Hey guys, while driving yesterday a funny thing happened. Both my ABS light and my Brake light came on for no real reason. I still have plenty of brake power. I was thinking perhapes a sensor has gone out or froze. Its been between 5 and 25 degrees the last couple of days with some pretty slushy snow and after driving down from the mountains the truck is pretty well layered with Colorados' finest. The lights came on when I was in 4 wheel drive and while I was driving, not braking. According to the owners manual my brake system is in need of checking. So I will be going to Auto Zone this afternoon and having the codes read, if there are any. I did the on, off on thing with the iginition and no codes showed. I have a 97 2500 V10, if that helps.

Any suggestions?

 

let us know what codes they find is your spedometer working? if not then its your speed snecer on the rear axle. wierd i just red a thred where i also recomended the speed sencer

 

would definetly say speed sensor.

 

Guys, the speedometer works fine and I still have plenty of pedal left. I climbed under the truck this morning and found that the rear axel is completly engulfed with ice. I mean its like 1 1/2 feet thick! Autozone told me that their reader would only read codes for a check engine light and nothing else. They recommended that I take it into a shop that can read all codes. If i do that I might as well buy myself my own reader. Any suggestions on a good one! Any hoo, I'm on my way to the car wash and blast the ice off. Hopefully after I do that, it will unfreeze whatever is frozen. If anything is froozen. If not, its off to buy a reader tomorrow or take her to the stealership on Monday. Thanks for the input.

 

honestley if you go buy a code reader you wont be able to get anymore codes than autozone and you dont wanna but the one the dealership has cuz its over 5 grand i think (ive never really priced it out thow lol) if you want something to read codes get a hypertec or superchip programer then youll have the programer and they also read codes but yah it start by getting rid of the foot and a half of ice that is deffanatley not gonne help anything if you have got ice right upto the breakes then it could have something to do with it

also you can check codes with just your truck too just go to this site and it tells you how and what they mean http://dodgeram.org/tech/gas/Trouble/pcm_fault_code.htm

 

Recommend changing the rear axle speed sensor. I think it's about $20.00 at chyrslerparts.com. It'll take you about 15min to change it. Disconnect your battery for a few minutes after installing it the reconnect and drive it. You can read other postings on here and see that it's a common problem with our trucks. Mine ended up being a front right speed sensor which isn't too bad to change out either. Cheaper than the dealer....... Best of luck!

 

It's the wheel speed sensor. It can't read how fast your whell is going so it can't determine when or for how long to apply the abs. That trips your abs light. And since that is part of your brake system, it trips the brake light. Just had this done about six months ago.

 

Thanks for the input, I tried running a search on the site but the responses that I got back had nothing to do with it. I will try different code words next time. I'll change out the sensors and see if that takes care of the problem. If not, down to the dealership I go. Again, thanks for the input, I will post my finding once I have the sensors changed out.

 

Does anyone have a link or a procedure on changing out the wheel sensors? I can't find it in my Haynes book anywhere.

thanks

 

I just changed mine last week. Cost me $60 for the speed sensor at the dealership. I removed the nut on the top of the sensor and lifted off the break lines. Then remove the bottom nut under where the lines sat. Unplug the sensor and pull off the metal cover. At this point I took a pair of channel locks and grabed the sensor not to hard didnt want to snap it. I put a flat blade under where the nut and stud went into the diff and worked the sensor back and forth prying it up with the flat blade once the sensor lifts enough to clear the oring it came right out. Now puttin in the new sensor was not to bad I put some gear lube on the oring pushed it in as far as I could then I tapped it down with a rubber mallet. It went in with several good taps and went right back together. Took about 1/2 hour taking my time was not hard at all to do just tricky getting it in and out without breaking it. I didn't disconnect the batteries to clear the codes and I had it checked after and it cleared itself. The abs and break light will go off as soon as you start the truck. Good luck