ABS question

To my knowledge ABS became a standard option on all explorers starting in 1993. Was this just rear ABS or ABS on all four wheels?

I ask this because my 94 explorer has ABS to my knowledge. The little ABS light comes on at start up and goes off after a sec. My guess is the system is being tested at this time to make sure there is no problems. But.... I've noticed countless times that my front wheels have locked up while on soft terrain. the front passenger side has also slid on some wet dirt on the side of the road several times. Is this normal for it to completely lock up? It's doesn't lock up for a sec, It locks up until my foot comes off of the brake.

Also I've not noticed any ABS plugs on the calipers which leads me to believe I only have rear ABS. Can someone help clear this up for me?

Thanks

-Currency

Well I was hoping someone would be able to answer this. Very disconcerting issue here which could save/cost lives. Winter is nearly here, snow = poor traction, 4 wheel drives are made to go and stop worse then passenger cars.

No or faulty front ABS on snow, ice and even a wet road could cost lives in the event one needs to stop suddenly. But I guess the members here are busy, So I will call my local ford dealership tomorrow and ask them about this issue and also contact some ASE certified friends of mine just to double and triple check. Really don't feel like rear ending someone if my front tires lock up on me. But I would deal with it if my 14 month old is not in my ex when or if it does happen.

Maybe safer to park or sale my explorer during winter and cruise around in my mothers grand prix, So if I wrecked her car I wouldn't have to worry to long because she would just kill me anyways.

I will post the feadback I receive from them sometime today or tomorrow so everyone will know if they did come with front ABS or not.

Well on my ex, there are only 2 wire/tubes on the spindle(the part the wheel attaches too) if you only have one(brake line) than you do not have front wheel abs, if there is more than one than you may or may not(I dont know whats involved in a 4x4 front end).

www.rockauto.com shows some stuff for front ABS, ABS wheel speed sensor

Edit: These guys show rotors for explorers with front ABS 91-94 first gens

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/fr/full.aspx?Page=126

Maybe leather seats was not the only option I am missing, Maybe front ABS is also but I read that 93 and up explorers came standard with ABS. again on that one

It's easy to tell if you have front ABS. If you have a cable on each side going down the the spindle/knuckle area you have front ABS. If you can't see that pop the hood. On a four wheel ABS equipped vehicle you will see a ABS hydraulic unit on the drivers side near the radiator. Can't miss it.

Don't judge your braking system by what you think should be happening by looking at dirt marks and whatnot. Under hard braking does it brake in a straight line? Do the the brakes chatter or pulse(looking for warped rotors)? Do the brakes seem firm? Do the brakes make a lot of noise?

If you think the ABS is defective unplug one of the ABS sensors. This will disable ABS. See how it drives after you do that.

I think some of the models came with rear ABS only. Look for a RABS proportioning valve on the drivers side frame rail. Should have wires and your brake lines going to it.

My brakes pull some, still haven't figured it out. Guess what, I'm driving through the winter. Don't be afraid of the ice : )

With Ford, it almost doesn't matter what year you "think" they started offering stuff. They seem to have a habit of making mid-model year changes.

From reading here, in 93 they had RABS. In 94 they had 4WABS. But, it's entirely possible that some 94s came with RABS, especially if they were made early in the cycle.

So, as mentioned, you need to check out your individual truck.

As for relying on ABS to drive in the snow and feel safe, I would certainly not recommend that. With any vehichle, and especially the Explorers, because of the weight and high CG of these trucks, I always drive defensively and rarely use the brakes. I keep the 4x4 engaged, and use the transmission (downshift) to control speed. Even with ABS, you really can't stop on ice.

Hope this helps.

Mike

My explorer was manufactured in September of 1993 making it a 94 model but overall a 93 explorer, title also says 1994. So I'm guessing I don't have front ABS.

Under hard braking my ex pulls to the right, I have alignment problems on that same side. If I am driving down the road and let go of the wheel it travels to the right also.

My rotors have less then 1,500 miles on them as of right now. Front pads were used but looked nearly new minus the rust, They did not have any grooves on them and were free so I cannot complain. The rear wheel cylinders have been replaced as well as the rear brake shoes.

As for driving on slick surfaces I will just have to be careful so I'm not braking and turning. Would suck for them front tires to lock up in a curve

I don't have any cable going down to the spindle in the front, just my brake line on the caliper and of course my front axle's.

Edit: I believe my alignment problem is due to worn/old ball joints that may need replaced. Taking it to an alignment shop tomorrow so they can look at it.

Was there ever any ABS on a 1992 explorer?

alex211 said:

Was there ever any ABS on a 1992 explorer?

Click to expand...

Read the thread, as is said above, you need to check your individual vehicle, the front abs wire is on the spindle, the rear abs wire goes to a connector on top of the rear differential.

I'd fix your pull while driving. It's not that bad to do ball joints. Fix all the stuff you can find bad then maybe your braking/pulling problem will dissappear. Mine is a 93 and has four wheel ABS. If swapping out the ABS HCU doesn't cure my pulling problem I'm converting to non-ABS.

FYI ABS does not stop the car faster, in fact it takes a longer distance to stop with abs. Think about it, the brakes are grabbing and releasing. even if you where skidding the drag on the tires will slow the car faster than the brakes pumping 10 times a second. ABS was designed to maintain control of the vehicle in the event of a short stop or wheel lock up, not to stop it faster. If you are sliding and need to control the car WITHOUT ABS; pump the brakes so the tires can spin and grab traction to turn. I have a 91 XL it is equipped with rear anti lock, if your ex doesn't specify REAR antilock chances are u have FULL ABS

I'll throw in my 2 cents:
My 91 2WD has rear ABS only. In my opinion, it's more trouble than it's worth.

Nitro71, you mentioned converting yours. Can you give me some insight as to what would be necessary to bypass the rear ABS altogether? I'll continue searching the site, but thought I would ask here since the topic is still fresh.

you want to bypass the rear abs on a RABS vehicle correct? unplug the sensor on top of the rear diff. this should disable the abs system and turn on the abs idiot light.

The idiot light is on already. I actually want to bypass the module altogether. After some research, I saw a couple of postings that insinuated that the ABS unit may also act as the proportioning valve. Is this correct? Will I create more issues if I replace the module with a straight brake line?

In my quest for information. rear wheel ABS was only on the '91, 92 ex's. some 93's had 4 wheel, and 2 wheel.. and 94's had all around. I only know this cause I was looking for ABS wheel speed sensors, for my 94, and noticed only some 93 and all 94s had front end.

no.. If you disconect a ABS sensor only.. It takes the ABS system out the equation.. All you have to do is disconect a sensor. It was designed to disable them system in the event of a fault, much like how your airbag will shut off if it finds a fault.

yes I know from personal experience that disconnecting a sensor shuts off abs, I had a faulty sensor that would cause abs to engage every time I hit my brakes, disconnecting any of the 3 sensors would cause it to stop engaging all together.

I've seen some Explorers at the junk yard that didn't seem to have any ABS. Maybe I didn't look at them close enough. I can't recall where the rear line was fead from. Seems like it comes off the master. Seems like the front came off the master also. Front goes to the driver side first then tee's there to the passenger front. So if what I saw was a Explorer with no ABS seems like all you need is the master cylinder. A fitting and a modified brake line to couple to the rear. The brake line going to the front, drivers side brake line and the brake line running to the passenger side. Another option the way I see it is to see if you can get a Tee that you connect the 3 front lines to. Save a couple bucks on the conversion. I didn't see any proportioning valves. I could be missing something here but it looked straightforward.

I disable ABS on any vehicles i own which have it. it does not snow where i live and in my opinion, snow/ice is the only time it is possibly beneficial. if the driver has any skill whatsoever, they are always better off without abs.. it's a stupid, and dangerous safety feature (oxymoron, right?) and if you're ever in a vehicle with ABS, try coming to a rapid stop on sand or dirt... it wont happen.. when on dirt, you want you're tires to lock up and dig in if you want to stop quickly, with abs you'll just keep going and going like nothing's happening.. i had a couple close calls offroad with ABS before i disabled it (one time there was a tree fallen across the river bed i as speeding down, and i hit the brakes to slow down but almost nothing happened.. so i plowed through the tree) (the other time i was on a hill climb, i didn't make it to the top and started coasting down the hill backwards, but no matter how hard i stomped the brake pedal, the truck didn't slow down, the pedal just did that stupid vibrate BS that abs does, i stopped by putting it in gear and dropping the clutch...)

also, if you're even in a spin out situation, and you need to use you're brakes to control you're skid (for example, you're steering max's out at 40 degrees, and you're 50 degrees twisted in the lane) you could use you're brakes to "skid" you down the road in the direction you want to go.. but with abs you will go which ever direction the wheels are pointed if they gain traction again, which could be into traffic, off a cliff, etc... not safe.

i think ABS is designed for dingbat people (i know i cant say women drivers, since this board is sensitive to that sort of thing.. not that that's what i was thinking anyhow of course) who panic and slam on the brakes and then wonder why they cant steer around the thing they're skidding towards... so if you're not one of those high strung, neurotic, dingbat drivers with no driving skill whatsoever, then i say disable the ABS (and remove the annoying light so it's not always on in you're face)

I like ABS sometimes, My old 99 malibu had a mind of its own with at least one bad ABS sensor so I had ABS sometimes and sometimes I didn't. At that time I had a 20 mile country drive to work. Curves, Extremely long and steep gravel road and so on. It was a good car even if everyone but me puts down quad fours I loved that little car. I ran the crap out of it mostly sliding around every corner on my 30 minute ride home with windows down and music blaring.

I think I will buy another malibu for a DD, sell my sunbird and make my ex purely an off-road toy. Any mustang fan's here? Oh yeah my little four banger malibu smoked a 96 mustang GT. poor guy had it pegged at 96 and I went ZOOOOM at 110 surprisingly he didn't get much of a lead either.

Well to stay on topic I don't have front ABS, I may disable it later today and test it out if I get these pesky finals done and turned in.

College is fun and interesting minus the final

My explorer is sick and limps in at an amazing 10MPG