A few weeks ago I drove my car (a 1996 Seat Toledo 2.0 16v) through some salt water. I know it sounds bizarre, but I was going to Brancaster Golf club in Norfolk, and it gets cut off by the tide unless you time tour arrival properly. The other blokes I was with were mostly in big 4x4s. Someone with \"local knowledge\" said it was fine to drive through the flooded roadway, althought there must have been at least 6 inches of water, and at least 100 yards of it to drive through. I got through it no problem.
Shortly afterwards, my ABS warning light came on. There was no change in braking performance, and the light then went off a day or two later. I know I shouldn\'t have ignored it, but I kind of thought that it was a little bit of water in the sytem somewhere and it had fixed itself.
Well, the light has come back on, and now there is an intermittent fault with the brakes, in that the ABS has kicked in a couple of times when it shouldn\'t have (ie under gentle braking).
Can anyone offer a view as to what is wrong, and what I am likely to be in for when it goes to the garage?
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Joe, bad news I'm afraid.
I had the exact same problem with my old '96 416 (Bosch ABS). Water had got into the socket on top of the ABS pump, corroding the pins on the plug and the socket. This had shorted part of the ECU for the ABS and lead to the ABS coming on when braking out of a parking space, when reversing in my drive etc. exactly as you describe.
Unable to recon. the pump because of the damage caused by the water, so new pump required (£600!!!). I ended up getting a s/h one from a breakers for about £200.
The water had got in as at some point in the past the clips holding the plug on the pump hadn't been replaced properly, leaving a 3mm hole for water to ingress.
Sorry.
ND
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I would start by taking off the wheels and visually examining the sensors and also make sure that nothing is trapped between the air gap of the sensor and hub assembly. You *could* have picked up some mud or sedement from the water.
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Salt water is *major* bad news. It tends to rot connectors and encourage electrolytic corrosion.
Start by washing down wheel hub assemblies with fresh water and then check and clean all abs connections. A bit of Electrolube contact cleaner will help keep the contacts in good condition.
Best of luck with it.
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Cheer chaps, that all makes good sense.
Will the ABS sensor be easy to spot/identify?
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Try and use warm/hot water, the salt is more soluble then.
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Cheer chaps, that all makes good sense.
Fingers crossed!
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Bad news No Dosh, it didn't work. Time to take it to the experts methinks.
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Exact same symptoms on my R800 when the sensor started to go. the sensors short internally due to corrosion. See
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=4&t=95...8
You may have a similar problem, but remember it may be the wiring causing it after salt water ingress (although it really shouldn't be).
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Well now this is getting silly. My front fog lights now will not work (hooray I hear you all cry!). The bulbs are fine, as are the fuses. On Friday the electric windows refused to work. They have never done that before. On starting the car for the journey home, they worked again, so it was an intermittent fault.
Clearly I have some kind of electrical gremlin in the system. Where on earth (no pun intended) should I start looking?
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I would guess your 'no pun intended' hits the nail on the head - sounds like an earthing problem on one of the main points.
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Go on Frostbite "pretend" I am very ignorant and need you to tell me more about main earth points...
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Joe,
There are several main earth points dotted around the body work. They will easily identified by being bolted to a body panel with an unshielded ring terminal and a star washer or two. I would inspect every inch of your engine bay for these connections, undo them and remake them all. Clean the body back to bare metal where they attach and cover them with vaseline after you remake them. The salt water is cuaing them to fail, so check anywhere the water got to. They are the very devil to try and diagnose when they go, and multiple unrelated electrical failures does indeed indicate dodgy earth(s).
Oh and dont forget the engine to body earth strap(s)
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Thanks RF, nothing to add to that.
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That's great guys. I promise to let you know how I get on with this, and if it works, have a virtual pint on me!
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In addition to the vaseline over the connectors as suggested above, you might like to give the bare metal and connector "sandwich" a quick spray with WD40 before you do up the bolt so the WD40 is trapped between the metal and the connector. Many years ago when it was common to add radio interference suppressers to ignition coils, I WD40'd the bare metal of my inner wing where the suppresser was earthed and clamped below the base of the coil, and many years later it was still free of corrosion.
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I started a thread a month or so ago about the ABS on my Seat Toledo. To cut a long story short, the consensus of opinion was that I have an electrical problem caused by a bad earth somewhere, (in turn caused by driving through salt water.)
I have tried to locate the likely earth points, but without sucess. In fact, I am rather embarrassed to admit that I could only find one under the bonnet. I have re-made that one but it has made no difference.
Anybody know where I might find some info about where all the various earthing points are? There is no Haynes manual for this model ( 1996 2.0 GT)
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As a matter of interest have you had the car steam cleaned since the drive through sea.If not would be a good idea as sea salt is pretty much there to stay.It is not easy to get rid of.But to answer.Some of the earth point`s are located under the dash in some cases on a multi point connector with 1 screw securing to earth/body possibly around drivers side close to drivers door same on nearside.other possible points may be in or around front inner wings close to front lamps.may be wrong but I know some are.Worth a look anyway?
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Check the reluctor rings on the CV joints - check for any cracks or irregular teeth.
This was a common problem with the Rover 400 series; would cause the exact same symptom you have here.
--
groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
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