318ti.org forum - View Single Post - ABS / ASC bye bye in thick snow... Happen to you?

Eric · 02-10-2010, 08:32 PM

Interestingly, on my car, after the most recent episode (about 2-3 weeks ago), the lights never went out again.

It had snowed, lights had come on, and for a few days, the lights would go off when first starting off in the morning, then come on again after a few miles and stay on until the next day.

One day, they turned off. The roads were dry. I drove around doing errands, and they stayed off. I found a deep puddle in a parking lot, and drove through it fast, to see what would happen. The lights came on about five minutes later (NOT right away).

The next morning they were off again. It was warm (40°F) and dry, so I jacked up the car and checked all of the wheel sensor connector plugs. They all looked clean and dry inside. I put them back together with Vaseline (protects against water and corrosion, doesn't affect continuity).

After that, the lights were on, and haven't gone out since, so, obviously, it's something I did when I manipulated the connectors. (It's not the Vaseline, since that doesn't conduct electricity, and would be pushed out of the way as the connector blades slid against each other in the plug.) My guess is that it is the mud / sand mix compacted onto the tops of the front plugs - if there is enough salt in it, and if some of the salt has gotten onto the bare parts of the wires, it can be leaking current across the leads, which might be enough to confuse the computer.

Next time we get a few days of thaw, I'll try really hosing all of the connectors with fresh water to rinse the dirt and salt out of them (maybe the sensors, too), and see what happens. I'll have to check after I do each one to see whether it fixes it - I didn't do that when I played with them before, so now I don't know which one it was that caused the problem.

If that doesn't work, I guess I'll take out each sensor and look at them and at the reluctors and make sure they are clean and intact. If that doesn't do it, I may just go nuclear, snip out all of the plugs, and solder all of the wires together. If that doesn't do it, I'll probably give up and put neat little pieces of electrical tape over the warning lights, like I did with the airbag light...

- Eric

02-10-2010, 08:32 PM	#8
Eric Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hudson Valley Posts: 229 iTrader: (3) Photo Gallery	Still no ABS or ASC here... Interestingly, on my car, after the most recent episode (about 2-3 weeks ago), the lights never went out again. It had snowed, lights had come on, and for a few days, the lights would go off when first starting off in the morning, then come on again after a few miles and stay on until the next day. One day, they turned off. The roads were dry. I drove around doing errands, and they stayed off. I found a deep puddle in a parking lot, and drove through it fast, to see what would happen. The lights came on about five minutes later (NOT right away). The next morning they were off again. It was warm (40°F) and dry, so I jacked up the car and checked all of the wheel sensor connector plugs. They all looked clean and dry inside. I put them back together with Vaseline (protects against water and corrosion, doesn't affect continuity). After that, the lights were on, and haven't gone out since, so, obviously, it's something I did when I manipulated the connectors. (It's not the Vaseline, since that doesn't conduct electricity, and would be pushed out of the way as the connector blades slid against each other in the plug.) My guess is that it is the mud / sand mix compacted onto the tops of the front plugs - if there is enough salt in it, and if some of the salt has gotten onto the bare parts of the wires, it can be leaking current across the leads, which might be enough to confuse the computer. Next time we get a few days of thaw, I'll try really hosing all of the connectors with fresh water to rinse the dirt and salt out of them (maybe the sensors, too), and see what happens. I'll have to check after I do each one to see whether it fixes it - I didn't do that when I played with them before, so now I don't know which one it was that caused the problem. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll take out each sensor and look at them and at the reluctors and make sure they are clean and intact. If that doesn't do it, I may just go nuclear, snip out all of the plugs, and solder all of the wires together. If that doesn't do it, I'll probably give up and put neat little pieces of electrical tape over the warning lights, like I did with the airbag light... - Eric Last edited by Eric; 02-10-2010 at 08:34 PM.