Broken ABS Speed Sensor Harness Fix

[tjhaf2007]

I know its a common problem for people to break their harnesses when they do leveling kits or lift and so forth, so I thought I share what I did when I broke mine. I installed a 3" leveling kit right after I first got the car. I didn't realize how sensitive the wire harness was when I did the install. After I finished the install, I turned the car on and saw all the lights on my dash and kinda freaked out. So I did a little research and found out the cause of the lights and came to the conclusion that I busted my harness. I pulled off the old harness and checked it for continuity with a multimeter just to make sure that was the problem, which in conclusion proved the harness had been damaged during the install. I was pretty bummed out since I was a broke college kid and I didn't have the money to buy brand new harnesses, I went about researching a much simpler and cost effective solution.

What I ended up doing was I made my own harness. I did this by saving the plug ends of the old harness and then I bought some black and red wire from radioshack, and then to ace and bought some clear tubing. before I cut the old harness, I measured the length of it and cut the clear tubing to size, then I fed the red and black wire through the tubing. After that, I soldered on the old plugs to the proper ends and wrapped it with electrical tape. I checked both wires with a multimeter for continuity and they all passed. So I installed the new harnesses on the car and did a recalibration. All the lights on the dash that were previously on went off and I was once again a happy college student with a properly operating 4runner.

I have been driving with these "new" harnesses for over a year now and they been driven in water, snow, mud, dirt, ect... and I havent had a since problem with them.

Here are some photos of the wire harness installed on the car. (This incident happened over a year ago, but I finally decided to post a write up on it) I dont have any photos of the harness out of the car or when I first installed it. Sorry if its a little hard to see the harness from all the dirt and mud.

 

[Atlanta_man]

Good fix, same as I did over a year ago

 

[J.A.]

great tip, thanks for sharing. did you need to do a zero point calibration to clear the lights?

 

[Atlanta_man]

the lights clear themselves

it was a pain routing the cables through the original retainers and guides

 

[tjhaf2007]

great tip, thanks for sharing. did you need to do a zero point calibration to clear the lights?

If you threw codes, I would do a zero point calibration. It never hurts to do one after you put a lift or leveling kit on your car, excpecially if the ride height or vehicle ride angle changes from the stock height. Its just a good idea because of the yaw sensor has a chance of being out of calibration with the new ride angle.

 

[zopperman]

I wish I had tried this before spending 225 on a new sensor and wiring. The mechanic told me that it wouldn't work when I suggested it :ybrick:

 

[chmura]

I wish I had tried this before spending 225 on a new sensor and wiring. The mechanic told me that it wouldn't work when I suggested it :ybrick:

Better to have an oem harness if YOU yourself won't be making it.

The labor going rate is what $80-120 an hour. So I bet they would charge 1.5 hours to make a new harness. That alone almost pays for a oem harness. Plus what if it doesn't work somehow, they have to start all over again. Not worth a mechanics trouble IMO.

 

[MtnT4R]

OP, you just saved me a lot of money. Many thanks! Those OEM harnesses are crap. Regular auto speaker wire will probably last the life of the vehicle.

 

[DaveK22]

OP, you just saved me a lot of money. Many thanks! Those OEM harnesses are crap. Regular auto speaker wire will probably last the life of the vehicle.

I had this happen too when doing lift install. Luckily this thread & the speaker wire suggestion worked out great.

Here are some additional tips though:
1. The end attached to wheel hub...cut the wires to be soldered a few inches beyond the black clip cover that slides off the clip itself. Make splice far enough to allow clip cover to slide off/on (~6"). That way the plug cover can slide back over the plug without a splice interfering. Then shrink tube or "liquid black tape" the soldered area. (It'll make sense when you see it)
2. Watch video on how to solder two wires. I would get solder with flux built in to make it easier.
This is good one...
How to Solder two Wires together. - YouTube
3. After repair, the abs & vsc lights were still on. However, after driving a little bit, all lights turned back off.

Hope this helps.

 

[runner4yoda]

I know its a common problem for people to break their harnesses when they do leveling kits or lift and so forth, so I thought I share what I did when I broke mine. I installed a 3" leveling kit right after I first got the car. I didn't realize how sensitive the wire harness was when I did the install. After I finished the install, I turned the car on and saw all the lights on my dash and kinda freaked out. So I did a little research and found out the cause of the lights and came to the conclusion that I busted my harness. I pulled off the old harness and checked it for continuity with a multimeter just to make sure that was the problem, which in conclusion proved the harness had been damaged during the install. I was pretty bummed out since I was a broke college kid and I didn't have the money to buy brand new harnesses, I went about researching a much simpler and cost effective solution.

What I ended up doing was I made my own harness. I did this by saving the plug ends of the old harness and then I bought some black and red wire from radioshack, and then to ace and bought some clear tubing. before I cut the old harness, I measured the length of it and cut the clear tubing to size, then I fed the red and black wire through the tubing. After that, I soldered on the old plugs to the proper ends and wrapped it with electrical tape. I checked both wires with a multimeter for continuity and they all passed. So I installed the new harnesses on the car and did a recalibration. All the lights on the dash that were previously on went off and I was once again a happy college student with a properly operating 4runner.

I have been driving with these "new" harnesses for over a year now and they been driven in water, snow, mud, dirt, ect... and I havent had a since problem with them.

Here are some photos of the wire harness installed on the car. (This incident happened over a year ago, but I finally decided to post a write up on it) I dont have any photos of the harness out of the car or when I first installed it. Sorry if its a little hard to see the harness from all the dirt and mud.

Wish I would of read this before I spent the $$$ at the stealership. I did the lift and it was all good. Yesterday I installed UCA's and that is when fit hit the shan. I have the sensor and waiting on the harness to come in. I botched both on this one. Actually my helper did it. I was doing the drivers side control arm. He didn't loosen the UCA long bolt before breaking the tapper on the ball joint. As soon as he pulled the nut off the joint the UCA popped up and damn near yanked the harness in two. I new it was toast as soon as I heard it. Turned on ignition and sure enough the thing lit up as expected.

 

[Jeremy556]

I know this is an old thread, but OP: you're going to need a new outer tie rod end and lower ball joint pretty soon.

Whenever I do anything with the front end, first thing after removing the wheel is to remove the ABS sensor (easier than disconnecting the electrical connector), wire, and tuck it up inside the engine bay. With an electric impact gun, 10mm socket and some needle nose pliers, it takes less than 30 seconds.

 

[kingguy]

I know its a common problem for people to break their harnesses when they do leveling kits or lift and so forth,

Yes, it appears that is exactly what I did when I put in Bilsteins last weekend. Got the ABS, VSC TRAC, and VSC OFF lights. Tried to do a zero point calibration, but of course that didn't work since the ABS system is showing an error.

I have no issues soldering wires and replacing the current wire with speaker wire once I figure out where the issue is. The problem is, I can't get the current wires out.

How do you remove the connector that goes into the back of the hub?

 

[kingguy]

Bueller... Bueller...

Anybody got any tips for removing this harness?

 

[ebg18t]

Bueller... Bueller...

Anybody got any tips for removing this harness?

I just depressed the clip and pulled. I don't recall it being anything odd.

 

[TiN]

This is a cool idea. If my harness ends up being the cause of my ABS/Trac issues I'll probably go this route.

I doubt it'd be super practical or useful, but what about putting stainless steel braided sleeves over the cables? Seems like it'd add a little more protection and look pretty cool at the same time.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Yes, it appears that is exactly what I did when I put in Bilsteins last weekend. Got the ABS, VSC TRAC, and VSC OFF lights. Tried to do a zero point calibration, but of course that didn't work since the ABS system is showing an error.

I have no issues soldering wires and replacing the current wire with speaker wire once I figure out where the issue is. The problem is, I can't get the current wires out.

How do you remove the connector that goes into the back of the hub?

First off I would not use Speaker Wire, it is not meant for these types of applications and typically the insulation is not what you want.

Second the connector that goes into the back of the hub

What do you mean the connector that goes in the back of the hub? You should be able to just squeeze the tab and wiggle it off? It's probably just seized from dust/grime.

This is a cool idea. If my harness ends up being the cause of my ABS/Trac issues I'll probably go this route.

I doubt it'd be super practical or useful, but what about putting stainless steel braided sleeves over the cables? Seems like it'd add a little more protection and look pretty cool at the same time.

Not sure it would really do anything? You'd have to attach the stainless steel sleeve somehow, otherwise it'd just stretch the wires out at the back of the connectors (if you crimped it at the ends there) or stretch the wire out somewhere else. Even then you can't really attach it effectively to make it work...

 

[TiN]

Not sure it would really do anything? You'd have to attach the stainless steel sleeve somehow, otherwise it'd just stretch the wires out at the back of the connectors (if you crimped it at the ends there) or stretch the wire out somewhere else. Even then you can't really attach it effectively to make it work...

Very true, you'll always end up with a weak point on these wires no matter what. And like you said above, making a homemade harness out of any ol' wire won't allow the sensors perform their best (makes sense if the system is resistance based, correct?). Either way, now that I know my ABS harness wires are not my issue, I definitely won't be spending the time or money trying to integrate custom sleeving haha.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Yes, the Skid Control ECU looks for a certain amount of resistance in the wiring harness. The issue why resistance is critical in this particular set-up is because the amplitude of the square wave sent by the ABS Speed Sensor can be varied by changes in resistance (and/or mechanical things like being too far away from the tone wheel somehow.) If the square wave does not fit the amplitude and shape profile the Skid Control ECU is looking for it will set a DTC because it can't properly "read" the sensor's data.

Theoretically if you test the resistance in your "repaired" harness with the factory specifications, you should be able to avoid any issues there.

I would also point out that speaker wire is typically more prone to stretching and insulation break-down than automotive grade wiring, so in an exposed area like the wheel wheel the "cheap fix" harness will fail very quickly. I never understood why people use speaker wire for anything other than their boom boxes...

 

[vidoseaver]

DIY ABS sensor harness

Yes, the Skid Control ECU looks for a certain amount of resistance in the wiring harness. The issue why resistance is critical in this particular set-up is because the amplitude of the square wave sent by the ABS Speed Sensor can be varied by changes in resistance (and/or mechanical things like being too far away from the tone wheel somehow.) If the square wave does not fit the amplitude and shape profile the Skid Control ECU is looking for it will set a DTC because it can't properly "read" the sensor's data.

Theoretically if you test the resistance in your "repaired" harness with the factory specifications, you should be able to avoid any issues there.

I would also point out that speaker wire is typically more prone to stretching and insulation break-down than automotive grade wiring, so in an exposed area like the wheel wheel the "cheap fix" harness will fail very quickly. I never understood why people use speaker wire for anything other than their boom boxes...

Do you happen to know what the resistance of the factory harness is meant to be? You advise against using coax cable, what kind of cable would you recommend? I've been looking for "abs wire" but cant seem to find anything except preexisting harnesses.

 

[vidoseaver]

For anyone who comes across this abs sensor issue, I would advise them to test the sensor with a multimeter.

I got a code that meant the back left sensor. I tested it with a multimeter and determined it was good. I don't know Toyotas exact specs but mine was right at 2000 ohms of resistance.

As for the rear wiring harness. When I tested the good side it had 2 ohms of resistance. And that may have just been my meter. I rebuilt my rear ABS wiring harness same as the OP and that took care of the problem. I did have to do a zero calibration afterward. There is a youtube video on how to do it and its just a few basic steps.

Best of luck y'all.