Hi, Purchased my 2008 auto but did not notice that the parking sensors were not working until later. Symptoms were select reverse and the light on the sensor switch just flashed. Also when selecting the switch button the light flashed. But no front or rear sensing. I found a youtube video which described this problem and gave a fix .

Basically a chaffed cable behind the front bumper. On mine it was not chaffed through but the insulation was gone on 2 cables, allowing water to corrode the cables. I cut out around 6 inches of each damaged cable and spliced in some new cable using lever type splices ( not scotch locks) . Then after testing and confirming thee fault was fixed I wrapped the whole bundle around the repair with self amalgamating tape.

The damage was on the nearside around 12" from the plug. I think that maybe the plug comes away from its mount on the wing and flaps about causing the cable to rub. I re-secured the cable loom and the plug using tywraps.

I hope that this info will be helpful to someone else.

Great article. Thanks you saved me a fortune.

Good to hear it has helped. Thanks for letting me know.

Another tip is with ignition on put car in reverse and put you ear to each sensor, you should hear a clicking noise, if you cant hear it then duff sensor!

But DO NOT start thr engine :lol: :lol:






Bill Life Honorary Member of Wallasey Motor Club.
Licenced MSA Radio Operator for 35+ years.
Rallying is the only sport.

Great video! I have exactly the same symptoms. Local mech did data check and it faulted same sensor as yourself. So thats the weekends job identified. Never taken the front bumper off so that’s the next forum search. Thanks for taking the time and posting the vid! '57 FL2 Td4 HSE, 135k, purch Nov '14
So far: Osram nightbreakers, new mats, gear shift knob, battery, 2nd earth strap, bonnet strut, new plates, Bluefin ECU remap
To Do: Heated screen fault, possible glo-plug fault, brakes and discs, alloy refurb, after market fixed sat nav

I fixed my parking sensors as I reported above. One year later I had a recurrence with exactly the same symptoms. A beep on start up and the dashboard button flashes 6 times when reverse selected or the button pressed in drive.
I could not believe that my repair had failed, but I bit the bullet and removed the bumper.
The original repair on the nearside was still well wrapped and looked good. However on the drivers side was a new area where the original tape had split , exposing the sensor and fog light cables. Examination of the exposed cables showed no damage though.
I then resorted to continuity testing from the sensors to the main plug. Sure enough, one of my repaired cables from the middle right sensor was open circuit.
After 20 minutes cutting off all my self amalgamating tape, I found that inside was dripping with water and the repair had corroded. It looks like the new damage to the wrapping tape had allowed water ingress which travelled the two feet along to accumulate inside my repair.
Anyway I cut the corroded cable right back to the plugs and spliced in a new cable with crimped but connectors liberally filled with silicone grease. I then applied more silicone grease around the repair before re-taping it. The new damage was greased then re-taped.
All back together now and working fine. Should any more water get in, the silicone grease should protect my crimps.
By the way with this fault the system seems to go into safe shut down mode and none of the sensors either front or back emit the familiar ticking as suggested by another contributor.