ABS wouldn't let me stop
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New User
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 7
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From: Michigan
ABS wouldn't let me stop
I have a '95 Ranger Splash with a 4.0L V-6 and 4-wheel ABS.
Today, I had to make a panic stop on dry pavement. I was going about 20 miles per hour when the pickup in front of me stopped suddenly. I was at least 80 feet behind him. When I stood on the brakes, the ABS kicked in and wouldn't let me slow down much at all. I rear-ended him at about 10 mph. Given the conditions, I should have easily been able to stop with 10-20 feet to spare. Fortunately for him, his receiver hitch took the impact, but it did a number on my front bumper. I have new tires with only about 500 miles on them.
Anybody got any suggestions? For the time being, I will probably pull the ABS fuse, but I'd like to actually fix the problem the right way?
Here's some history of my ABS issues:
About nine months ago, I replaced the (original) front brake rotors and (non-original) pads. At the time, I made sure the sheetmetal disc on the back of the new rotor matched the old one (I assume it's part of what makes the ABS work). Starting the next morning, the ABS seemed to kick in at weird times, such as:
- When I back out of the driveway at slow speed on dry pavement (pressing the brake pedal or not)
- The last couple of feet before I completely stop at an intersection
- When I am crawling in traffic in first gear at a steady speed and quickly let off the gas, but don't touch the brakes
When I say the ABS is kicking in, I mean I hear the box under the hood groaning just like it does when I hit the brakes hard on wet pavement (when it is supposed to kick in).
A few months after I installed the new rotors, I pulled them back off and cleaned off all the crud behind the rotor. I made sure the little dime-sized shiny metal discs were spotless, since I assume they are what sense the slots in the discs on the rotors and activate the ABS. This solved the problem for a few weeks, but it has returned.
Today, I had to make a panic stop on dry pavement. I was going about 20 miles per hour when the pickup in front of me stopped suddenly. I was at least 80 feet behind him. When I stood on the brakes, the ABS kicked in and wouldn't let me slow down much at all. I rear-ended him at about 10 mph. Given the conditions, I should have easily been able to stop with 10-20 feet to spare. Fortunately for him, his receiver hitch took the impact, but it did a number on my front bumper. I have new tires with only about 500 miles on them.
Anybody got any suggestions? For the time being, I will probably pull the ABS fuse, but I'd like to actually fix the problem the right way?
Here's some history of my ABS issues:
About nine months ago, I replaced the (original) front brake rotors and (non-original) pads. At the time, I made sure the sheetmetal disc on the back of the new rotor matched the old one (I assume it's part of what makes the ABS work). Starting the next morning, the ABS seemed to kick in at weird times, such as:
- When I back out of the driveway at slow speed on dry pavement (pressing the brake pedal or not)
- The last couple of feet before I completely stop at an intersection
- When I am crawling in traffic in first gear at a steady speed and quickly let off the gas, but don't touch the brakes
When I say the ABS is kicking in, I mean I hear the box under the hood groaning just like it does when I hit the brakes hard on wet pavement (when it is supposed to kick in).
A few months after I installed the new rotors, I pulled them back off and cleaned off all the crud behind the rotor. I made sure the little dime-sized shiny metal discs were spotless, since I assume they are what sense the slots in the discs on the rotors and activate the ABS. This solved the problem for a few weeks, but it has returned.
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 379
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I had a similar problem w/ the wifes old car. One of the wheel speed sensors was not working properly. The connection between the little pigtail coming off of the sensor and the wire going to the computer had gotten corroded and was not making good contact. I cleaned the connection and put it back together and it worked fine for a while but it became corroded again and stopped working. I finally just cut out the connection and spliced the wires together directly, problem solved.
