I've had the same thing with my 2009 DDiS GV. Doesnt happen very often and doesnt seem to be gettinng worse. Dealer scanned CPU but no errors with mine as well. The ESP seems to still work OK. I dont have a solution sorry.

 

If I start my car immediately I get no warning. If I switch on the ignition and wait for the system check, I get the ESP warning. Have spoken to 2 dealers and Suzuki technical about this, they keep telling me it's "normal" and there is no fix. At the moment, I am just living with it and hoping that a fix does come out at some point soon.

 

carnivorous, I have tried both methods, however, I still keep getting the same the same warning message. I took mine back to the dealership and they scanned the system and one of their representative told me the same rubbish that it is NORMAL. However, I am not prepared to accept this as I am convinced that something is wrong and I am certain that the system was not designed to function that way. The Service Manager at the dealership has committed to forwarding the matter to Suzuki for their response. I am also wondering if there is anything that the GV owner who are experiencing this problem (anomaly) can do collectively.

 

I agree that it is not normal. The manual says to see your dealer if this message comes up. My dealers have spoken to Suzuki Technical in the UK, and I have also spoken to them personally, but I am getting nowhere. Let me know how you get on.

 

carnivorous, I most certainly will and may I ask that you do the same

 

I just spoke to Suzuki Customer Services again.

"We are aware that this is a characteristic of some Grand Vitara vehicles (not all), and have been advised by Suzuki Technical that this does not affect the performance of the vehicle. As such, Suzuki is not seeing this as a fault."

"So you want me to just live with it, even though my neighbour might have a £20k Grand Vitara that doesn't do it."

"Well sir, as I said, it's not a fault as such......"

OH BUGGER OFF.

 

carnivorous, I find this quite amazing especially in light of the fact that Suzuki's owners manual states (in bold letters) that you should see your dealer if this message comes up. I am wondering if there is some way to contact Suzuki directly regarding this matter.

 

I have already explained to you that I have spoken to more than one dealer, Suzuki Customer Services, AND Suzuki Technical in the UK. None of them are interested as it apparently doesn't affect the performance of the vehicle.

 

Hi, I have the same problem on my 2007 GV ddis. On 40,000 km first appeared the ESP symbol. After a while, the injector symbol blinked and the "turbo" power was cut off. Finally at the 47,000 km made, after many tests performed and lots of discussions, I have changed the main computer of the car using the warranty advantage...

 

These spurious start up errors (in my experience) signal a weak battery. When the car cranks and the various modules are powered on they check to see if the voltages are in spec. If not, they throw a code. I did have a EPS (power steering) fault on my Ignis and the ESP fault on my Vit when the original batteries were dying.

Note: A voltage test while the engine is running will not show the fault/bad battery. If you measure voltage while cranking (via the cigarette lighter if no assistant) or load test the battery you will know its true status.

 

I have had the battery tested with a Snap-On meter with the car off, on and under cranking. No problems. Perplexed.

 

Have a same issue with my 2010 GV 1.9DDiS. Every now and then (maybe once in ten-to-fifteen times on average), immediately after starting the engine, "Service ESP system" appears on info screen... Doesn't seem to affect performance for time being, but it is annoying... Told to dealer, but they said they couldn't reproduce the fault and computer doesn't show up any errors when connected to...

Interesting thing is that so far never showed up if engine has a "warm start", but only after a few hours (or night) period of being shut off.

 

Interesting thing is that so far never showed up if engine has a "warm start", but only after a few hours (or night) period of being shut off.

That does lean towards a bad battery. A recent start/Drive would have recharged the battery whereas an overnight standing still would allow the battery to drop in voltage/charge.

It all makes sense after reading the TSB

 

A few weeks ago upon starting my 2009 GV I started receiving the following warning message
Service ESP System (see photo attached)
I took the vehicle to the dealership and they returned it to me stating that they connected their scan tool and came up with nothing, however, I am still having the problem and the frequency of the warning is increasing (i.e. it is happening almost every time I start the vehicle now as against every ten or so starts when it first started). Has anyone experienced this problem and if so how was it corrected.
Any and all comments/suggestions etc. will be greatly appreciated.

Mistake number 1.

Find autozone or Advanced Auto and have them run the code leaving the car run so it doesn't get cleared.

 

Fail. Have tried it with engine running immediately after error message - no error codes.

 

Hi Folks,
Kindly note the attached TSB which is self-explanatory and should throw some light on the matter.

 

Thanks Volcar!

My vehicle is not listed, but I assume that is because I am in the UK.

I will pass this on to my dealer and keep my fingers crossed.

Very good of you to put this up.

Phil

 

Same here... my vehicle is not listed (no diesel GV listed at all), but next time I visit the dealer for regular service, sure I will take this TSB and present it to him,

Cheers.

 

Yes, it leans towards the bad battery, however never had a problem starting the engine so far - it always fires up after about a second of cranking. Also, the car was is 2010 year, and the problem first seen after being just a few months old, but...

 

The TSB clearly states that the ESP system is 'faulty' and thinks the battery voltage is too low when it isn't. This can also be the case if it only comes up on cold start...the battery will not be too weak necessarily, but will be low enough on charge for the fault to manifest itself.
First I was told this wasn't a genuine fault as apparently "they all do it". Then I was told that it isn't normal but that it wouldn't be fixed as it does not affect the performance of the car.
I have presented the TSB to 2 Suzuki dealerships only to be met with the same reply....Suzuki UK refuse to acknowledge this as a fault as it does not affect the performance of the vehicle. When I comment that it is being rectified in other countries and I feel I am getting a raw deal being expected to live with the beeping, I am met with "if Suzuki Uk don't authorise us to fix it, we can't fix it".
Once again, we in the UK are the ones being screwed over. Lovely.

 

Don't worry, I am sure it is not just UK... I had the same answer in my country, and I am sure it will be in most countries. USA is a special case as the regulations are much stronger, and market more competitive.

Shame on Suzuki not pushing the TSB to every country and dealership. This is a built in fault and as such should be fixed regardless does it affect the car performance or not!

 

Suzuki Canada refused to fix the spare tire cover rattling, despite it being covered by a tsb in the US. There is no tsb for it in Canada. I rather doubt the Canadian model's tire cover was constructed any different from the US one.

 

Hi All

Another vehicle can be added to the list of those with this fault, mine is a 2010 GV SZ4 1.9 DDI (UK).

The message first appeared when the vehicle was about 10 months old, it was mid-winter and we had some cold minus temperatures. The message would only appear first thing in the morning (ie after an overnight stand in a covered garage), it did not stay on once engine was running. After a drive to work (30 mins) I wouldn't see the message again until maybe the next morning if it was cold, or no message if outside temperature was above about 4 degrees C.

I took it to my local dealer, who did the laptop thing while I waited and said that it had an error P0571 which they attributed to a 'brake light switch' which they had 'tested and found to be faulty'. Of course they didn't have a new one, so I was warned that the ESP 'may not work' when I braked. 2 weeks later I took it in for a replacement switch to be fitted. As the outside temperatures had increased by this time, I hadn't seen the fault message for a while. With the new switch fitted and the faults 'cleared down' it was business as usual until it got cold again whereupon the fault appeared as before.

As the first service was due I asked for it to be looked at again only to be told that the fault 'couldn't be reproduced' and the fault codes just needed 'clearing down' again !

The message still appears some mornings and almost every time after I have washed the vehicle. I suspect that there is an intermittent/high resistance electrical fault somewhere that is worse in cold temperatures.

It would be useful to know what vehicle parameters the ESP program looks at, does anybody know ? I am loathe to start tinkering myself as it is under warranty, but it does seem fairly obvious that the ESP program needs to relax its tolerances a little if there really is no danger or lack of functionality, this could surely be done and the computer software updated via laptop ?

Cheers

Andy
United Kingdom

 

I got an 2006GV 2.0 withn the same issue. When outside temperature is below
minus 2 for one night and i start in the morning ESP and 4x4 symbol blinks.
When holding the car and start again, no sign of ESP and symbol anymore.
Before reading here about this issue, I was thinkin' it was an auto- safety warning for possible ice detection, So it ain't?

 

Hi Jules,

it might be different on my newer model, but these are different messages.

Ice Warning I see as an 'information message' which comes up in white text as you say below +2 degrees C or thereabouts. The 'Service ESP" message is a warning and comes up in yellow/amber, I've had this at +4 deg C so I don't think the two are related.

Andy

 

Cold shouldn't affect the ESP system directly.

I was recently on a job a few hours north, the whole time I was there it was very cold (-29C the first morning, according to the in-dash thermometer) and the GV started and ran just fine. No error messages or anything like that. No block heater either, BTW...

 

Cold shouldn't affect the ESP system directly.

I agree. Like Kootenanny, I've used my GV at -30ºC this winter without any ESP issues at all. Sometimes these strange, intermittent electrical issues can be traced to a weak battery. When warm, everything will be normal, but as the temperature drops, the battery's voltage can fall below the critical level and the various ECUs can misbelieve in erratic ways. I wouldn't imagine your 2010 battery is bad, but it might be worth getting it load tested, maybe on what passes for a cold day in your location.

Andy, you mention you get this issue "almost every time after I have washed the vehicle". The only part of the ESP System that is exposed to external water are the ABS Sensors in the wheel hubs. Perhaps there is a bad connection there that takes an ABS sensor off line when wet or cold.

 

Andy, you mention you get this issue "almost every time after I have washed the vehicle". The only part of the ESP System that is exposed to external water are the ABS Sensors in the wheel hubs. Perhaps there is a bad connection there that takes an ABS sensor off line when wet or cold.

Thanks for that, I would also go along with that especially as it is the 'ABS' light which stays on when I get the 'Service ESP' warning message. I take it that you have to take the wheels off to get to these ?

Andy

 

The ABS sensors themselves reach inside the wheel hubs to the Encoding Rings. The electrical connections appear to be inside the engine compartment (front) and on the frame rail (rear). Here are a couple of pages from the Service Manual. There are 33 more pages in the manual on diagnosing and repairing the ABS System. Its complicated. To check the Encoding Rings inside the hubs (the sensors read these) requires pulling the drive shafts.