ATC light flashing intermittently

[Arbogaster]

I have a 2002 Windsor with the ISC350 and I believe an Allison 3000
Coming home from the hills of TN & KY yesterday I had some issues. I got some fuel at the new Pilot station and got on the road. Approximately an hour later I got a jolt in the drive line and the ATC light flickered. I pulled back on the power and proceeded to climb the small grade in a lower gear. A few minutes later I got the same problem pulling another hill and a lower gear and a lighter foot seemed to solve the issue. As the next two hours progressed it seemed to get worse even as the hills got smaller. I pulled over and checked the engine out and the problem seemed to stop for about 45 minutes but eventually returned. Towards the end of the day the ATC light was accompanied by the warning light a few times. Finally we made it home after about two hours of driving with this intermittent issue.

I have had an ABS light on for about a year with no other issue. I assume it to be a dirty wheel speed senor. I have heard that this ATC issue can be caused by dirty fuel filters. My questions are as follows:

1. I've got maybe 1000 gallons of fuel through the filter in two years. Is that too much? should I be changing filters more often?

2. Do the ABS and ATC share information from wheel speed sensors?

3. Do I have to pull the wheel and brakes to clean the wheel speed sensors?

Any other thoughts or experiences are greatly appreciated.

THX,

Eric

[Jobert]

We have had situations similar to both of yours.
On the hesitation on the hills, I pulled over and changed the primary fuel filter and the situation was taken care of. I drained a little fuel out of the primary filter and it had junk in it, so changed it right there. I did not change the secondary filter at that time but did when we got home.

As for the ABS, on our 01 Ambassador we had troubles with that. When it would light up, I would go under and pull the sensors out a little and then press them back in firmly, all four of them. When this was completed, after driving 1-3 miles, the light would go out. The problem that created the situation was the wheel bearings had not been tighten correctly and to the correct torque and on a bumpy road, a little movement in the rotor would bump the sensor and the light would come on. There are other reasons also but this was the cause on ours. Hope this may help. Happy trails Bert

[8.3Oilbuner]

Good morning Eric; You mentioned you fueled up at a new station. If this was a brand new station just selling it's first batch of fuel there is a possibility that you might have gotten some crud into your tank and then into the filters. Had this happen to my dad when I was a kid living in Seattle. Station just opened and on the first day of the station open got a load of water mixed with gas in our Chrysler station wagon. Others here will suggest changing the fuel filters first as I would suggest the same thing.

I don't have ATC on my 01 Windsor, but as far as I know the ATC gets it's information from the ABS system. When a wheel spins the sensor at that wheel send the information that is picked up by the ABS module. The brake on that wheel is applied momentarily to stop the wheel spin. If your ABS light has been on for this long and nothing has happened and you get fuel and now have problems I am still going with contaminated fuel. The bucking you got could have triggered something in the ABS system to make the ATC light to come on.

Your ABS module should be in the electrical bay outside under the drivers seat. With your ing. in the on position look for a small orange diode attached to the wall of that compartment. If the diode is lite your ABS light will be on. There is a test button on that module. It is a little bit of a long process but others have posted the procedure for getting codes from that module. Also those modules do fail. I would start with the filters first and go from there. If you would like to find out how to get the codes from ABS module try using the search box at the top of this page for that procedure. Jacwjames has posted that information here many times.

[fcmcelr]

Change you fuel filters. When your engine doesn't generate power as expected by the transmission, the ATC feature will be disabled.

[Arbogaster]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I'll let you know how things shake out. I'll have to try to find the sensors and see if I can pull them and clean them up.

Cheers ! !

Eric

[YC1]

I change mine every 6 months. They are not that expensive and sure is cheap insurance.

[jacwjames]

Change both fuel filters.



I have a 2002 Windsor also, the ABS module on mine is in the drivers side electrical compartment, located on the lower left side. It has a small black button and led light on it.
I've had intermittent problems with my ABS light coming on, so checking the for codes has become almost second nature. Monaco published an addendum for the 2002 models, see below. From the addendum, checking for blink codes.

1.  Turn the ignition on, don't start
2. Press the brake pedal
3. Go outside and press the black button on the module for 1-2 seconds
4. The ABS system will go through diagnostics and provide blink codes. 1-1 means no faults.

Word of caution, DO NOT press the button for more then 2 seconds. If you do it will put the ABS system into Dyno mode and the light will stay on all the time. I did this ~10 years ago and it took me forever to figure out what was wrong and how to fix.


Last ABS code I had was for a sensor out of spec on the front drivers side wheel. Pulled sensor, cleaned, and put back in and all is good. You can get to the front sensors. The rear sensors require the hubs to be removed.

[tommar]

What is the ATC? ABS?

[Doug.terri5]

Anti-lock brake system and automatic traction control.

[1fishnfool]

The wheel sensors have a specified distance from the tone wheel. Use a bit of grease and a piece of three by five card. Push the sensor in till contact is felt and stop as wheel turn it will scrub off the paper and does not care about the dab of grease you have apo .0025 worth of clearance using this method.

[tommar]

Originally Posted by Doug.terri5

Anti-lock brake system and automatic traction control.

That's what I thought. What does either one have to do with fuel filters. Before asking you guys what ATC etc. was, I researched and was scratching my head over this!

[Doug.terri5]

If the fuel filter causes the engine to stumble it often times causes the ATC to think a wheel is slipping, setting the light.

[Arbogaster]

I tried to do the ABS diagnosis last night. The button push and key on hokey pokey thing did not do a thing for me. (no blinking lights) Reading on some forums I saw that blowing the dust out of the push button switch sometimes gets the blink code to start working. I pulled out the board and wiped it down with acetone and a rag and blew out the switch and reinstalled it. VIOLA now I start getting some lights blinking. I downloaded two different PDF's one from Wabco and one from BENDIX. Between the two I should have all the decoding of the blinking codes that I need to sort this out. Next I'm going to video the blink codes so I can review the blinks and pauses multiple times and be sure that I'm interpreting the blinks correctly.

Going to swap in some new fuel filters next and hopefully go for a drive this weekend.

Cheers!

Eric

[base341]

I had the ATC light come on when our Hydraulic cooler blew last year.
You may also check the level in the hydraulic tank.