ABS problems

[DavidT]

ABS light has been on for several months. It will flicker just going down the highway. There has been a couple times where the brakes did not feel right. Its as if the ABS kicks in while I am slowing down at a normal stop. I can feel the pulsation through the pedal, then the car wont stop like it should... it skids actually. Kinda dangerous actually. Any ideas? Or will I have to drop several $$$ at the mechanics garage? I just put new pads all the way around hoping that would help. It did not. She now has 160,000 miles on her.
Any advice would be appreciated.
I called a local garage. They will pull the codes for $45. Not bad I guess.

 

[tqmx1]

ABS light check your brake flued level before you go any farther and for the pulsation a set of warped roaters would be #1 on the list.

 

[SHOZ123]

You can change out the entire module. That's probably the fix. Not cheap or easy to do.

When mine failed the speedo died and the car got real stupid about shifting. No first gear and shifting to third at about 25 mph.

 

[sperold]

I changed out the module on the gen1 model and I don't recommend it unless you do it yourself.... lots of labour.
Without knowing much about it, I would buy the new rotors as suggested and make sure you have no flex line issues, and leave it at that.
When we are getting a safety certificate to transfer the ownership of a car, if the ABS system light is on...... you still get the safety certificate. My interpretation is that if that system has failed, the original brake system is still A-OK and safe.

 

[DavidT]

thanks for the input! Brake fluid is FULL. Pretty sure the rotors are not warped. The very occasional pulsation is ABS, not rotor related (car was moving rather slow at the time)... as far as I can tell. Guess I'll be prepared for a costly repair. If it is the module, should I get a used one... or just bite the bullet and get a new one?
Thanks!!!

 

[bacernate]

More than likely one of the abs tone rings is cracked or missing a tooth on the front axles, this will cause very low speed abs activation. A good visual inspection should confirm this. If not a mechanic will have to put each sensor on a lab scope to find it. A multimeter on ac voltage scale also works sometimes.

 

[sperold]

If your ABS system is still doing the chatter dance, then your module is still OK.
I doubt you can get a new one, so used would be the best choice if you had to get one. Any Gen3 SHO year will work, but it is not the same as a regular Taurus.
Crawl underneath at each wheel and look for the components that provide the input to you ABS. You will have to spin the wheel to see all the way around.
You might have to search on this forum or google it to get an idea of what to look for.

 

[venom]

If your ABS system is still doing the chatter dance, then your module is still OK.
I doubt you can get a new one, so used would be the best choice if you had to get one. Any Gen3 SHO year will work, but it is not the same as a regular Taurus.
Crawl underneath at each wheel and look for the components that provide the input to you ABS. You will have to spin the wheel to see all the way around.
You might have to search on this forum or google it to get an idea of what to look for.

We had one that was failing that would occasionally chatter the brake snad trigger when not needed.

I'd do the module first, but if you wanted to have a shop read the ABS code and at least scrutinize that wheel closely (excitation ring and sensor) and if you don't find anything then go after the module. You ahve BOsh to thank for that POS module.