ABS, TCS, and check engine lights coming on

[terryth]

Thought I 'd post up the minor issues (so far) I have had with the ABS system since every search for anything to do with ABS only brings up massive amounts of posts about disabling the ABS and not any actual useful information about any actual problems with the ABS. I have 20000 on the bike and this is has happened a couple of times. What will happen is that the ABS light will come on will riding. A few minutes later the TCS will start kicking in and flashing and cutting power in and out, which is annoying when cruising at 90 on the interstate. After a bit of this the TCS will fail and the light will come on all the time and the TCS indicator in the dash will switch to off. After a while of this, the check engine light will come on, sometimes switching off and coming back on again a few times. The fix so far has been shutting it off and then wiggling the front wheel ABS sensor wire along its length, just turning it off without messing with the wire doesn't work, and then starting up and riding away and everything is good.

 

[Mark R.]

Sounds like a wire just about to break. And if you are getting temporary success stopping the problem by wiggling the front wheel speed sensor, that would be the place to start investigating. Maybe the connector is loose where it plugs into the wiring harness. Also, pull the wheel speed sensor and see if any crap is stuck to the magnet.

 

[terryth]

Yep, if it starts happening more often I'll bother with trouble shooting it, been repairing electronics and laboratory equipment for going on 25 years now. I haven't priced a new cable for the ST, but if its like the cars, the sensor and cable are mostly all one piece and quite expensive, it was 275$ for just one of the rear wheel cables/sensors on a 1997 land rover discovery I used to have. The sensor is tight in its mounting, so it's likely the cable somewhere. I'll look at the sensor ring next tire change if it doesn't get worse before then.

Sounds like a wire just about to break. And if you are getting temporary success stopping the problem by wiggling the front wheel speed sensor, that would be the place to start investigating. Maybe the connector is loose where it plugs into the wiring harness. Also, pull the wheel speed sensor and see if any crap is stuck to the magnet.

 

[Ron_Luning]

$80 on bikebandit

 

[terryth]

Not bad, 80 more than I have right now, I'd rather spend it on gas instead

$80 on bikebandit

 

[Bigbore4]

Somewhere mixed in with the disable rants someone reported finding a little magnetic fuzz on the pick up. Pull em out and make sure the sensors are clean.

 

[Caddoview]

I had the same problem. Turned out something had cut the front sensor wire. It was spliced with a three inch wire. I have also seen posts about dirty pickups. I would check the wires, if all is good, pull both wheels and clean well.

 

[terryth]

The lights finally started staying on all the time for me today. When pulling out the front wheel sensor, I found a rubbed spot in the line damaging one of the wires inside , probably from me doing a tire change at some point and not routing it correctly. A piece of wire, a soldering iron, and some electrical tape and we're good ;D I may put in a new one at some point down the road

 

[Don in Lodi]

::008:: ::26::

 

[SuperTenSteve]

And that folks is how that is done. ::026::

 

[BravoBravo]

Nice work, terryth! Electrical gremlins can be vexatious. You did well to track the culprit down! ::012::

Bruce