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No Power to both Rea Sensors

5K views 15 replies 5 participants last post by  amc49 
#1 ·
Hi Guys! My 2007 Versa's ABS light came on 3 months ago, but I didn't take it in until last week. A scan by Autolab Lansing of Michigan came back with message on bad left rear sensor. I gave consent to fix it for about $300. They called me the following day saying they couldn't remove the old sensor and it would cost about another $200 to replace the wheel bearing and hub. I okayed that too. Then they called saying the job was done. When I picked it up, I was told the problem was not fixed. Actually, now it was worse since no power to both rear sensors and no ground to left rear sensor. I still had to pay to drive my car away. My questions are:
1. Is it safe to drive the car with the current issues?
2. Could they have broken the computer system on ABS when they were removing the stuck sensor?
3. The manager was saying that not fixing the issue immediately could have caused the ABS system to stop working. Does that make any sense to you?
Thanks much in advance for your help.
Daniel
 
#2 ·
I hope you paid with a credit or debit card and call your bank to dispute the charges.>:D

Yes, if you panic stop you may lockem up so pump your brakes as if you do not have ABS. Likewise careful taking turns as they are used for skid control too. The fronts are used for traction control.

Now my odyssey brakes the inner brakes of a turn to help you corner and keep the van stable. It has a yaw sensor in the steering column that measures the turning to do those calculations.
 
#3 · (Edited)
You're just driving a car with no ABS now, people used to drive millions of them.

Not necessarily true at all that stalling out made it worse but not wise to do so. Of course, poking around in the ABS computer with a powered test light or other could have blown it out if the mech was incompetent.

If the ABS sensors have only 2 wires running to them then likely there is NO power going to them at all and normal, they are simple magnetic proximity sensors that require no power at all, they make their own when they spin. If they have 3 wires though they are Hall effect ones and power comes to them to activate a switching transistor inside the sensor.
 
#4 ·
Yeah, being a magnet and a sensor the gap alone is enough to cause it not to work. Too close and the sensor can be physically damaged and too far it will not pick it up.

This would explain why you have no error lights or blinking Brake lamp.

Now for street racing and the parking lot courses people unplug the abs unit to make it regular brakes so its easier to drive for those that are experienced.

If you keep your car in this manner you still need to change and bleed the brake fluid as it typically does a cycle of the pump and solenoids each time you start the car and cycles fluid through it.
 
#5 ·
1) Its relatively safe to drive it cautiously, not having ABS is really no big deal 99% of the time BUT you better be careful and not hit anyone because if you do and they find the ABS non-operational its not going to be a good time. But like amc49 said millions of cars roamed the roads without ABS and it was fine. They don't come into play other than emergency stops and skid control, so for your normal driver day in and day out the ABS system sits there and does nothing. Its really only the legal liability that is worth worrying about.

2) Certainly they could have broken it, but good luck finding a way to prove that. Sounds like a horrible shop that ripped you off of $500, I would never set foot in that place again and tell all your family and friends they are crooks. ABS is not that darn complicated as far as the hub sensors go and a quick search turned up a set of rear hub assemblies with sensors brand new for $70 on amazon so where they get off on $300+$200 I have no idea. They appear to be bolt-on assemblies from the picture so especially if no press is needed then their labor charge is just ridiculous. This is why I don't bring my cars to any shops unless its part of a new car warranty, I hate throwing money away or getting robbed like that.

3) The manager is full of BS if you ask me. I have had my fair share of hub sensors die on my S10 because of bad design and sometimes I don't have time to deal with it for months and months but as soon as you unclog the brake dust from the sensor teeth or replace the bad piece of wire etc it goes right back to working happily, and this is a 20 year old truck. When the ABS signal comes in properly, it works. Period.

No shop should take your money and give you the car back in worse shape than before, I'd be furious.
 
#10 ·
If dear old Dad or Granddad has not thrown away his old antique needle type analog voltmeter you can easily test 2 wire sensors by simply hooking up the wires to the meter probes and spinning the wheel, the needle will give little blips as the sensor motors over. That is working correctly. Why I kept mine after all these years, still a few things you can test better using them.

Set the meter on dc power and as low as it will go, the sensor output is less than one volt. I used to check older electronic ignition pickups the same way before a lot of them went to Hall type, and even the crank and cam sensors on my Focus cars use the same type too.
 
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