Can anyone shed some light on an ABS fault?

After changing my ball joints my abs light is on and its says ABS fault followed by traction failure on message centre.

When i was smacking the hell out of the ball joint my hammer slipped and has cracked a the plastic on the sensor but the wires inside all seem fine with no brakes. I also stupidly gave the sensor a bit of a tap to try and get it out but only lightly. Now the MOT retest is this friday and the tester said he would fail it if the ABS light is on.

Apart from ripping the dash out does any one know a way to fool the ABS to get rid of this message as my credit card can't take any more and i need the car to pass the MOT.

I can't get the sensor out to test it as its rusted solid into the hub. IS there a way to test what the problem is or if there is infact a break in the circuit??

Thanks

No easy, cheap fix other than replace the sensor I'm afraid. Try a local breakers.The body of the sensor is stainless steel and a good soaking of Plus Gas or similar and brute force will remove it. The sensor is a Hall Effect type and an ordinary multimeter will not work to test it. The M.O.T tester will probably check the operation of the warning light for the ABS and may pick up on it.

I agree with Irish, I had an intermittent ABS fault for ages and it gradually got worse and worse until when braking I would almost always set off the ABS fault message. The ECU kept reporting the same fault of the sensor being the problem.

You don't want to leave it as if you crashed and they found out about the fault with your P38's braking system I guess you might not even be insured.

The ABS sensor itself isnt that expensive, you can find them online for around £85ish quid, which, for a P38 part isnt that bad IMO!

Getting the sensor out isnt too difficult, mole grips and some brute force along with WD40 or something similar, like Irish said, will have it out. When you buy a new sensor you get the sensor, a new sleeve thingy (dont know the tech name for it) and some grease in a little packet so you have all the stuff there you might need when replacing. A small rubber mallet to tap the new sensor into place and you will be all sorted, you dont even need to have a session on the computer to clear the fault.

Dont mess with your safety, replace the sensor and be done with it. The MOT guy WONT pass the vehicle if the light is on, if its removed I think it still gets failed, especially as the message centre will be beeping away with ABS FAULT.

-Wills

What if i piggy back the screwed sensor off the good sensor so the front right sensor also uses the front left?? surely that would stop the abs light??

Hackett said:

What if i piggy back the screwed sensor off the good sensor so the front right sensor also uses the front left?? surely that would stop the abs light??

Click to expand...

I wouldn't.

Apart from that, and I may be talking total twoddle, I wouldn't be surprised if hookin two sensors up together causes a fault because it could upset the signal. There is a lot involved with the ABS/traction system, it's not worth it.

If you needed to replace the ABS ECU as a result you'll be in for serious money and you'd be no further forward.

Not wanting to preach or anything, it is your P38 afterall, BUT, you are playing with the braking system... the system that has to stop the 3 tonnes of metal you are driving about in first time, everytime - messing around with the braking system, especially the sensors which control the operation of the ABS is just asking for trouble and could very easily leave you with no brakes, you are going to risk your safety and anyone else who travels in the car and like I pointed out before, if you DID have an accident your insurance company would take one look at the vehicle and you would be in big trouble.

Sorry to preach but for less than the price of a full tank of fuel you can fix the fault and be safe.

-Wills

wills said:

Sorry to preach but for less than the price of a full tank of fuel you can fix the fault and be safe.

-Wills

Click to expand...

You'd have to be a bit of a nutter to argue with that.

If you piggy back the sensor you will still be "Reading" 3 wheels through the ECU and reading a fault, additionally. if there is a short in the faulty sensor this could affect the sensor it's connected to. The ABS sensors control the Traction Control as they signal wheel slip. The sensor fits into a tubular spring bush to hold it in place and without this thin bush they are a sloppy fit in the hole and should be no big deal to remove. I am sorry the wallet is thin, but the only answer is CHANGE IT!!!!
Take it for the MOT and it fails=money down the drain.

Any "proper" MOT centre will not fall for your "take the bulb out" solution, they will verify that the ABS warning light performs as it should, i.e. illuminates as part of the bulb test on key-on and so on.

Having said that, I do know people that have hung a little PIC microcontroller board on the ABS light to fudge the action of bulb and fool the MOT tester, just to avoid buying a new ABS control system. Not something I would recommend and not something I would do, but you pay your money and you take your choice.

With a failed ABS (due to a missing sensor) worst case situation is that you have no ABS which really shouldn't be a big deal, the brakes will still work normally. With a failed ABS system for other reasons, you could be playing with the integrity of your brakes and hence your (and possibly my) life.......

You didn't mention whether you had a Classic or a P38, but you can pick up ABS wheel sensors for both on eBay for around £25 which seems to be £25 well spent.

There are several on there at the moment:

Range Rover P38 - Rear ABS Sensor on eBay, also, Range Rover, Car Parts, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 16-Sep-08 21:35:18 BST)

Range Rover Classic 95 O/S/F ABS Sensor on eBay, also, Range Rover, Car Parts, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 23-Aug-08 07:50:05 BST)

It would seem to make sense that the only difference between the individual wheel sensors should be the length of the attached cable (but I may be wrong as we are talking about LR here).

Let just imagine you have slaved the dodgy sensor off of the good one and you have to brake hard - one wheel is going to lock up and the other wont - result = big swerve, rollover who knows ? Bottom line, dont cut corners on safety.

rewmer said:

Let just imagine you have slaved the dodgy sensor off of the good one and you have to brake hard - one wheel is going to lock up and the other wont - result = big swerve, rollover who knows ? Bottom line, dont cut corners on safety.

Click to expand...

If you slave the sensors, the ABS will treat both front wheels in exactly the same way, it won't apply the ABS to one without applying it to the other.

Just means that you may end up applying the ABS to an unlocked wheel if the "slaved host" wheel locks. Worst case is that if you lock the "slaved" wheel (the one without the sensor), ABS will ignore it. However, this would be the same as driving without ABS and didn't we all used to do that, in fact a lot of drivers still do as not all new cars come with ABS as standard ?

Still doesn't make it a smart move tho' ......

The ABS ECU is looking for four inputs, one for each wheel. To "Slave" it would require splicing in to another, working, sensor lead. From memory, the leads are shielded to prevent electrical "Noise" and also, you have created a potential weak spot for corrosion and future problems with the "Host" lead-result-two sensors needed for the fix. Nobody wants their motor to fail the MOT but let's be realistic-o.k. the brakes will work without the ABS and the car will drive without Traction Control, years ago, only one tail lamp was required and hand signals were the norm where there were no brake lights. Come on Guys-get real. If we have to "Codge" our motors just to get the MOT cert., what other shortcuts do we make???????????????????????