First, I've read every 'RABS' post I could find.

Tonight I:

pulled the sensor off the rear differential. It was pretty clean, I cleaned it anyway, and put it back in. Checked the wires and connection, not really any grime in there.

I checked the fluid. It was a tad low, so I filled it up. I checked the wires of the plug going into the master cylinder. There were fine.


I found the black/orange wire by the parking break. I attached a wire to a connector, and put the connector on the blade inside the plastic rectangle box of the orange/black wire.

Now, I am confused, because some posts say "you have to temporarily remove some???wire??? to get the codes to register from the black/orange wire. Any advice here?

This is what I did:
1. Pulled the wire, and connected my wire. 2. Started engine. 3. RABS check light (yellow) came on. NO RED LIGHT showing, fyi. 4. Grounded the black/orange wire. I tried 4 different places, including dimmer switch and cigarette ligher wall.
No "blinking" occured from the yellow light.

OH , I have a 1991 Ford F150. It has a 300 I6 4.9 L.

There is a RABS connector near the EngineCode connector in the engine bay. Right next to the EngineCode reader I used last week to diagnose my EGR 332 issue.

Right now, I don't have the truck registered (licensed). Aka, that's why I'm fixing things, to get it inspect-able, so I can register it, and not get a $penalty$ for having a non registered truck (NC laws).

So, it'd be nice to get the codes, so I'm not shooting in the dark.

Option 1:
Figure out what the "remove some???wire??? instruction means"

Option 2:
Drive it illegally to Autozone and get the RABS connector hooked up and checked (the engine bay one).

Thanks for any (more) advice.

Sloan

 

For grins, pull the connector from the master cyclinder, jumper the 2 borwn wires, restart the truck. report back.

 

Ok, I'll give it a shot tonight.

What you're saying is to pull the master cylinder plug and short out/connect the 2 brown wires, bypassing the circuit inside the master cylinder.

I'll post results tomorrow.

..

Sloan

 

I pulled the plug, and shorted/connected the 2 brown wires.

It did not turn the light off.

I pulled the negative cable for about 1/2 hour (while I did some stuff) and retried the code-pull. I tried grounding the orange/black for 1/2 second, 1 second, 2 seconds, etc.
Is the yellow light (the one which is showing the error), this is the light which will blink the codes, correct?

I got a rear axle speed sensor, and will try that tomorrow or saturday.

My biggest thing is why the codes won't flash. That's irking me.

..

Sloan

 

I replaced the unit that goes in top/center of the rear axle.

Unplugged the battery for 10minutes, I still have the light on.

I guess I'll pull the rear wheels tomorrow.

Geeeze.....Why oh Why won't the code pull work??

..

 

There is also a electrical connector on the frame rail on the driver side. The RABS control box is mounted underneath the dash. Hows are the brakes, does the pedal feel normal.

To get codes, disconnect the black/orange wire. ground the wires for two seconds and disconnect from ground. You should get codes.

 

Check for a ground at the controller, and at the solenoids on the frame. I ended up having the same symptoms and wound up hooking a ground wire from the plug on the driver's side inner fender to a fender bolt, problem solved. I can look tomorrow at the coloring if you like, its worth a shot to try hooking a ground to it for the price and the amount of time it takes.

 

Ok, I think you're saying there is a poor ground (somewhere?) and .....thus you made a new (and permanent) ground from the plug to the fender.
Aka, I can't pull codes if there is a poor ground somewhere.

Yes, if you could find the wire color of the wire (on the plug) which I can then run a new (and permanent) ground to the fender bolt, that would be great.

I'm using the word permanent to differeniate between a permanent ground,... and the temporary ground you use to pull the codes from the orange/black wire.

..

Are you saying, that after you ran a new ground wire to the fender bolt... that you were then able to (temporary) ground the orange/black wire near the parking brake.... and then the code-flashing worked? Or some other way the code flashing works?

Thanks.

Sloan

 

The brakes are normal, the light being on... is the only noticeable issue. The pedal feels fine.

Are you saying.... to find where the black/orange wire plugs into RABS control box (in the dash) .. and disconnect it from the RABS control box... and then direct ground the RABS control box (where the orange/black wire was plugged in?)? Aka, you're meaning to eliminate the run/length of the orange/black wire in the equation, and ground the control box directly, to eliminate it as an issue?

Sorry, some of the info is running together.... and I can't tell one "ground this" from "ground that" sometimes.

And when you say "you will get the codes", this means the yellow light (the original probelm indicator light on the dash) will blink the codes? When you're never seen it work before, its hard to know exactly what will blink.....

Sloan

 

Ok, I'll check now, I just got other problems fixed today, I'll post back in about 10 min.

 

Ok, Look for a plug with a yellow wire, a black with white stripe, a tealish with red stripe, green w/black and red. Once you find that plug, ground the black/white wire to any good ground you can find. I just used one of the large bolts that hold the fender to the cab by the hood hinge.

 

Ok, I'll try that tonight , and post back the results. Thanks for looking.

Are you saying that in your case, that it fixed the light being on altogether.... OR by running the new ground wire, it allowed you to do the code-check?

Either way, I'll follow your instructions tonight, and let you know how it works out.

..

Sloan

 

Fixed the whole works. The light would come on, then go out (bulb check) then come on and stay on. The odd time it would go out and my abs would work.