90 XJ ABS nightmare (long)

Grab a can of WD-40 and a rag and go clean off all four ABS sensors mounted on the four wheels. My ABS gave me a code years ago and my brakes started acting funny and all it turned out to be was a bunch of dried on gunk on one of the sensors. It's worth a shot, that is for sure. Clear the ABS code afterwards by disconnecting the battery for

2-3 minutes, then drive it to see if that fixed the problem. Sometimes a simple fix takes care of a difficult problem. And no, the WD-40 wil not harm the sensor or any other electrical component for that matter.

Jerry

Dana Rohleder wrote:

My local $tealer tried to soak me for a mess of unneeded stuff rather than do the recall first. I got my money back on all the labor when I went to the service manager and raised shit. I guess the fact I caught them charging taxes on stuff that is tax free might have helped my case, but....

I would insist on the recall period. Then if it doesn't work, they can change other parts or you can just pull the relays and do without the ABS anyway.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Dana Rohleder wrote:

Mike,

I already tried that. Unfortunately, pulling the relays on this system disabled the power assist, since it runs from the pump, not vacuum.

Do you recall which unneeded parts they soaked you for?

It was a different recall, I typed that sort of strange.

Mike

Dana Rohleder wrote:

The ABS fiasco cost me $2000 out of pocket for repairs/diagnostics to date, not including the actuator that was covered under warranty. It still pulls severely to the right, but the ABS fault lights are no longer working. They wanted to replace both my front calipers and hoses for another $500, but I put a stop to it. I asked them if they would guarantee that it would stop the pulling and they looked at me like a golden goose that just stopped laying eggs. I took the car back and may do the job myself for 1/2 of the cost - they have got their last dime out of me.

That was my thought too, but the tech said that if that were the case I'd be getting a fault light. I asked them 3 times to check the gaps, or even see if the passenger's front wasn't working at all, but they never gave me the satisfaction. The gaps I can check myself, but is there an easy way of cleaning the rust off of the tonewheels without removing them?

Dana Rohleder did pass the time by typing:

A little rust on the tone wheels won't hurt anything. What will cause problems is buildup of metal filings from the brakes on the sensors face. Just use a piece of cloth and with the wheel off slowly turn the hub to drag it past the tone ring.

Then go and clean the connector to your ABS computer. (both the pin and the wire side) 99% of all ABS faults are caused by that connector getting contaminated by road salt/grime/dust and it doesn't take much to cause problems. This problem usually manifests itself as the ABS light coming on when you go over railroad crossings or potholes.

Use a spray contact cleaner that's safe for plastic, not WD-40! Then apply a good layer of silicone dielectric grease (sparkplug grease) to both sides and pop it back on.

Having one sensor out of cal by just a smidge (less than it takes to set a fault code) will cause the ABS to apply just as you come to a normal stop.