Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

ABS Sensor Vulnerability?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • ABS Sensor Vulnerability?

    Driving back from our bush block in our 2010 GXL on Sunday the dash suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree with the ABS warning light, Handbrake warning light and traction control light on steady, with the 4LO and Central Diff lock lights flashing. We were travelling up a loose, rocky but not too steep fire trail having just completed 5 shallowish creek crossings.

    I stopped and switched from Hi to Lo range, then center diff lock on and off, stopped the engine, looked under the car etc etc all to no avail.
    We drove home and put the car in with the dealer for diagnosis today.
    The word from the dealer is that an ABS Sensor has been impacted and damaged, and the wires ripped out.
    All up estimate is ~ $900 including 3 hours labour.
    They reckon they need to take the axle out to look for further possible damage.

    At the time of the lights coming on I heard no overly loud bash come from under the car but we were on a rough part of the hill.

    This happened on a fire trail which we have probably driven a 100 times or more in our bog standard 2002 Subaru Outback towing a trailer without issue.

    My question is did I just get unlucky or is the ABS Sensor an Achilles heel in an otherwise supposedly rugged 4WD car meaning I need to think twice about driving on rocky roads?

    How many have suffered this problem?

    Cheers
    Richp

  • #2
    I managed to get my ABS sensor broken in half by a stick on a perfectly grated road doing about 80km/hr. The stick hit very hard and I could hear it did some damage then all the lights went on. The car had less than 2000km on it!

    I think we are very unlucky as they are pretty well protected by other bits and I think the cable is more likely to get damaged than the sensor.

    It was around $300+ for a new one that is very easy to replace, mine was only broken on the outside where the wire plugs in.

    I have the old one glued together now for an emergency spare.

    Comment


    • #3
      If you can managed to find which one is the damage sensor cable out of the four wheels, you can just replace it with a similar cable from any cable or electrical shops and use same sensor. I damage mine when I was installing the 2 inch lift bought a new one from Toyota $75, and replace it with a new cable .I have a spare one now . Mind you the bracket are design for for a particular wheel/s( left front /right etc.) To check damage one, use a multimeter for continuity.
      Hope this helps.
      Cheers

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by martinpsa View Post
        I managed to get my ABS sensor broken in half by a stick on a perfectly grated road doing about 80km/hr. The stick hit very hard and I could hear it did some damage then all the lights went on. The car had less than 2000km on it!

        I think we are very unlucky as they are pretty well protected by other bits and I think the cable is more likely to get damaged than the sensor.

        It was around $300+ for a new one that is very easy to replace, mine was only broken on the outside where the wire plugs in.

        I have the old one glued together now for an emergency spare.
        Sounds like what happened to mine. The sensor was broken in half (probably by a stick) and beyond repair. New one was $330, cable $200. Labour was one hour and because the broken off end of the sensor was still plugging the hole in the axle casing, it wasn't necessary to dismantle the axle/hub assembly to look for debris that may have got in there. That would have been another 2 hours labour.

        So a good result in the end but I'm still a little worried that a vehicle ostensibly designed for off-road use is vulnerable to expensive damage by the kind of debris you are likely to encounter on any fire trail.

        Comment


        • #5
          Just have to put it down to bad luck I'm afraid. The sensor is tucked up pretty much out of the way. I replaced my rear cable last week due to a broken wire at the sensor that had been playing up for over a year due to one of the wires hanging by a thread until it finally broke altogether. The Cable cost me $118 (Amayama) and took about 1/2 an hour to replace. At least if there is a fault it's not a show stopper. You just loose your ABS and VSC, your brakes will still pull your vehicle up fine. My biggest concern was with the 4 warning lights up on the Dash and with my wife driving the Prado daily, would she notice an engine light come on if a fault arose? Then again, unfortunately she probably wouldn't do anything about it if it was the only light on the dash....
          2004 V6 Grande. BLACK -

          Comment


          • #6
            My left rear ABS sensor on my 120 copped a rock and bent a bit causing all of the lights that you mentioned. A scan tool in Birdsville showed the cause. It was bent back straight but still played up. I got a second hand one from a wrecker for about $120. It took less than half an hour to fit. 30,000 later it is still fine. The back ones are well protected but a wayward rock can still get in there. If you were super keen a bit of metal could be bent up as a protector and held on by the retaining bolt but I haven't bothered.

            Comment


            • #7
              Well it happened again. This time on the right rear wheel. The culprit was a stick with a split in one end which grabbed the cable and snapped it about 1 cm from the sensor.
              Luckily I was able to pull it apart and solder it. I can't work out why Toyota have located the sensor forward of the axle. If it was behind it would be more protected. The cable runs along the back of the axle but is vulnerable to flying rocks and sticks where it crosses over the top to the front near the hub.

              I'm thinking I might fabricate a guard out of aluminium plate and clamp it to the axle.
              Has anyone tried anything similar?

              Comment


              • #8
                As I suggested. All it needs is a bit of bent aluminium held on by the same bolt that holds the sensor onto the backing plate. Should be enough to deflect a rock. That said, I have only damaged one in about 30-40 k of dirt.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by RichP View Post
                  Well it happened again. This time on the right rear wheel. The culprit was a stick with a split in one end which grabbed the cable and snapped it about 1 cm from the sensor.
                  Could you post some images of the sensor, wires, the place to look at, etc I think it might helpful. I got ABS, VSC TRC, VSC OFF light warning the other day. I read the error code and it returned P0-005 which is VSS error but the odo still working while I drive. So i cleared the error code with the OBD2 reader and it's been fine. I'm waiting for it to happen again.

                  Cheers

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    164,000km, over half that off-road and never lost one yet. (Touch wood).
                    Dave
                    Views expressed are mine alone and are not intended to compromise the integrity of my employer nor offend those who may read such views.
                    Bugger Bali, get out and see Australia before we sell it all to China.

                    Comment

                    canli bahis siteleri bahis siteleri ecebet.net
                    mencisport.com
                    antalya escort
                    tsyd.org deneme bonusu veren siteler
                    deneme bonusu veren siteler
                    gaziantep escort
                    gaziantep escort
                    asyabahis maltcasino olabahis olabahis
                    erotik film izle Rus escort gaziantep rus escort
                    atasehir escort tuzla escort
                    sikis sex hatti
                    en iyi casino siteleri
                    deneme bonusu veren siteler
                    casibom
                    deneme bonusu veren siteler
                    deneme bonusu veren siteler
                    betticket istanbulbahis
                    Working...
                    X