In the past year, I've been getting an ABS light and DSC Fault warning ever more often and in ever stranger circumstances. Two weeks ago, I took my wheels off to clean my calipers, wax the wheels and clean the ABS sensors. Although they really didn't look very dirty at all, I scrubbed them all down pretty aggressively with some scotch-brite. And whatiya know - not a single anomally since. SWEET!!!

Here is a list of the symptoms I was experiencing:
ABS release while in a slow decelerating turn (includes thunk in the pedal)
ABS light & DSC Fault on highway after hitting a sharp bump in road
ABS light & DSC Fault while backing up in a turn
The light & fault coming on even with the DSC turned off
The system would reset to normal next time I drove the car (every time)

Based on the worsening symptoms, several people thought I had an intermittently broken wire - which did make sense - and which would have been a royal pain to track down.

I can not underscore enough, that my sensors really did look OK when I took them off the car, and I didn't really see much difference after scrubbing them down.

If you're having "ANY" ABS/DSC problems - before you do anything else, or spend one dollar - clean those sensors!!!

Good luck to us all

 

Good advice. Simple to do. No cost and works wonders.

Plus it gives you the chance to take a look at some pretty important stuff on your car (brakes, wheels, suspension).

 

My dad's VDP has the ABS, ACS, and traction control messages showing up in his dashboard, err, X-Mas tree. The thing is, the messages for him are continuous, they are not intermittent.

 

I assume you know this, but he has an issue that should be fixed. At a minimum, his ABS is disabled. Might need that someday to haul down that big sedan.

 

Ok, I'll let him know. He just assumes the sensors are dirty.

 

I'm having EXACTLY the same light triggers.
AND I need to wax my black wheels as well! Planning on doing this this weekend so can you give me a bit more info? I know where the sensor is but I've never taked off. Is it just a simple unclip and do you clean inside the clip? I guess it will make more sense once I get in there.
By the way, I'd love to see some pics of your car! Looks like a coupe version of my convertible black on black on black!!

 

ReverendSam has this covered...

 

One day I'll learn to go straight to rev Sam!!

 

Extra Tip:

After scrubbing your wheel speed sensors with a toothbrush and dish soap, bend out the end of a paper clip and ream out the small holes in the tip of the sensor. Each sensor in my wife's 2006 XK8 has four holes in it. Earlier models may have fewer holes....

If you look closely at these holes after scrubbing the sensors, you may see that you've missed some debris build-up inside them. Reaming them out with the paper clip should get rid of the debris and keep your sensors functioning for a longer period of time before you have to repeat the process....

I learned this through trial-and-error last year on my wife's XK8's sensors. They sometimes get dirty again and begin to throw the dash warnings in less than 3,000 miles. My general approach is to clean them every time I do an oil & filter change / tire rotation at 6,000 miles....

 

Great video. I was just getting ready to find information on where the sensors were and what they looked like.

Thanks Reverend Samju

 

That was supposed to be Sam, sorry.

 

Say guys.... I keep reading about these holes in the bottom of the sensors. I looked for them "and" some little metal strips - found neither. I have two little holes on the "sides" of the sensors, but they were fine.

Like I said in the original post, I scrubbed the crap out of them with some kitchen scotch-brite. If there was anything else on the surface (i.e., little holes), I'm sure I would have seen some trace of them. Is it possible, my model year ('03) had sensors without holes or metal strips?

Thanks!