Mini Cooper S - ABS light flickering after start up? - Woddy321
Hello one and all,

3 days ago my 2002 Mini Cooper S developed a strange fault with the abs. After the car is started and as you pull away in 1st gear at a slow pace (no spinning) the abs light flickers and kicks in for a few seconds then clears, after that it is fine and would be for 500 miles hypothetically. It only seems to happen when the car is turned off, turned back on and then it kicks in when you pull away. The car has been plugged in, which came back all clear so no sensors are down etc.. Even if there was a magnet down on the driveshaft surely it would continually do it? All the tyres pressure have been checked and all running the same psi, I have even disconnected the battery for 20 mins, still no joy..

All help will be gratefully appreciated,
Cheers

Edited by Woddy321 on 19/02/2014 at 17:08

Mini Cooper S - ABS light flickering after start up? - vmturbo

ABS faults are often to do with the sensors. Iron dust from the brakes can get attracted to the magnets, wires can crack, reluctor rings (AKA "tone-wheels") can fracture or come loose, connector plugs can corrode. It is possible to repair cracked tone-wheels in spite of what official channels may say. One just brazes-up the split with Sifbronze. As this is non-magnetic it doesn't really matter if the entire tooth gap is filled. Re-fitting involves removing the rust on the shaft and ring with emery paper then gluing the ring in place with anaerobic sealant then painting the tone-wheel with anti-corrosive paint. Such a repair is not really a bodge as it will normally outlast the car.

On some cars the ABS control box has a resiliently mounted circuit board inside. Unfortunately this resiliently mounted board may be soldered to rigid pins. The result is that after several years dry-joints can occur. Sometimes the cars Owners Club may advise on how to hole-saw the control box and re-solder the dry-jointed pins.

Note that with most control boxes on cars the golden rule of computing still applies. The rule is RUBBISH IN = RUBBISH OUT This is certainly the case with MAF sensors as the "brain" has no idea that it is being fed with duff-gen when dust burns on to the hot wire.

Good luck!

Mini Cooper S - ABS light flickering after start up? - vmturbo

PS This might sound stupid but are all the tyres round? I jest not as many years ago I had a Leyland Mini that would vibrate badly at 50 mph. Up to 30 mph was OK and 70 mph was OK but at middling speeds there was vibration.

The wheel bearings, drive shafts and brakes all seemed OK and I think that I had the wheels balanced again but nothing could be found. In the end I discovered that the tyre that got heated by the radiator had become slightly oval! Grrrr!

Mini Cooper S - ABS light flickering after start up? - Woddy321
Thanks for the reply. I think I will try clean the sensors first, I will unfortunately need to go down the route of taking the hubs off as the sensors are stuck in, from what I understand the sensors have to be smashed out to be replaced. I forgot to mention that both CV boots have split and leaked out grease and there feels like there's a bit of play in shafts when car is jacked up, not sure whether this could be related? Also, there is alot of vibration through the steering wheel and car when the brakes are applied, the disks don't look that old so I'm not sure whether they are warped or whether iffys shafts can cause this!?

Cheers once again

Edited by Woddy321 on 19/02/2014 at 21:33

Mini Cooper S - ABS light flickering after start up? - elekie&a/c doctor
Don,t waste your time trying to remove the sensors.There are no reluctor rings on these,the sensors pick up a magnetic pulse from the wheel bearings.Check for any excess play in the wheel hub/ bearing assy.I would also check battery condition and charge voltage,as any excess voltage variation can cause problems with electronic control systems.hth