Over heating problem causing Engine, ABS & Airbag warning lights to go off?

[evolve]

I have a VY Berlina V6 Wagon. I apologise in advance for the length of the post, I just want to make sure I get all the details down so I can get the best possible answer.

I changed the rear brakes on Friday (11-11-11), broke them in and then traveled into the city (about an hour away). Just outside the CBD the Engine, ABS, airbag and trac off dash warning lights came on. The aircon turned itself off and a small cross appeared in the bottom right corner of the aircon display. The fans on the radiator started going and the engine didn't feel to great, so we pulled into the closest servo. I had a quick look around on here and found a thread suggesting turning the car off and then back on again would fix the problem. So turned the car off, waited a minute then turned it back on and the problem had gone. Turned the car back off and went and had some dinner at the mickey-ds next to the servo.

The problem disappeared for the rest of the evening and the whole of Saturday and Sunday morning. On Sunday afternoon I again needed to go back into the city, but not 10 minutes out from my house the same thing happened again. Pulled into the closest side street, turned the car off and then back on again but the problem was still there. Turned the car off, called RACQ and waited for the guy to come out. When he got there the problem was gone. Drove into the CBD, got there and guess what, happened again.

By now I had a feeling it had something to do with the engine overheating, even though the temperature gauge was reading normal. I did a quick coolant change in the parking lot and sure enough the problem went until we were just around the corner from our house, which luckily enabled us to get home. I opened the hood and the engine did seem to be running a LOT hotter than normal. I let it cool down, flushed the radiator fully and did a proper coolant change.

Monday morning it did it to my partner on the school run. She called RACQ, they did a pressure test and said it was the heater valve. I ordered the part from the mechanic 3 doors down from me, drained the radiator and let it sit over night. The part came in at lunch time today, changed that out today (Tuesday, 15-11-11), filled the system with water this time (all this coolant is starting to add up $$ wise just to be wasted), bled the system, let it idle for 30 minutes and the problem happened again. The mechanic 3 doors down got us to take it down for a quick look over, it didn't do it in his shop and after looking it over for another 30 minutes he has no clue what the problem might be.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Or have some kind of an idea as to what might be going on? This is our only car and it kind of sucks having to walk 15k's to work each day with the car out of commission.

[Boothy]

Sounds weird, i take a guess (and id only be guessing) that it could be faulty computer unit. But having said that i would have thought that would be an easy fault for a mechanic to find. Just dont see how else to explain all those faults being sent through at once like that or how an engine overheating could cause that. Just if it was a mecahnical problem you could imagine it would happen all the time under certain perimeters of operation and not completely random and it sounds like it is.It could very well be that the overheating is a symtom of the problem aswell and not the cause. Be interested to hear exactly what it is when you come across the solution.

[scvs6]

Usually when that happens to the VT-VX models, its the ABS module that needs replacing, but i'm not sure if this is the case with the VY's. I know with my 2002 WH Statesman one day I was driving along and all the sudden the Engine light, ABS light, TRAC OFF light, Airbag light, Oil Light, came on, and the a/c turned off and the cross appeared, also a cross appeared on one of the 3 trip computer LCD's, power steering went tight. All this was cause by the ABS module. Replaced it and never had a problem since.

If it happens again, open the bonnet and unplug the ABS module, then everything should work fine except the ABS and Traction control, and the 2 lights will be on the dash.

[evolve]

Today the problem is still occurring, the oil light has now been added to the list of lights appearing, the temperature gauge stopped working randomly when going over a speed bump, then started working again when the car was switched off and back on again. Same story for the fuel gauge. The Mechanic didn't check the computer as far as I'm aware, looking for a source of all the heat instead so I might send it back to get the computer checked out and have the ABS module replaced. It's coming up to an oil change too so I'll do that this arvo.

I'll let you guys know how it all turns out.