abs light on

[eurolatin336]

Wonder if you guys have had this happen.

last two days when going home from work not in the morning, first night the abs light came on, this was erased by shutting car off, then today in the afternoon the abs light came on and followed by battery light flashing erratic, i pressed the gas and the battery light went away but the abs light remain, again i shut off, restarted and light was gone.

i took to local mechanic to check alternator on which they tested battery cranks with engine off, then alternator with lights on and blower and this also checked out. i do have a leak on the valve cover on the left side just so you guys know.

the weird thing is i was coming from the mechanic i had to floor it hard to pass another vehicle and that triggered the abs light again so im wondering if the abs needs a recalibration or is there anything else i should do .

 

[gamefreakgc]

You might have dirt or contaminants on the ABS ring or sensor that's on the axles. You'll find a black sensor on each wheel on the back side of the wheel hub (has a wires coming off it, it's soft unlike the hard brake lines). Comes right out with a 10mm socket, very easy to remove. On the bottom of the sensor there's a magnet that passes over but not touches the teeth of the ABS ring. If the ring is gunked up or there's metal shavings on the magnets the sensor will not work right. I'd start there, will take all of 15 minutes to remove all 4 and clean them off. I don't even think you will need to remove the tires to get to them.

The battery light though, is a totally different issue. Unless you've got a nasty short going on that's just tripping the ABS light, even though there's nothing wrong with the ABS.

 

[T4R2014]

Check the connections on the module under the hood and make sure they are clean. Dirty sensors usually trigger a solid light. Try braking hard on some wet leaves to make sure the system is still working as well.

 

[eurolatin336]

Hey guys thanks for the quick reply, ill check those out and start there and see where that leads, with regards to the batter i know that i have some corrosion around the battery terminals, i have next week off while im doing the sensor cleaning ill get those terminals cleaned as well.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Hey guys thanks for the quick reply, ill check those out and start there and see where that leads, with regards to the batter i know that i have some corrosion around the battery terminals, i have next week off while im doing the sensor cleaning ill get those terminals cleaned as well.

Well if you know your battery terminals are bad... maybe that's the first place to start. They clean up nicely with water+baking soda and one of those scotch brite steel wool pads.

 

[eurolatin336]

Well if you know your battery terminals are bad... maybe that's the first place to start. They clean up nicely with water+baking soda and one of those scotch brite steel wool pads.

I really think that this the main problem as well. after work I did full throttle from a dig and no lights on, I then turn ECT, O/D and 4WD from a dig to 60km and again no light on my way to the gym. after that I filled up gas and went home with no lights either. so seems that at times the battery terminal misreads due to corrosion and throws the code from low voltage read out, that's my best un educated guess.

 

[eurolatin336]

ok so to help if someone has ever had this problem, today i had the time to check things out and by process of elimination. alternator was good, then i figured it has been running good for all these years and the only thing i changed on it, i did it wrong.

I put in an aftermarket stereo on it and i didnt solder the wiring harness, seems as this was the issue all this time.

Took car out for test drive with out stereo harness plugged in, although the battery light did come on heavy acceleration (suspect drained battery) but the ABS light didnt come back on. Then again but this time with the stereo harness plugged in and bam abs light went on at about 300 meters down the road, then the battery got complete discharged (needed boost) and the aftermarket stereo didnt turn on anymore. I accepted failure on my wiring harness by hand and electrical tape and yanked the aftermarket stereo right out to put the original toyota stereo back on and no more ABS light on, went and bought jumpers for backup and no ABS light issues going to supermarket, gas station, auto parts store.

i am wondering why did the aftermarket stereo draw so much power? i mean the wires werent soldered ok, but grounds were screwed in properly, the wires i just twisted them by hand, yes this wouldnt make for a great conduct of electricity but the aftermarket didnt dim once, unless it tried to suck more power out of the system to compensate.

anyways hopes this helps someone out there