ABS Brake Fix

[Guest]

I have been having intermitant problems with my ABS system. The light would comr on and off while I was driving and sometimes the brakes would act up. The pedal would be high when you applied the brakes butit seemed like you weren't going to stop. Then the pedal seemed like it would release and brake fine. It would do this all in one push on the brake pedal. Kinda scary sometimes!<BR> I decided to try and check it out myself before I gave my life savings to some garage to get the brakes fixed.<BR> I found a simple solution. Behind the front<BR>brake backing plate there is a gear that looks like a miniture flywheel. This gear is part of the speed sensing system for the ABS. It had grease and dirt on it. I cleaned both gears up with degreaser and a brush on both sides of the car. (The rears are in a closed system where they can't get dirty.)<BR>Now my brakes are fine! The ABS light does not come on and the brakes don't act up!!

[harry yarnell]

Dirt and grease shouldn't make a difference to the tone wheel; its a magnetic type device thats imune to dirt. Can't explain you success though. Good luck.<BR>BTW, did you get both the red and amber lights lit, or just the amber ABS lamp?

[Guest]

It is possible (but unlikely??) that the dirty sensor wheel caused the problem, IF there was a relatively large quantity of ferrous metal in the dirt.<P>If you use metallic brake pads, or have had excessive grinding of the rotors, it is possible to disrupt the square wave magnetic pattern that triggers the wheel speed sensor by bridging the gap between the magnets.<P>Either way, it never hurts to clean the grease off.