Why ABS light illuminates while towing

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Feb 16, 2010 | 10:02 AM

Hawkeye 84

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Why ABS light illuminates while towing

Howdy sports fans, the wife and I towed our camper to Charleston, SC last weekend and while in route, my 06 F250 SD ABS light came on. We stopped once for fuel and when we restarted, the light wasn't on, but came on a number of miles down the road. After unhooking the camper and setting up camp, while driving to the Piggly Wiggly, the light never came on. When driving home from SC to NC, same situation occurred; ABS came on while towing, didn't come on when unhooked. Took truck to mechanic who looked at brakes and said that they looked fine. And no light driving to work today.

Any thoughts?

Feb 16, 2010 | 12:54 PM

RV_Tech

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From: Bristol, TN.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawkeye 84

After market controller? Have you had this problem before? Does it happen only while moving or is simply connecting the trailer enough?

Steve

Feb 16, 2010 | 01:02 PM

Hawkeye 84

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Steve, thanks. Factory installed, standard Ford controller. Never happened before this past weekend. Only while connected to camper trailer, after driving a unconsistant number of miles. Light will stay on after coming to a stop. After restarting truck, light will be out, then came on after driving again and stayed on until shutting off truck.

Feb 16, 2010 | 01:06 PM

senix

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interesting...so no codes from the ABS?

Feb 16, 2010 | 01:09 PM

Hawkeye 84

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No Codes

Steve, sadly, I shut off the truck before I could get it to a mechanic to pull the codes.

Yea, I know, sad I am, I do like green eggs and ham.

Feb 16, 2010 | 01:34 PM

RV_Tech

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This may be a hard one to nail down. Fortunately when the ABS goes south, you still have brakes, just no ABS. If you search the Internet, you will find many reports of problems with Ford's intergrated brake controller in 2005 and 2006 models, but no common solution. I would not expect a problem with the brakes, but I do regard the controller as a possible suspect.

I am not familiar with how the Intergrated contoller, the ABS, and the trailer interface electronically. I would routinely look for bad grounds or poor connections at the trailer and seven pin in the event these could impact the system. Lord knows they're common enough.

Steve