sehaare
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- October 25, 2008
- Messages
- 434
- Reaction score
- 134
- City, State
- Chicagoland, IL
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 98XLT 4WD SOHC,94XLT gone
1998 SOHC xlt 4WD Rust bucket.
I had an issue with the ABS kicking in just before the SUV came to a stop but no ABS warning light. It would pull to the right and after looking at the brakes, the front Right pads were almost completely worn away while the drivers side had a lot of life left in them.
Before going after the ABS issue I went ahead and did a complete brake job on both axles pads, as it was due, pads, rotors and calipers up front, and pad and rotors in the rear. As I expected, after the brake job the SUV braked perfectly when the ABS fuse pulled, but still had the same pulling issue when the ABS fuse was put back in. So my next step was going to be to pull the driver side front ABS sensor to take a look at it and then initially try cleaning it before replacing it if necessary. Everything up to removing the sensor went pretty quick since I had just removed everything for the brake job a few days before.
When it came to removing the sensor, I made sure to clean out the Allen head bolt that holds the sensor in, so that I didn't strip it out. The bolt came out pretty easy by using just an Allen wrench (no need for an Allen socket). The sensor was in there tight so I started to wiggle it out and finally it came out - or so I thought until I looked at it. The sensor had come apart. What came out was the guts of the sensor with the copper coil wiring exposed. The case that the guts went into, stayed stuck in the wheel hub. No way to get that out without trying to pick it out and probably having broke pieces and rust fall into the hub.
So at this point I have a Motorcraft Wheel hub on order from Amazon. I was surprised to find that none of the local Autoparts store carried the Axle/spindle nut and I had to order that from Rock Auto. I would have just gotten the nut from Ford but I remember from when I replaced the front axle that Ford charged me $25 for that nut and checking this time on rock auto it was under $8 including shipping.
On the positive side, I guess that fact that the sensor fell apart is a good indication that it was the bad one.
So, if you are thinking about replacing the ABS sensor you might be opening up a can of worms like I did.
I had an issue with the ABS kicking in just before the SUV came to a stop but no ABS warning light. It would pull to the right and after looking at the brakes, the front Right pads were almost completely worn away while the drivers side had a lot of life left in them.
Before going after the ABS issue I went ahead and did a complete brake job on both axles pads, as it was due, pads, rotors and calipers up front, and pad and rotors in the rear. As I expected, after the brake job the SUV braked perfectly when the ABS fuse pulled, but still had the same pulling issue when the ABS fuse was put back in. So my next step was going to be to pull the driver side front ABS sensor to take a look at it and then initially try cleaning it before replacing it if necessary. Everything up to removing the sensor went pretty quick since I had just removed everything for the brake job a few days before.
When it came to removing the sensor, I made sure to clean out the Allen head bolt that holds the sensor in, so that I didn't strip it out. The bolt came out pretty easy by using just an Allen wrench (no need for an Allen socket). The sensor was in there tight so I started to wiggle it out and finally it came out - or so I thought until I looked at it. The sensor had come apart. What came out was the guts of the sensor with the copper coil wiring exposed. The case that the guts went into, stayed stuck in the wheel hub. No way to get that out without trying to pick it out and probably having broke pieces and rust fall into the hub.
So at this point I have a Motorcraft Wheel hub on order from Amazon. I was surprised to find that none of the local Autoparts store carried the Axle/spindle nut and I had to order that from Rock Auto. I would have just gotten the nut from Ford but I remember from when I replaced the front axle that Ford charged me $25 for that nut and checking this time on rock auto it was under $8 including shipping.
On the positive side, I guess that fact that the sensor fell apart is a good indication that it was the bad one.
So, if you are thinking about replacing the ABS sensor you might be opening up a can of worms like I did.