For as long as I've owned my truck, the ABS light has been on. Finally decided to try to diagnose the problem this week (mistake #1!). A friend of an acquaintance works at the Dodge dealership and scanned the ABS system for me yesterday. I have the old 8-pin connector under the steering wheel.

The scan showed that both front wheel speed sensors were not responding. Seemed like no big deal until I looked at how expensive these front wheel sensors are!! $$$$$$$$

This morning I noticed that when I cranked the truck up and started going down the street, the ABS light was off. I was happy with that until I tried to stop at the stop sign... the brake pedal was hard to press, the truck was barely slowing down, I could hear the ABS motor running and there was a scraping sound coming from the front brakes. I almost went though the sign and into the intersection!

Finally, after a couple minutes, the ABS light came back on and the truck started braking normally (without ABS). Now every time I shut the truck off for a few minutes, the light is out and I have the braking problem with the ABS engaging at low speeds. Pretty scary stuff - really makes you think you're not going to stop.

How do I disable / turn off / delete the 4-wheel ABS? I pulled the ABS Light Relay under the hood. Not surprisingly, the light did go out but the ABS kept grabbing. I then pulled the ABS Pump Relay. That seems to have "fixed" the problem by killing the ABS. I've only tested it on my street so far.

What are the ramifications to removing those two relays? Is that going to interfere with any of the other systems? My other idea is to reinstall the relays and disconnect each of the front wheel speed sensor connectors.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Disconnect the electrical connectors from the motor/controller...... that should teach it.

 

My ABS light has always been on too, airbag too. Now I'm going to have nightmares, thanks.

 

Just to be clear, when the ABS light is on (meaning a fault has occurred in the ABS system) the truck brakes normally just without the ABS system functioning. Frankly, I'm not sure how great the ABS system was back in 1995 anyway. It's definitely not worth $400 for two new wheel sensors at this point.

 

HeyYou, I think I saw two different connectors going to the controller. I preferred pulling the relays instead of those connectors since I had no idea what they do. I'm hoping that pulling the ABS Pump relay will prevent the ABS system from engaging. If not, I'll resort to pulling the wires from the controller.

 

Correct. The system won't function when a fault is detected. (like a failed wheel speed sensor.)

 

Test it, run it up to about 30 or so, and STOMP on the brakes.

 

Haha! I'll give it a shot tomorrow. Just need to find a nice quiet road... and a crash helmet.

 

Wear your seat belt.

 

And be prepared to downshift....