Thanks to this fantastic forum I have been able to establish that my problem is with pins 1 and 6, therefore osf wiring/sensor.[8)] Before replacing the sensor, I want to replace the wiring from sensor to ecu as this is cheaper. Does the cable undo from the metal sensor unit or does it come as a unit? I haven’t been able to find any pictures. I have read that the best replacement cable is aerial wire, presumably I replace the whole run from the ecu plug to the sensor?
Any top tips very welcome
regards
how do you rewire an abs sensor?
Moderator: RichardW
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heath robinson
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Honestly Robinson -
It's not worth the efforts really. You will never get a reliable connection that will last longer than a couple of weeks. The sensors I've seen have the cable attached with a moulding. Any connector system would shortly fail by the roadsalt.
The original cable is highly flexible, which an aerial cable defo is not. Besides it's impossible to get any repair water/salt tight.
Bite the apple and replace the sensor.
It's not worth the efforts really. You will never get a reliable connection that will last longer than a couple of weeks. The sensors I've seen have the cable attached with a moulding. Any connector system would shortly fail by the roadsalt.
The original cable is highly flexible, which an aerial cable defo is not. Besides it's impossible to get any repair water/salt tight.
Bite the apple and replace the sensor.
Anders is quite right - any repair in the middle section of a cable is less than the best and should only be considered temporary.
Posted - 29 Aug 2003 : 14:27:56
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I had 3 sensors fail on my BX and re-wired the 2 back ones in situ as I couldn't get them out.
I used co-ax cable with a MULTICORE centre conductor (not TV ariel cable), and carefully soldered both the conductor and the screen, insulating in between. My problem was that the screen had corroded and I cut back until the circuit was complete. One is still working 3 years later, one rear sensor itself failed 4 months ago and a front one had to be re-wired again as I allowed the new wire to kink.
Follow the wires and you should find some joint plugs. The BX ones are under the rear seat and near to the bulkhead.
Jeremy
Look at the date of that post. I have not touched the ABS since and its still working! The cable I used was not ideal as its undoubtably not as robust as the proper stuff. You need to be evry careful with the preparation and insulation and I used some sleeving as additional protection. Soldering the screen is fun!
jeremy
jeremy
Posted - 29 Aug 2003 : 14:27:56
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I had 3 sensors fail on my BX and re-wired the 2 back ones in situ as I couldn't get them out.
I used co-ax cable with a MULTICORE centre conductor (not TV ariel cable), and carefully soldered both the conductor and the screen, insulating in between. My problem was that the screen had corroded and I cut back until the circuit was complete. One is still working 3 years later, one rear sensor itself failed 4 months ago and a front one had to be re-wired again as I allowed the new wire to kink.
Follow the wires and you should find some joint plugs. The BX ones are under the rear seat and near to the bulkhead.
Jeremy
Look at the date of that post. I have not touched the ABS since and its still working! The cable I used was not ideal as its undoubtably not as robust as the proper stuff. You need to be evry careful with the preparation and insulation and I used some sleeving as additional protection. Soldering the screen is fun!
jeremy
jeremy
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heath robinson
- Posts: 38
- Joined: 25 Jun 2004, 16:41
- Location:
- My Cars:
Thanks for the responses. Very useful to know the sensors have the cable attached with a moulding. I had thought I would have a go at separation prior to understanding this. I think in a last ditch effort I will try to replace the cable from the point of the joint where the black flexi sensor cable first transfers to two thin standard cables.
The difficulty I have with this car is that were I to do things properly it would not be financially viable to keep it! I think it needs injectors £160, hydraulic pump £150, windscreen £170 to list the main predictable costs. It is due a mot in the summer so we will see the true state of affairs at that point. I guess a tidy 118k 95 sx is probably only worth £750? These days I have a very functional view of cars, and try very hard not to get sucked in by the consumerist hype demanding we spend fortunes on shiny bits of metal. To this extent, sadly, this car has not been a patch on my old zx that I ran for 6 years with few costs. Some you win….
Thanks again for the pointers. This forum amounts to a public service!!
regards
The difficulty I have with this car is that were I to do things properly it would not be financially viable to keep it! I think it needs injectors £160, hydraulic pump £150, windscreen £170 to list the main predictable costs. It is due a mot in the summer so we will see the true state of affairs at that point. I guess a tidy 118k 95 sx is probably only worth £750? These days I have a very functional view of cars, and try very hard not to get sucked in by the consumerist hype demanding we spend fortunes on shiny bits of metal. To this extent, sadly, this car has not been a patch on my old zx that I ran for 6 years with few costs. Some you win….
Thanks again for the pointers. This forum amounts to a public service!!
regards
-
heath robinson
- Posts: 38
- Joined: 25 Jun 2004, 16:41
- Location:
- My Cars:
i think 2 xantias into 1 may be the way forward.
just out of curiosity, any ideas on how the following can be explained:
no resistance on the osf sensor even having cut into the wire 3cm away from the sensor. however, when reassembled the abs light sometimes goes off for a bit. during this time on low speed gentle braking the abs valves are going mad and braking effectiveness is hugely reduced.
here's the best guess i can manage; when turning the ignition on is the ecu passing a small current through the sensor fine coil, thereby sometimes getting enough contact to register resistance, thereby turning the light out? could it then be that under braking the faulty connection generates less voltage, thus triggering the ecu to act as though the wheel is locked? however, this would not explain why the ecu is operating under 10 mph. so that's me out of ideas!
look forward to your thoughts. the abs induced reduction in braking under 10 mph would also benefit the 'abs fright' thread.
just out of curiosity, any ideas on how the following can be explained:
no resistance on the osf sensor even having cut into the wire 3cm away from the sensor. however, when reassembled the abs light sometimes goes off for a bit. during this time on low speed gentle braking the abs valves are going mad and braking effectiveness is hugely reduced.
here's the best guess i can manage; when turning the ignition on is the ecu passing a small current through the sensor fine coil, thereby sometimes getting enough contact to register resistance, thereby turning the light out? could it then be that under braking the faulty connection generates less voltage, thus triggering the ecu to act as though the wheel is locked? however, this would not explain why the ecu is operating under 10 mph. so that's me out of ideas!
look forward to your thoughts. the abs induced reduction in braking under 10 mph would also benefit the 'abs fright' thread.
The ABS unit should NEVER function in normal driving and certainly not at very low speed.
The ECU should constantly monitor the system. When stationary it checks for continuity of the sensors by passing a small curent through them. When on the move it looks at the output and again will compare them. If one suddenly stops while others are moving - the ECU acts and releases that brake - allowing the wheel to turn. It then cycles that wheel etc.
If its functioning at low speed and in non lock situations I would suspect the ECU. I believe early Xantia ones are well known for failure. It can be overhauled.
http://www.carelect.demon.co.uk/
http://www.bba-reman.com/index.htm
jeremy
The ECU should constantly monitor the system. When stationary it checks for continuity of the sensors by passing a small curent through them. When on the move it looks at the output and again will compare them. If one suddenly stops while others are moving - the ECU acts and releases that brake - allowing the wheel to turn. It then cycles that wheel etc.
If its functioning at low speed and in non lock situations I would suspect the ECU. I believe early Xantia ones are well known for failure. It can be overhauled.
http://www.carelect.demon.co.uk/
http://www.bba-reman.com/index.htm
jeremy