About 6 years ago, when I would start the car, the ABS and BRAKE warning lights would illuminate. At the time, I first checked the fluid level. Fine. I then bled the brakes looking for air. Fine.

I took my Durango to the local Dodge dealership, and they narrowed the problem down to a sticky relay in the ABS control module, even though it worked, they said it was causing the warning lights. They could replace it for $365 and I passed since the ABS and braking system worked just fine.

Finally, two weeks ago, I sent my ABS control module off to have it rebuilt. I got it back yesterday, installed it, and of course the ABS and BRAKE lights are still on.

Question, what else would cause the ABS and BRAKE warning lights to illuminate if the ABS control module checks out fine, and from what I can tell the ABS system works just fine?

The brakes have been serviced and bled several times since the lights started coming on so I still maintain this issue has to stem from the ABS system.

Any ideas?

 

The most common cause for the ABS and BRAKE lights to be illuminated are one of the speed sensors are faulty. They are no hard to replace at all and are not expensive. There are 2 speed sensors, one on the output shaft of the transmission and one right on the top of the differential. They are both a spin off/spin on type of sensor and don't require any special tools.

My suggestion is to start with the transmission one because it's a bit cheaper and if that doesn't change anything, replace the differential speed sensor and 9/10 times this will fix things.

 

the abs and brake lights are most commonly caused by one(or both) of two sensors, the rear wheel speed sensor (it sits on top of the rear differential) or the output speed sensor on the transmission,

if you have 4wheel abs there is also the potential for one or both of the front sensors to be bad, but the rear wheel sensor and the trans output sensor are the most common causes.

 

Great info. All this time I could have replaced the two sensors and been done. Thanks so much to Dodge and their crack team of techs, for assuring me they checked everything and it was the control module at fault.

Kind of pisses me off.

By chance do you guys have part numbers handy?

Thanks,

 

56028187AD rear wheel speed sensor
04800879 transmission output speed sensor for 5.2l engine
04412879 transmission output speed sensor for 5.9l engine

(these numbers are from the 2000 MY parts manual since you didnt share with us what year your truck is)

 

Sorry I thought I had that info in my profile.

I drive a 1998 Durango 4x4 5.9L. Would those part numbers stay the same between 1998 and 2000?

Thanks,

 

for 1998 w/ the 5.9 (im assuming 46re transmission)
56028187AC rear wheel speed sensor
04800879 for the transmission output speed sensor

so same part numbers, the last two letters just indicate who is making the part for chrysler at the time of printing of this manual.

EDIT: just checked the other transmission options and they all call for the same part number for the trans sensor, so those are the correct numbers for your truck.

 

If the speedo is non-functional below 20mph, does this possibly narrow down which sensor it could be?

 

Thanks.

I just bought the parts at a local Oreilly.

I took a quick peek under the Durango this morning at the transmission. I saw two pigtails. One was kind of at the top at an angle to the passenger side and one was almost at the very bottom pointing down.

Which one is the speed sensor I'm trying to replace. The last thing I want to do is try to pull the wrong pigtail off and damage a plug or harness. Best if I start on the right one.

Thanks,

 

iirc correctly it points at kind of a downward angle, it is on the drivers side of the transmission output shaft, it should be the closest one to the t-case(if a 4x4) on the drivers side.