ABS sucks

[entirelyturbo]

Okay, I really hate ABS now. It cost me 2 hours of work and $143.75 today.

In preparation for the white wagon to be sold this week (yes, it's getting sold ), I am doing the front wheel bearings. Since I've already done all 4 on Patti, I was going into this thinking it would be a lot easier and faster this time around.

NOPE!

The wheelstuds are destroyed on this car (who woulda thought??), so I was going to pound them out while the hubs were still on the car, like I did with Patti. But, it's not that simple on this car, because the ring on the hub that the ABS sensor reads will prevent the studs from coming all the way out after being pounded out.

So, it's 5 past 8pm, and I haul ass over to Sears, because they're the only ones open. I buy a grinder, a right angle attachment, and some metal cutting discs, to the total of $143.75. I go back and cut the threads of the studs off, so that they're short enough to come out completely when I pound them out.

Okay, taken care of. No more worries right?

WRONG!

I get everything else off, and then I get to the ABS sensor on the hub. I remove the nut, and try working it loose. Nothing. I tap a flathead screwdriver in the little ridge underneath it. Nothing. I go check my Haynes manual and double-check that the bolt is the only thing holding the sensor to the hub. I stick the flathead under the bracket off to the side of the sensor, and the head finally works under the bracket, but the bracket only bends upward .

I keep hitting at it with a flathead for about 5 more minutes, and FINALLY, it starts to work its way out. I keep working at it, working at it, and another 5 minutes later, it's free.

The passenger side was worse than that.

Worse yet, I'm worried if I damaged the sensors in the process.

So, anyway, as I was saying, ABS sucks, and I never want to own another car with it.

/rant

I'm gonna get in the shower now.

[vrg3]

Yeah, the sensors in the hubs are an immense pain to get out. As long as the you can bend the flange back straight so the clearance between the sensor and the tone wheel remains okay, and as long as the wires are still intact, I wouldn't worry; the sensors are pretty simple and sturdy devices.

The tone wheels aren't that big a deal, though -- you could have just removed the six (I think) allen-head bolts holding the wheel to the hub, and then it would have moved enough to get the studs out.

[Brat4by4]

I think the benefits of having such a functional ABS as found on these cars is worth much more than a little hassle when changing (for some people eternally chewed up) wheel studs.

[entirelyturbo]

Haha, figures. I have a full bit set that I coulda taken those Allen-head bolts out with too

Hindsight is 20/20, as they say.

The mechanic's just finishing up the last hub now. I'm gonna hafta wait till tomorrow to put the car back together though, since the tie-rod ends were destroyed. We shouldn't have even been driving the car.

[scuzzy]

ABS. Pfft. bah.


a mere handicap.

[Brat4by4]

ABS. Pfft. bah.


a mere handicap.

mere ignorance if you ask me.

[skid542]

Damn, sounds like quite an adventure. Glad you got it done though.



Guys, guys, guys, can't we all just agree that there are time where ABS is benificial and times where it is detrimental. It's really a preference and driver ability in most cases, to each his own .

[THAWA]

I can't agree to that at all.

[scottzg]

I can't agree to that at all.

thats because you're a chucklehead.

[Manarius]

I think that if I had had ABS that day I slid into that guard rail that I wouldn't have hit it.

[entirelyturbo]

I just debunked your statement Vikash.

Had my friend come over to bleed the brakes, and when he started the car, he told me the ABS light was on.

Hoping it was a fluke, I told him to turn it off, and turn it back on. It stayed on.

I guess I fucked up one of the sensors.

I didn't even bother bleeding the brakes.

The title of the thread still applies, in my opinion.

Oh, and I swear, on my mother's grave, that I am NEVER buying another American-made Subaru ever again.

[93forestpearl]

Those sensors are spendy too. I had a wheel bearing cost me $700 before I knew better because of the ABS sensor, that and Mike had his resident dumbass work on my car.



Now adays, I'd never pay someone to take it apart.




This car doesn't have ABS. And for the most part, I don't miss it. There are times when ABS could have helped though, like when I was going a little too fast for how wet out it was, and I almost lost it. One front wheel locked up for a fraction of a second, and it jerked me into the other lane. Not cool.

[entirelyturbo]

It was raining pretty steadily today, so I took a quick jaunt through my neighborhood and did some brake tests.

The fronts definitely lock up, with no assistance from ABS whatsoever. So, whatever I did, I guess it's not getting readings from those sensors.

I hear the system purr after the car has been running for 5 seconds, like it's supposed to do, so I know the system itself is otherwise okay. It should be, I haven't even touched it.

I'm scared to go into work tomorrow and see what front ABS sensors cost. I got a feeling they're gonna be more than the rears.

[evolutionmovement]

Must be something with the climate or monkeys pounding on wheel nuts. I've only replaced 1 wheel stud and 2 bearings (I had to replace the knuckles) on all the cars I've owned.

[entirelyturbo]

Well, I'm the monkey that's been doing the pounding (haha that sounds bad ).

Everyone remembers my wheelstud fiasco with Patti, but now it has 20 new wheelstuds on it, so, for now at least , I don't have to worry about that car.

The wagon's bearings weren't due to the wheelstuds (although I've still had a problem with them. I had to break two off on the front right last week to start doing this, and 2 of the ones on the left rear wheel are screwed up now), the problem was that I literally had to take a hammer to the front wheels to get them off the hubs. I took the nuts off, and I could kick the wheel all day, and it wouldn't budge. And of course, as I said, I take a hammer anywhere near hubs and the bearings get pissed off.

What angers me even more, I put anti-seize on the hub so the wheel wouldn't get stuck on it so hard, and it doesn't matter. This time, I just loosened the nuts and actually backed the car out of the garage, jerking the wheel left and right. That got it off.

That reminds me too, I think I've found a safe way to pound out wheelstuds without screwing anything up. If I have time, I'll go into it in my wheelstud thread.

[vrg3]

Aw, that sucks, man. I'm guessing you didn't bother checking the code? You should take a second to do that.

If the ABS light is on, the entire ABS system shuts down. That's a federal safety requirement -- there's no such thing as partial ABS functionality. It's either ABS or conventional brakes.

Driving the car with loose lug nuts sounds like a surefire way to chew up the lug studs, doesn't it?

So I guess this means the way to do this is to leave the sensor in the hub and just disconnect it from the car? Will the sensor's presence make it harder or impossible to press the old bearing out and the new one in?

[entirelyturbo]

Aw, that sucks, man. I'm guessing you didn't bother checking the code? You should take a second to do that.

I was thinking about checking the code, but if the light wasn't on when I parked it, and now it's on after the bearings, then I don't see what else it could be . I haven't touched anything else, except change the front pads. I might do it anyway, just to learn how to do it.

If the ABS light is on, the entire ABS system shuts down. That's a federal safety requirement -- there's no such thing as partial ABS functionality. It's either ABS or conventional brakes.

Ahh okay. Maybe I just didn't jam the brakes hard enough to make the rears lock up.

Driving the car with loose lug nuts sounds like a surefire way to chew up the lug studs, doesn't it?

It sure does, that's why I'm trying to find a way to get the wheels off the car without having to perform acrobatic stunts

So I guess this means the way to do this is to leave the sensor in the hub and just disconnect it from the car? Will the sensor's presence make it harder or impossible to press the old bearing out and the new one in?

I don't think leaving the sensor in would interfere with the actual bearing removal/installation process, except for the long-ass wire I'd be dragging around everywhere

[vrg3]

Well, the code would just have told you which sensor was bad. It's very easy to read the code; you just pull up a flap of carpet and look at the flashing light.

Yeah, the car's designed to lock the front brakes up well before the rears.

The ABS sensor's wire is only a meter or so long, but it does have a little bracket inline.

[entirelyturbo]

Well, the code would just have told you which sensor was bad. It's very easy to read the code; you just pull up a flap of carpet and look at the flashing light.

I might do that. I wouldn't be surprised if it gives me codes for both front sensors though They're already ordered, so it's already water under the bridge.

The ABS sensor's wire is only a meter or so long, but it does have a little bracket inline.

Yep, the sensor comes complete with the bracket and the plug in the frame hole. It should be cake to replace as far as the wiring goes.

[vrg3]

So... how much did they run? The reason I ask is that I have to buy a new front sensor at some point.

Yeah, I just meant it wouldn't be that much extra to carry around with the hub.

[entirelyturbo]

List price is $149.95 per sensor, front or rear. If you wanna buy one through me, I can give you 10% off.

[vrg3]

Thanks, man.

How much are the little spacers that go under the sensor, in case the clearance is too tight?

[entirelyturbo]

$1.08 apiece, I can give you 10% off again on those too.

[vrg3]

Awesome.