money! whew.

Sorry this post was so long! I didn't want to leave anything out in case someone has the same problem and wants to give it a try. If your ESP ABS issues seem to be more pronounced in wet weather, this is definitely something to check!

Thanks again Glyn M Ruck! without that pic of the yaw sensor you posted i might very well have wasted days digging around the rest of the car looking for the problem!