Can anyone help? - Bentley Turbo RT - TRAC Fault

[Ben Taylor]

I also really appreciate any advice anyone can offer on this Fault as it’s becoming rather annoying to say the least – here’s the background.

1997 Bentley Turbo RT – problem occurred only after I imported the car from the UK to Hong Kong where I now live (I owned it for a few years prior to that).

3 x faults have show very intermittently but often one after another implying they may well be connected with each other – none show up on the Scan Tool test (retrospectively)

TRAC Fault – the worst one (see below)
GEAR BOX
Alarm

The Gear box fault doesn’t worry me as I haven’t experienced any physical problem with the gearbox – same with the alarm (other than I had it disconnected or silenced as it was draining the battery).

The TRAC Fault problem appears on the dashboard – when this occurs the car stalls and all electrical power is also lost. Typically when I’m slowing down to a halt but worrisome all the same (Hong Kong drivers are not the most patient souls when a Bentley is sat in the middle of the road). All I have to do is turn the key off and restart the car but it is a safety concern and repetitive all the same. I would say in the last year its happened about 10 times – quite a lot considering I have only covered around 400 miles in the last year.

[Geoff Simpson]

I am no expert but a great majority of electrical faults are down to a poor earth, never a bad idea to remake all earth points anyway

[Christopher Carnley]

The fault probably comes from faulty speed sensors on the road wheels, the warm salty sea air causes a lot of corrosion particularly on older cars,along with dirt build up.

Does the ABS light come on as well?

[Ben Taylor]

Dear Geoff and Christopher - thank you kindly for your responses and recommendations

[Ben Taylor]

For anyone interested - after two years of pain and countless GBP000's spent I'm delighted to report to have found the root cause of this common problem on 97' Turbo RT's.

I had a new Alarm ECU built by Bowling Engineering Ltd (Bolton) and bingo everything now works. I was ready to throw away my close to mint RT with low mileage so this has been a huge relief - I understand from my Bentley specialist here in Hong Kong that they have no fewer than 3 cars with similar symptoms so I'm sure there may be many more of you out there with similar worries - so hope this goes some way to finding a solution for you too.

All the best

[John Murch]

So pleased for you! My view has always been that alarms are more trouble than they are worth.
John