Hey guys,
So I'm driving around like a happy chap in my cheap reliable primera, then when i put heavy pressure on the brakes to stop at around 10-15mph... the ABS kicks in when it does'nt need to, but not only that... it does'nt stop the car!
And it then happened a few more times, ABS kicking in for no reason but not doing anything to stop the car... had to use the handbreak to prevent knocking a shiny BMW
I dont have an ABS light on or anything, the garage says its most likely the ABS pump... which will cost upto £1300 to repair / replace.
Do you guys have any suggestions? I am a skint musician who paid £800 for the car itself, so I guess I may have to sell it :(
The pumps you can pick up for 80 quid on ebay reconditioned, so why are they so expensive to fit?
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Get the reluctor rings checked out on the driveshaft cv joints at the front, one or both of the rings will have a crack acrooss them causing the abs to cut in.
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Agree.
If it was the pump - how is that making the abs come on when it shouldnt? Looks like something is telling the abs to cut in and that is most likely a cracked reluctor ring giving the false impression of wheel locking up.
And I would find another garage - quoting £1300 is ridiculous imo.
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I had a similar problem and it was a cracked reluctor ring.
Mine only activated the ABS at around 5mph
Fixed for around £150. New CV joint fitted by my local independant.
I have heard that it can also be caused by muck on the ABS sensor
Have you had either of CV boots replaced recently?
Have you hit any large potholes recently? A common cause of the reluctor rings cracking apparantly.
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Had the same problem with my primera when I had it.
All good advice about sensors and rings but if you want a quick fast cheap and easy fix.
Check which fuse does abs and take it out, yes it will put abs light on but the brakes will be a lot better for day to day driving, though you won't have abs but no loss as what you have now is positively dangerous, well it was on mine.
For mot just put fuse in to put light out as mot won't pick up fault apart from light on
Hope your car is as good as mine was best all round built car I ever had and easy to work on as well.
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Clean and check the reluctor ring (cogged) is clean and not cracked.
Clean and remove and debris from the magnetic part of the pick up. It does attract metalic brake dust and other metalic muck.
Did this on a Honda Prelude and a Golf VR6 and all was well afterwards.
I agree that when the system light comes on, you can still brake. But this fault is dangerous as the ECU thinks all is well, and kicks in the ABS, but stopping distance is very poor.
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if you want a quick fast cheap and easy fix
...that will instantly invalidate your insurance and if, after an accident, the police wonder why an ABS car locked it's wheels; will get you charged with knowingly driving a vehicle with defective brakes - at the very least - and could even see you in jail if somebody died.
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Thanks for the tips guys much appreciated :)
will get it checked out tomorrow when the garages re-open! glad it's probably not gonna be the end of the world moneywise
i agree though, primeras are brilliant cheap cheap cars, this is the 1st problem i've had in ages, and the car was 800 quid! cant compain :)
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Vulkan 7,
I had a 535 BMW with faulty ABS. Brakes worked fine except ABS light on all the time. Took the ABS bulb out for the MoT but the tester said it showed up during the brake test. Had to get it fixed. It was the sender unit on 1 wheel. Suspect removing the fuse has the same effect as removing the bulb. If I'm wrong, I would appreciate knowing.
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Hi R Turpin
Not sure if mot tester would be able to tell you had a fault on 532 but if he was keen he would easy notice that light did not come on and go out as it should when you start car.
Not sure if the fault you had on car is common he may have seen it before and made second guess.
I did say on primera to pass mot you would have to put have fuse back in, that was so light would come on and go out as normal then providing brakes were efficent and balanced it would pass.
If the primera that was discussed is still on the road. I bet it is, then I would rather it had the fuse out than the brakes locking and unlocking abs mode in this weather behind me. Having said that yes it should have fault sorted and brakes working correctly !
If it had a major accident and police did a proper full investigation they would question abs but thats not very often more likely just to run into back of someone at low speed and chances of that lower with fuse out me thinks.
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Why are people trying to fool the MOT tester? I'll admit I once put in stop smoke to hide the fact my car beleched out a load of blue smoke but I was planning to sell it very shortly afterwards and my dad was using the car at the time so it eas crucial it passed the MOT.
But when it comes to safety such as ABS etc I am usualy glad when it fails, as there were faults I had no idea about. These are usualy not my cars though (just cars I paid for). Now I have my own hopefully I can spot any dangerious faults when driivng and get them fixed ASAP. I have already replaced two slightly suspect tyres, a number plate and a couple of other things because they are safety related issues (apart from reg plate).
If people are so poor they have to resort to hiding things in an MOT maybe they cannot afford to run a car.
Sorry for the rant :).
Anywya to the OP I hope your car is fixed cheaply I never understand why and how garages can even dream of quoting £1300 to fix an 11/12 year old car.
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