3 Amigos fixed

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ColinC

New Member
Posts
4
Hi, I thought that I would post this in case it helps someone else.

I had the three lights come on and couldn't really figure out what was wrong, so took the Freelander to one of the local independant Landrover garages to pay my £60 and get it on their computer. The verdict was a front wheel ABS sensor had gone and their estimate was £300+ for fitting an aftermarket sensor, more for a Landrover original part. Sounds expensive but they weren't wrong when they said it would take time as they'd have to drill out the old one, so that was a realistic quote at garage rates.

As I was changing the car anyway, I decided not to bother fixing it, but the vehicle I was planning buying got sold while I was being indecisive. I therefore decided to have a go at fixing it myself and after reading what I could find here I ordered a sensor off Ebay (LANDROVER FREELANDER ABS SENSOR FRONT SSW100080 for £23, not the £150 Britpart part quoted by the garage).

Following the instructions in my Haynes manual I spent a miserable half hour trying the remove the undershield in the wing before I gave up trying to get the rusted but hardened and hence undrillable screws out, and moved on to trying to get the sensor out instead. I tried every tool and method known to man (and believe me I tried) before eventually resorting to the drill as predicted by the garage.

75% of the way through drilling it out I spotted the reluctor ring through a gap in the hub casting and happened to put my finger on it. To my dismay, it moved!!! My befuddled brain quickly realised that I had now spent an hour and a half trying to replace a perfectly good sensor!

So, next step was to dismantle the hub casting from the suspension strut which was a simple process. I found that the reluctor ring was actually in 2 pieces. My original understanding was that it meant I needed a new driveshaft, but a quick check here and a look on Ebay revealed a replacement ring for the princely sum of £7.30 eBay My World - carspares-direct

So I ordered that and a new genuine hub nut (also off Ebay) and both arrived in two days.

Today I cleaned up the driveshaft and fitted the new ring and my bargain basement sensor in about an hour and instead of getting the inner wing shield off, I simply pulled the end of the cable up using a length of welding wire (I did remove the grommet by splitting it and re-inserted it from the top).

I now have a fully functioning ABS/TC system again, also a warm sense of satisfaction from having saved some cash.

There's no way of knowing if the parts are up to the same standard as those the garage would have fitted, but to be honest I'd be surprised if they prove to be a problem during what remaining useful life the vehicle has.

The thing that really embarrasses me to say is that just after the lights came on, I remember driving along with the window open and wondering what that tinkling sound coming from the hub area was!

So, just another possibility when the 3 Amigos come on - check the reluctor rings, the front ones at least can be checked by taking the wheels off and and sticking your finger in the slot at the bottom of the hub casting, no furher dismantling is needed.

The real moral of the story though is never believe the computer!

regards

Colin
 
i no your pain. today i hacked up my sensor and noticed the ring is split, altho my sensor was giving no reading when i tested it, i got a new ring on ebay for £2.30
 
Well done ! Thing is too many people just go by fault codes and dont use them as a general guide.They are supposed to aid in putting you in the general area of the fault....
Had they had a good look they would have seen what you had.
 
My heart goes out to you buddy.......
As for the guy's that charged you £60 for a code read and didn't even check the damm reluctor ring......These are the half witt so called Technician's that give people like myself In the motor industry a bad name.......
These garages need to be named and shamed, it infuriate's me so much that these simple thing's are overlooked. Then you the customer are stung with a £60 bill ( which is probably what the piece of S**t software they used to read your abs ecu cost to buy ) If I were you I would be shaming them on the garage section on here.....
In future put your question's to us guy's on here, Old freelanders work on relatively primative systems so your gonna be able to get to a route cause some how without being charged £60 bloody quid. Scandalous :hug:
 
Hi,

I don't have any problem with the garage, they have served me well over several years, and whilst £60 is a lot for a few minutes work, its better than a local main dealer charged me for the other car.

What would have peed me off would have been if they had swapped the sensor and then found the broken ring and wanted to fit a new driveshaft. Their strength is supposed to be experience and knowledge of the type so I'd hope they wouldn't fall into the trap i did.

The reason for relating this story wasn't to whinge, just to hopefully add to the pool of experience available here.

regards,

Colin
 
Hi, I thought that I would post this in case it helps someone else.

I had the three lights come on and couldn't really figure out what was wrong, so took the Freelander to one of the local independant Landrover garages to pay my £60 and get it on their computer. The verdict was a front wheel ABS sensor had gone and their estimate was £300+ for fitting an aftermarket sensor, more for a Landrover original part. Sounds expensive but they weren't wrong when they said it would take time as they'd have to drill out the old one, so that was a realistic quote at garage rates.

As I was changing the car anyway, I decided not to bother fixing it, but the vehicle I was planning buying got sold while I was being indecisive. I therefore decided to have a go at fixing it myself and after reading what I could find here I ordered a sensor off Ebay (LANDROVER FREELANDER ABS SENSOR FRONT SSW100080 for £23, not the £150 Britpart part quoted by the garage).

Following the instructions in my Haynes manual I spent a miserable half hour trying the remove the undershield in the wing before I gave up trying to get the rusted but hardened and hence undrillable screws out, and moved on to trying to get the sensor out instead. I tried every tool and method known to man (and believe me I tried) before eventually resorting to the drill as predicted by the garage.

75% of the way through drilling it out I spotted the reluctor ring through a gap in the hub casting and happened to put my finger on it. To my dismay, it moved!!! My befuddled brain quickly realised that I had now spent an hour and a half trying to replace a perfectly good sensor!

So, next step was to dismantle the hub casting from the suspension strut which was a simple process. I found that the reluctor ring was actually in 2 pieces. My original understanding was that it meant I needed a new driveshaft, but a quick check here and a look on Ebay revealed a replacement ring for the princely sum of £7.30 eBay My World - carspares-direct

So I ordered that and a new genuine hub nut (also off Ebay) and both arrived in two days.

Today I cleaned up the driveshaft and fitted the new ring and my bargain basement sensor in about an hour and instead of getting the inner wing shield off, I simply pulled the end of the cable up using a length of welding wire (I did remove the grommet by splitting it and re-inserted it from the top).

I now have a fully functioning ABS/TC system again, also a warm sense of satisfaction from having saved some cash.

There's no way of knowing if the parts are up to the same standard as those the garage would have fitted, but to be honest I'd be surprised if they prove to be a problem during what remaining useful life the vehicle has.

The thing that really embarrasses me to say is that just after the lights came on, I remember driving along with the window open and wondering what that tinkling sound coming from the hub area was!

So, just another possibility when the 3 Amigos come on - check the reluctor rings, the front ones at least can be checked by taking the wheels off and and sticking your finger in the slot at the bottom of the hub casting, no furher dismantling is needed.

The real moral of the story though is never believe the computer!

regards

Colin

I'm currently doing a reluctor ring replacement, hub nut is off and hoping I can replace the ring on the drive shaft by undoing the two nuts connecting the hub to the strut, wondered if this is what you did?
 
Thanks Colin - really great for you to share your woes and successes at the fix. I need to go down this route at some stage in the future and your advice and observations will save me a lot of time. I have just got one project out of the way and will be moving on to this in the next month or two.

Thanks again

Gareth
 
hello when i replaced my 4 abs rings on the undid 2 strut to hub bolts and hub nuts and was able with a bit of leverage to get the shaft out to replace the ring....

on the front tho you could undo the ball joint nut jut to make life so much easier i didnt but would do next time
 
you would have needed a new sensor any way, as when you replace the ring in might be slightly more proud, and then you would have the sensor touching it insted of being a slight fraction away to do not dispair too much
 
Scanned and found my rear wheel sensor ';Low output or zero'. Brought a replacement on off Ebay- just in case I ended up putting it into Landrover and job done. Judging by the muck on the end of the one I took out- I could have probably cleaned it up, and put it back on- but hey, its Christmas and it keeps on raining out there!
 
Just found this post through Google. Going to have a look at this on my freelander. My 3 lights keep coming on after about 25 mins driving. Now weather's warming up and having my windows open I've noticed a clicking noise. Thanks for giving me another option to check!
 
Hi

My garage has been looking at ongoing Three Amigos since January - I almost would feel embarrassed to ask them if 'they had checked the reluctor ring' - as why have they not looked on the forums?
They have been honest in not charging my for all the investgative time - but I do now have a new bearing fitted without fixing the problem and the lights are still on.


Coincidently a guy at work has a VW with the same issues - three lights and told his ABS needs fixing.
 
Hi

My garage has been looking at ongoing Three Amigos since January - I almost would feel embarrassed to ask them if 'they had checked the reluctor ring' - as why have they not looked on the forums?
They have been honest in not charging my for all the investgative time - but I do now have a new bearing fitted without fixing the problem and the lights are still on.


Coincidently a guy at work has a VW with the same issues - three lights and told his ABS needs fixing.
Have the garage read the diagnostic codes?

If they get the code it will say why the lights are lit. It may then take a bit of investigation - for example if it says RF wheel - it may well be the reluctor ring, senor or wiring - but that will be why the lights are lit - similarly it may be the brake switch, gearbox switch, modulator etc etc. The codes will tell.

Compared to, something like, my TD4 won't start, 3 Amigos "should" be easy relatively resolve.
 
Hi

My garage has been looking at ongoing Three Amigos since January - I almost would feel embarrassed to ask them if 'they had checked the reluctor ring' - as why have they not looked on the forums?
They have been honest in not charging my for all the investgative time - but I do now have a new bearing fitted without fixing the problem and the lights are still on.


Coincidently a guy at work has a VW with the same issues - three lights and told his ABS needs fixing.
What error codes do you have?
 
Given the number of sensors in the ABS/TC/HDC system, getting a diagnostic session is your best bet at finding the fault (or area of the fault as indicated by the OP of this thread).

On mine, I had faults with both a front wheel sensor (cheap replacement off eBay) and the in-cabin yaw (G) sensor (second hand replacement off eBay). Other faults can include the brake switch etc etc
 
I have the three amigos, have replaced the front nearside drive shaft including the CV joint and reluctor ring (needed, badly corroded) and am about to replace the front offside CV (with ring, also badly corroded). I have replaced the footbrake switch too, so once the work is done, hopefully the lights will be out! if not, then I suppose it's the sensors next up for examination! Will let you all know how I get on.
 
Have you had the codes read? Without knowing the codes its a bit like needle in a haystack. The codes will tell you why the lights are lit. You can buy a code reader (eg iCarsoft) for about £100 - or pay more for more fancy ones - I just take the car along to the local indie LR garage who charge me about £20.
 
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