ABS Sensor Problem

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7schulz

7schulz

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Joined
Dec 9, 2008
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Location
Zionsville, IN
When I am stopping my truck it stops just fine all the way to about .5 mph (right before full stop) then I feel the ABS kick on and the steering wheel will jerk to the right. Does anyone have a picture of a good and bad ABS sensor (damaged) and if it is jerking to the right what wheel is the bad sensor at?

Edit: This is on dry pavement and not emergency braking. This happens even under the lightest braking.
 
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I pulled the left front tire (b.c it jerked the wheel to the right when this happened) and the ABS sensor, it looked clean and the part in the knucle was still in it's origional position so nothing was moved during the re-gear and birf job. Has anyone had an ABS sensor go bad? Is that what it woiuld do if it went bad?
 
7schulz said:
I pulled the left front tire (b.c it jerked the wheel to the right when this happened) and the ABS sensor, it looked clean and the part in the knucle was still in it's origional position so nothing was moved during the re-gear and birf job. Has anyone had an ABS sensor go bad? Is that what it woiuld do if it went bad?
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This seems to be a fairly common occurrence. I've read about it happening on the forum a few times and it happened to me also. I just pulled the ABS fuse and have lived with the ABS light on for almost a year now.

If you search, there are some posts on here about how to remove and clean the sensors but to replace them you either need to find a used one an splice it into your existing wiring or buy a whole new wiring setup from the dealer--they don't sell just the sensor. To me it was less work and cheaper just to pull the fuse.
 
take your sensors back out and clean them.
When I had my front axle worked on I had your same symptoms. The sensors are sensitive (imagine that)
 
7schulz said:
When I am stopping my truck it stops just fine all the way to about .5 mph (right before full stop) then I feel the ABS kick on and the steering wheel will jerk to the right. Does anyone have a picture of a good and bad ABS sensor (damaged) and if it is jerking to the right what wheel is the bad sensor at?

Edit: This is on dry pavement and not emergency braking. This happens even under the lightest braking.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a caliper problem to me. Check the passenger side caliper to make sure it's not sticking.

How old are they and when were they last R&R or replaced?
 
7schulz said:
Calipers are probably origional 130K, pads are new about 1000 miles ago and it braked just find untill the work was done.
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I'm not following. What work was done?

If this didn't happen until you did a brake job, then there's your culprit.
 
No it happend immediatly after a re-gear, birf job and new VC. I'm banking on too much moly in the birf. The break work was done months before and it worked properly after that.
 
Did you remember to pull the ABS sensor before pulling the birfs? Checked the ABS lines to make sure you didn't damage one?
 
The line I checked looked good. I'll check the rest later. I did notice some moly by the sensor where it fits into the knuckle so thats why I'm guessing it's too much moly. I had a buddy who is a Toyota tech do all the work for me so I assume he knew what he was doing. I didn't have room or time to do a re-gear, knuckle job and tear the t-case down.
 
OhioCruiser said:
I would check rear sensors.Had the same problem. Found some metal part out of emergensy brake machanism stuck to sensor.
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X2 on the rear sensors. Just don't break off the mounting bolt, I twisted mine off with what seemed very little torque.
 
I had the same issue as you, sensor issue after axle work, birf, gears etc. My culprit was the wrong drive flanges were installed with the birf job. This will cause the axles to travel too far and throw off the ABS sensor. There is probably nothing wrong with the sensors themselves. They are designed to read a certain spot on the axle. When the axle moves too much due to improper drive flanges, it throws off the sensor. Make sure you have the correct drive flanges installed.
 
Check the play between the birf and the bronze bushing in the spindle housing, if excessive this can cause the ABS to react, in particular as you brake over a bump or rough road surface.

regards

Dave
 
7schulz said:
If I unplug one sensor does that disable the whole system or just that wheel?
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The whole system will revert to a 'normal' non ABS system, you may also get a warning light within driving a few metres.

regards

Dave
 
It is usually caused by excessive gap between the ring and the sensor and it doesn't take much to cause an issue.

Pull out the sensors and clean the mating surfaces (sensor, shims and knuckle) of ALL rust or dirt and reinstall making sure they are seated all the way down ... 99% sure that will cure the issue :D
 
TCH2FLY said:
It is usually caused by excessive gap between the ring and the sensor and it doesn't take much to cause an issue.

Pull out the sensors and clean the mating surfaces (sensor, shims and knuckle) of ALL rust or dirt and reinstall making sure they are seated all the way down ... 99% sure that will cure the issue :D
Click to expand...

That's my plan for this weekend, I just unpluged the one sensor for now and the ABS light came on, on start up.
 
I cleaned both front ABS sensor and they both had greas on them but that didn't fix the problem. Is there a fuse I can pull so I can leave the sensor connected but not working so road debris doesn't get into the unpluged connector plug, or is that the only way to disable the system.
 
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