Hey guys, im actually reporting my problem to you in real time, it happend about 20 mins ago. Im on my way home from class, and suddenly i noticed my ESP light is on. First i go and press the ESPbutton to see if it had been accidently turned on by someone else. But nothing happend when i pushed it. So my first reaction was to just turn the car off for a min, and then come back and see if the light went away. Of course, the ESP light did go away, but why would my ESP light turn on outta no where?

 

Sometimes the ECU will shut the ESP program down to cut down on processor load.
Usually when the computer is getting hot.
Was it hot out?

 

Actually is was freezing cold outside. The only thing that was really hot were my heated seats and heater blowing out tropical climate air haha. Its the first time its ever happend to me. I actually just got back from taking it out for a couple miles through town and nothing came up, ESP light stayed off, but you never know with an audi. It will probably come right back on when i go to school tommarrow. Can the ecu still shut down even in cold weather?

 

It is most likely a bad or failing MAF, the cold weather only exacerbated it.

 

So if it is a MAF, will the light turn on and off whenever it wants? It reset itself last night after i turned off the car which i figured would happen. I took it out again and the light never came back on. I think what may have helped the problem was me turning on the car in the freezing weather and no letting it warm up properly too.

 

That happened to me once when an intercooler hose came loose and I lost all my boost to atmosphere. I thought it was strange the ESP light came on, but I could certainly tell i had lost boost and there was a problem. Got home, found a clamp/hose and slipped off, put back on and tightened. Started car again, ESP light was off, car was fine. So who knows....

 

I had the same problem. I replaced the MAF and its been fine ever since.

 

what would things like the issues you guys mentioned have to do with stability control?

i only ask because ive seen threads like this before and signs pointed to steering angle sensor or lateral acceleration sensor. nothing emissions-related.

what is strange is that i currently have a cracked downpipe and its throwing a CEL, and mysteriously i started having the ESP light issue too. im getting the downpipe replaced next week so i will get the car scanned and see why the ESP is coming on and will post back with results....

 

okay i just wanted to bump this back up to post my results.

as stated above i had a cracked downpipe which threw a CEL. a few days later the ESP light started randomly coming on and off and i couldnt figure it out.

well as it turns out the downpipe was replaced and the CELs went away of course, and along with that the ESP now works PERFECTLY again!!

like i said above i have no idea how emissions have ANYTHING to do with ESP, but they are definitely somehow related.

word.