Misleading steering position and ESP lights

2005.5 BRM. I'm hoping this helps someone else who has similar problems.

After leaving the battery disconnected for some weeks while I did some repairs, I put things back together and found a few new dashboard lights. They were the steering position failure light (little amber steering wheel) and the ESP failure light (little skidding car icon). I read quite a few forum threads, many of which suggested the problem is caused by a bad ground. I fiddled with various things, but got nowhere.

Just to feel like I'm bright enough to manage to fix something, I decided to forget about the lights for now and work on some trouble codes, that weren't (or so I thought) related to the steering position and ESP lights. The OBD2 said that my right rear ABS sensor failed. Sure enough it was bad, and so I replaced it. Not only did the ABS sensor code go away, the steering position light also turned off. Then I went on to another code: G65 high pressure A/C sensor was no good. I don't much care about A/C since I hardly ever use it up where I live, but I was in the mood to clear codes, and guess what. Not only did the G65 code go away, but the ESP light went out.

There was no intelligence involved, just dumb luck. How should one know that the ABS sensor affects the steering position sensor, or that G65 affects ESP? Clearly the computer believes they are related! One could make a case that the computer wants to calibrate the wheels and steering before enabling the steering position stuff, not that I really buy it, but I can't see what the high pressure A/C sensor has to do with the Electronic Stability Program (ESP). Somehow, when the computer has to recalibrate various stuff because the battery was out, things that previously didn't matter suddenly do. The ABS sensor hasn't worked for months, similarly G65, but neither affected steering or ESP until after I removed and reinstalled the battery.

The moral, at least from my viewpoint, is to keep your codes clear.

ESP/ABS ,Steering sensor, wheel sensors are all related. I'm assuming you're talking about the 2005 since model year 2002 didn't have ESP. The ac sensor has nothing to do with ESP. You ESP light cleared as a result of fixing the wheel sensor and the car just needed to be restarted several times to reset everything.

It's always a good idea to keep the codes clear.

Thanks for taking the time to comment, Tdijarhead.

Yes, it's the 2005.5 BRM. I've since edited the initial post so it's stated up front.

Yes, ESP, ABS, steering sensor are all in a way related, but how they're related changes after you pull the battery. Before pulling the battery, there was only an ABS light. After replacing the battery, it's Christmas. And it's this difference in the relationship or dependencies that confused me.

As for the G65 A/C sensor, yes, I would have to agree with you that it has nothing to do with the ESP, but my story is indeed what happened. Sure, it might be a coincidence. Between replacing the ABS sensor and replacing the A/C sensor, 5 days elapsed, the car drove 124 miles in 15 separate trips, with probably another 20 starts just for diagnostic purposes. Only 20 minutes before I changed the G65, as I drove the Jetta into the garage, the ESP light was still on. I swapped out the G65 and the ESP light magically went out. Let me be more precise: the ESP light didn't come on. The ESP light, when it was still torturing me, wouldn't come on immediately when the engine started, but only after 4 or 5 seconds of running. It was as if the computer was waiting for a signal that didn't come within the timeout period.

In my G65 - ESP light incident, the only code presented by the computer was 00819 (High Pressure Sensor - open or short to ground). Nothing about ABS. Nothing about steering. Nothing about ESP. But the ESP light stayed stubbornly on, through 5 days, 124 miles and 40-50 starts, until I swapped out the G65.

My conclusions: things are quite different after the computer is forced to reset because the battery is removed, and in resetting, it looks for things that it was previously content to ignore. The relationship among these things is known only to the guys who programmed the computer, not to us who can only read the repair manual. A code is a hint that the computer sees a problem. By fixing the problems the computer is hinting at, we can also solve seemingly unrelated issues.