VF Evoke 'Service ESP' error after not starting car for a while, goes away after driving it a couple of days

[Big Red VF-SII Go-kart]

The 'Service ESP' error goes away once I start driving it again. Wouldn't an injector fault or failure remain an issue no matter how much I drive it?

Just take your car to a proper service facility where they can check the battery and trace the ESP message through the scanner port. The Service ESP is there for a reason on the DIC, not for idle entertainment, and it can be researched very well in the VF workshop manual. You can also see a correlation of injectors/misfire and ESP on the old VZ Commodore model (not fitted to VZ utes).

 

[tommy_z]

Just take your car to a proper service facility where they can check the battery and trace the ESP message through the scanner port. The Service ESP is there for a reason on the DIC, not for idle entertainment, and it can be researched very well in the VF workshop manual. You can also see a correlation of injectors/misfire and ESP on the old VZ Commodore model (not fitted to VZ utes).

No sorry you really don’t know here; having had the same issue that the OP has had a few times with my previous VFI, I can 100% confidently say that it’s battery issues first and foremost which is not surprising considering it’s driven only once a week. I know you love referring to your old VZ frequently here but the VF is fundamentally different. The electric architecture is impacted by a low voltage startup by the battery and provides random error messages and rough driving at times which is ironed out after around 30 mins of driving.
I agree with stooge, drive first and use that trickle charger. Problem disappeared after a drive so next step will be to make sure it stays away.

 

[Piano player]

"Just take your car to a proper service facility"
Exactly what Holden service departments want me to do!

 

[Piano player]

Thank you for your help everybody, it is much appreciated!

The VF is now registered and driven every second day. The "service ESP" message and the engine light went off after about an hour's drive.
This has been over a week now and all is well.

For other VF owners with the same problem after not being driven for a while it is more than likely low battery.....well it was for me anyway.

 

[AB 1000]

We have a vy I know its not a vf but after a couple of days while cranking the little orange ABS light in the corner of dash lights up for like a second so yeah battery is over 3 years old and has had a hard life between being overcharged at over 16 volts when the reg failed to also being drained and as well as that lots of short trips.

 

[Terry57]

Had my VF parked up for 4 months with battery out on trickle charge. Pre Covid this was normal for me as i travel OS often.

Every time i came back i would banged the fully charged battery in and cranked it over, it did not like it. Motor was shaking and being a bit silly . Had me quiet worried the first time it happened.

My trusted mechanic told me to just take it out on a nice big run and bang it down the road. Worked a treat and all good after.

Thats my normal now after it sits idle for months at a time. They just don't like sitting around like that.

 

[John Lee]

Hi Piano Player... am not sure whether you got your problem sorted or not. I had EXACTLY the same msg (Service ESP) you quoted in your original post. I have a manual SS V8 6.2L Black Series 2. When the msg appeared, the car was running like a "busted ass" : no power, sluggish, and hard to steer. I limped home and rang my Service Dealer. (Here I should point our that the car was out of warranty by 7 months.)
Dealer work order states "scanned Vehicle and checked for codes, found fuel injector to have failed causing engine to misfire. Sent information to Holden who advised to REPLACE ALL 8 Fuel Injectors. Dealer supplied and fitted 8 injectors, cleaned all codes and road tested All OK" All work carried out under warranty.
The car has never run better...!! From my experience, I don't necessarily agree with "Stooge". (above) All I know is what I experienced and the fact that Holden meet a warranty "claim" when car was way out of warranty....
Hope your issue has been sorted...... Cheers

 

[tommy_z]

Hi Piano Player... am not sure whether you got your problem sorted or not. I had EXACTLY the same msg (Service ESP) you quoted in your original post. I have a manual SS V8 6.2L Black Series 2. When the msg appeared, the car was running like a "busted ass" : no power, sluggish, and hard to steer. I limped home and rang my Service Dealer. (Here I should point our that the car was out of warranty by 7 months.)
Dealer work order states "scanned Vehicle and checked for codes, found fuel injector to have failed causing engine to misfire. Sent information to Holden who advised to REPLACE ALL 8 Fuel Injectors. Dealer supplied and fitted 8 injectors, cleaned all codes and road tested All OK" All work carried out under warranty.
The car has never run better...!! From my experience, I don't necessarily agree with "Stooge". (above) All I know is what I experienced and the fact that Holden meet a warranty "claim" when car was way out of warranty....
Hope your issue has been sorted...... Cheers

Different situation here… common issue you have with the LS3 and fuel injectors. The injectors will throw the error message and you will have sluggish running that will not improve until the injectors are fixed.

OP here had not driven the car for a while and has a V6, and both stooge and myself had the same the same experience in the same driving conditions. As the car was driven the drive improved.

Of course we cannot preempt every situation where this error comes up on the DIC, but these are two different examples readers can refer to and see if it fits their situation.

 

[stooge]

From my experience, I don't necessarily agree with "Stooge".

The service esp error can be triggered by many things and it is not a message directly related to injector failure.
The reason people think it is about injector failure is because the vehicle goes into limp mode which throws the esp message.

I wont go into why the engine going into limp mode causes the message because i am sure once you read about esp and what it is in the following link you will understand why a power limited engine would cause an esp error.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_stability_control