I'm relatively new to this area and after having mixed results regarding mechanics, I found one that was highly recommended by non-enthusiasts and people not mechanically-inclined. By and large, I've been pleased with this garage's work, but there are a couple of Yelp-like reviews which talk about them fixing something major, then finding out that the knee-jerk diagnosis wasn't the problem and it was actually something minor. So, I kind of want to know what could be the problem before I take the car into the shop. I can do some work myself, but I don't have a lift and a fully-stocked garage can do things much more quickly.

With that said, I took my 2005 Ford Escape into the shop to have all four brakes done. They also turned the rotors and there was a problem, where I was getting a beepcode telling me the air bag light wasn't functioning, which a search on this forum told me the bulb needed replaced to stop the beeping. While it was in the shop, they replaced the bulb and now my airbag light stays lit, but that's not something about which I'm very worried at this time.

Since the brakes were done, the ABS light has been coming on and staying lit, also the 4WD light blinks eight times, then cycles again after a minute. This wasn't happening every time I've driven the vehicle, but it has now become much more regular.

This thread tells me that it could be the tone ring. Additional searches show a wide variety of costs for the repair and in a couple of places, I've found people suggesting that maybe nothing's wrong, the sensor has just been bumped.

My instinct was that when they were doing the brakes, they may not have reconnected something right. That's why I haven't been overly worried and have basically ignored the lights for a couple of weeks.

Any thoughts on whether this could be something simple or maybe something I could look at or "bump" myself, or is the likelihood pretty high that it's the tone arm and I'm destined for a two or three hundred dollar repair? Right now, I'm not really seeing any detrimental effects frpom the lights being lit and in the seven years I've owned the vehicle, the 4WD has never engaged, so I'm not expecting to use it. But, we are planning to put about 3k miles on the car over the holidays and we will be driving in much more traffic on those trips, so if there's a chance that there's something really wrong with the car, I'd rather get it fixed before we leave.

Any thoughts, tips or helpful hints would be appreciated. I've referenced these forums several times for both of my Fords, so I know there's a lot of smart and experienced people. I'd appreciate knowing what y'all think.

Thanks in advance and happy holidays.

 

How many beeps does it give you at a time, and how many sets of beeps? I have a similar problem with my escape. The airbag light being burned out will make it beep, and the cause of the problem may be a connection issue with a wiring harness under each of the front seats. Unfasten them, clean with aluminum cleaner or other electrical contact cleaner, then refasten the harnesses. See if the light goes out then.

 

The backup airbag notifier was five beeps at five seconds, then it would go again in about fifteen minutes or so. Hopefully the sensor is the culprit, but I haven't really done anything about it, yet. I mostly mentioned it because I wondered if there could be a possibility that they reconnected something wrong when they changed the bulb or maybe the ABS + 4WD light were on the same "circuit", so perhaps they had been "lit", when the bulb was blown.

Otherwise and as an FYI, I got a little different behavior out of the dash lights this afternoon. Again, they don't burn every trip and one of my drives this afternoon, the ABS wasn't lit and the 4WD blinked continuously, without interruption. This is different than has happened, before.

Again, thanks and I keep planning to reseat the sensor, but because I drive less than ten miles most days, I keep putting it off.

 

My '04 Escape is a V6 front wheel drive, and it repeats a cycle of 5 sets of 5 beeps about every 20 minutes. I still need to make some time to get up under the seats, disconnect the plugs, clean them, then plug them back in, then figure out where the light bulbs are that are burned out for the lower edge backlights on my instrument panel. Aside from this, the vehicle is doing great. I just hope I don't have to have a field test of the airbag system by getting in a wreck, at least not until I get these issues resolved. From what I have heard, the air bags might not go off at all if there are issues with parts of the system. I don't go off-road enough for me to have gone for the 4wd, so the fwd does alright for me.