Sensor fault, or mechanical fault? ABS, ESC and tyre pressure warnings.

Mar 31, 2025
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Hi folks, I'n new here but have Skoda forum experience, so I'm hoping I don't make too many newbie errors!

I've had a search of past threads, and found some useful snippets but posting this all together in case anyone has a similar experience.

We bought an Ibiza 1.4 2010 (petrol) at new year, we shows intermittent warning lights, always together: ABS, ESC and tyre pressure.

The pressure is always fine when checked, and the lights will go out after anything between one short journey, and a couple of days. There's no difference in the way the car brakes or handles whether lights are on or off.

In another thread, someone said that these lights are served by the same wheel sensor, so I'd usually feel confident that this is a dodgy sensor problem, rather than a brake / control problem BUT we also have other things going on:

- there's a gentle(ish) pulsing on lower speed normal braking, eg approaching lights or a junction, that's much too slow and gentle to be over-enthusiastic AND kicking in. So I'm thinking warped disc or debris caught somewhere?

- after a few days stationary, the brakes are reluctant to let go when setting off. we live on a steep hill, so we can usually let gravity start us off, but need to use throttle to get moving. This isn't due to over doing the handbrake - it doesn't hold well even with the handle pointing at the roof (that's also on the list to sort out), so we park sensibly, leave in gear, and don't over-tighten.

The car hadn't been driven much for several weeks (possibly months) before we bought it, and I thought perhaps it was just build up of grub around the brakes, and more activity would shift it, but there's not been much improvement, and it's developed an intermittent squeak too.

Clearly rhythmic brakes need looking at anyway (cos safety...) but if anyone has any insight into this particular combo of symptoms, all intel gratefully received.
 

Cainy1989

Active Member
Jan 11, 2019
87
38
The car has hill hold as part of the ABS system, so that would explain the lack of the brakes releasing on a hill (its on the front wheels with those if it has drums on the back), there could be a few things going on, the car measures tyre pressure through the ABS system by calculating the rotational speed of the wheel, some magic, but what it could mean is if you have a bad wheel speed sensor /ABS sensor (they're the same thing) then it could cause the car to show all the errors that you are seeing.

You would be better off getting the car scanned for error codes, they will tell you what the sensors are doing with some live data, and where there could be a potential fault with a sensor, it is possible theres a sticking brake calliper given the car was sat for a while easiest way to check that is to go for a drive and then see if any of the wheels are hot, might help narrow it down.
 
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Reactions: MijIsTired
Mar 31, 2025
3
0
The car has hill hold as part of the ABS system, so that would explain the lack of the brakes releasing on a hill (its on the front wheels with those if it has drums on the back), there could be a few things going on, the car measures tyre pressure through the ABS system by calculating the rotational speed of the wheel, some magic, but what it could mean is if you have a bad wheel speed sensor /ABS sensor (they're the same thing) then it could cause the car to show all the errors that you are seeing.

You would be better off getting the car scanned for error codes, they will tell you what the sensors are doing with some live data, and where there could be a potential fault with a sensor, it is possible theres a sticking brake calliper given the car was sat for a while easiest way to check that is to go for a drive and then see if any of the wheels are hot, might help narrow it down.
Thanks for your reply. I have an OBDEleven for the Škoda, and it’s always lived in the glove box, and every time I think ‘I’ll plug it into the SEAT’, the car and the reader is elsewhere 🙄 Though I know it doesn’t always resolve the ‘sensor fault or mechanical fault’ question, its always worth a try. Assuming the fault pops up again; I hate intermittent warning lights, they never show up when you need them to!

It’s definitely not the hill hold fighting gravity, as it’s intermittent and let’s go with a real clonk we don’t get any other time, but still a good thought.

I’ll see if I can tell if one wheel is hotter than others. If I did some really aggressive braking the dark, perhaps it would glow 😆
 
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