I have had a persistent ABS / Stability issue that I could not clear up.

The module had already been cut open, and glued back together when I got the car, so I figured I didn't have much to lose by taking a peek inside.

In the corner, it looks as though a trace was cut by whatever tool was trying to open it. But second guessing myself that it might have been an intentional cut to the small trace since there is a paint mark near it.

A Pic from Dan's ABS fix on www.jagrepair.com has a similar paint mark, but I don't see a cut on the PCB in the same area. Hard to tell because it's light on pixels though.

Have any of you seen this cut? I am assuming it was accidentally damaged when the case was cut open to solder the pump terminals.

 

Someone got over enthusiastic with whatever was used to open the case, possibly. That track break shouldn't be there.

Fortunately, it's easy enough to bridge if you're OK with a soldering iron, or know someone who is.

 

Do a simple test on that trace with a multimeter set to continuity, and put each probe of the meter on either side of the cut, if no continuity, trace needs a jumper soldered in. take a small piece of wire about the width of the trace and strip each end or just use bare copper wire. Lay it on the trace so it reaches both sides of the cut and solder each side of the cut to the wire. Clean up flux with rubbing alcohol or acetone. You could even affix a small piece of electrical tape over the repair to protect it. While you’re in there check the two main solder joints from the lower plug with two wires. Mine didn’t look too bad but I resoldered them both and all abs lights and stability control fault went away.

that cut shouldn’t be there.

 

Yeah, I spent a few year as an electronics tech reworking PCBs. I can handle the repair fine.

I remember we occasionally would rework boards until new artwork came along by cutting traces like that. But usually it would be neater and more deliberate. The paint mark nearby had me wondering if it meant the board had a rework done, and someone was hurrying and being sloppy with the cut.

I'll patch it up and see if I can get the lights to go out.

 

Yes, it was definitely broken, the bare copper on either side of the break is where I scraped the coating to test with my meter.

The pump terminals looked like they had been touched up, but I reflowed them again as well. I'll wait overnight for the glue to dry on the case and reinstall tomorrow. Hopefully this will take care of it.

 

Hopefully it will. A word of caution from my encounter, I didn’t remove the brake lines when taking the module off, just bent them enough to sneak it out of there, but when reinstalling it I bent the hell out of three of the little pins in the bigger plug. Had to remove it a second time and straighten them out. Be careful when reinstalling those little pins are fragile and easily bent. Good luck man!

 

I bent mine also on the re-install. But many more than 3. I was really sweating my stupidity when straightening them out. Luck was with me and none “snapped”. All went back together fine on the 2nd time around.

one really has to cautious when dealing with these multi connectors. I still don’t know how I managed to push the connectors together with so many pins misaligned ??

Z

 

As a follow up. I reassembled the car, no bent pins, and took a quick drive. At 15 MPH the warning lights all went off. After 1/4 mile I thought all was well, so I stopped and reversed to turn around and service stability, and traction messages came back on.

I took another look at the wheel speed sensor, and I am not sure how I missed the bundle of electrical tape on the harness before. I peeled it back, and found this.



3 butt splices, and one of them broken. I respliced, and soldered the connections. All is well so far. But the original wire is nicked in a couple more places, and looks very brittle. I think it will break somewhere else soon.

I think I have found the connectors fairly inexpensive on ebay. Has anyone just made a new wheel speed extension harness? The components to do so look much cheaper than a buying 20 year old used, original harness that maybe has a bit more life left.