Had the alternator replaced 1.5 months ago - not charging. Been
fine since then till last week. Noticed that the radiator cooling
fan would sometimes run for a long time after engine was shut down.
This was so, even though car was not driven very far. 5 days ago
when I started the car, all of the warning/fault lights (which come
on momentarily when you start the car) did not go out. The car
drove normally and the lights went out normally the next time the
car was started. The check engine light then came on. Mechanic
checked for stored codes buth there were’nt any! Car ran normally
since then till today.
Today, the car was dificult to start and all of the warning/fault
lights remain on continuously. My mechanic checked for codes, again
none, but also checked the battery and found it not holding a full
charge. The alternator output is normal.
Our mechanic replaced the battery and the problem went away…for
24 hours, then returned! This time when he checked for codes we got
a single code: P1638. Have been following the diagnostic tree for
this code with no luck yet.
Has anyone had any experience with code P1638? If so, please help.
Any and all suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
In reply to a message from gmalyk sent Sun 17 Jul 2011:
I’ve no personal experience with this problem, but the code
indicates a ‘CAN ECM/INST network malfunction’.
Causes listed for this are:
1.CAN open circuit fault � INST to ECM
2.CAN short circuit fault
3.INST failure
4.ECM failure
The ECM is the Engine Control Module and the INST is the Instrument
Cluster
The CAN, one Yellow wire and one Green wire, connects to the ECM
through Pins EN16-123 and 124 and to the Instrument Cluster through
Pins IP10-16 and 17.
I would suggest that you need someone competent in this aspect of
diagnostics to investigate this in any depth, but a new instrument
cluster is a likely culprit from this distance!–
The original message included these comments:
a single code: P1638. Have been following the diagnostic tree for
this code with no luck yet.
Has anyone had any experience with code P1638? If so, please help.
Any and all suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
Hi
I had a problem with my Speedo and gauges stop working except for the fuel and all dash lights coming on also issues with alarm and the engine not turning over. Eventually found water coming in somewhere on the top of the wing running down one of the wiring looms to the nearside footwell about 200mm below the inner fuse box but on the left behind the panel on the inside of the wing 100mm up from the floor where there are about 6 multiplugs connecting the wiring looms together were getting wet and the connections were green especially the CAN circuit plug.
All sorted now apart from the water leak waiting for the better weather to sort it out.