salvaging 88 ABS leads

[KDirk]

In doing a laundry list of repairs on my early build 88, I found both front brake leads reading open circuit when tested via the breakout box in the trunk. Inspecting then, I found both had crumbled insulation and was set to assume both were junk when I made an interesting discovery. At the flex point (past the first grommet uplink from the sensor head) where the insulation was broken and missing, the braided shield on the coax was split all the way around, leaving only the center conductor inside the dialectic foam intact. In bridging the gap in the shield and resotring continuity I found the sensor resistance now read in spec on my ohmmeter.

 

Needless to say, this was a very satisfying development as I then effected a more permanent repair to the braided shield by soldering on some shielding strap I had on hand. I followed that on by re-insulating the entire lead with 4:1 shrink ratio extra heavy heat shrink tubing to protect the lead wire. These repaired leads have been installed on the car and I now have no yellow abs light or codes present.

 

The best part is that I didnt have to use any of my spares and saved two leads that I had initally thought were junk. Luckily, moisture didn't get into the sensor head and ruin it, which is which usually happens once the lead insulation gets breached. So, if you have a Teves equipped car (89-90) and have a brake lead that reads open circuit, check the integrity of the shield on the lead wire before you write it off, it may be salvageable. Really, the cable could be spliced even if  both the shield and center conductor were broken, though tbat is a more involved repair to do well.

 

At this point, we need to conserve as many of these parts as possible. Even with Dave's efforts at refurbing them - which I commend, as I've seen them and they are very good - he can only offer a small volme of leads for sale and the number of cars that need (or will need) leads far exceeds what he can probably ever hope to supply even if be wanted to do refurbs full time.