legacycentral bbs

So the other day I noticed the abs pump was staying on and the abs light in the dash also on.
Only way to get the pump to turn off is to remove the fuse.

any know if this means the abs pump is bad?
any diag tips?

Thanks
Tyson

probably a pressure switch or internal leak in the ABS unit....

Diagnostic info

http://main.experiencetherave.com/subar ... bsdiag.jpg

My car had (still has I guess) a problem where the pump would kick on when I turned the car off and pulled out the keys. It may have been running when I had the car on and just couldn't hear it over the car - never felt it in the pedal though.

There is a relay that is known to fail and causes the pump to run. I pulled the relay and then proceeded to put a piece of electrical tape over the ABS light on the dash.

I should note that I only got the ABS light AFTER I pulled the relay so I suspect this is not your issue, but something to be aware of. The link Josh posted should help.

I have a similar issue. My ABS pump will turn on sometimes when I press the brake pedal, the pedal will then push back as if I were skidding on ice. It will do this even if the car is in neutral and not moving.

Take off the electrical cover on the abs pump. Remove BOTH relays and hit them against something a few times. I think I sprayed contact cleaner in it as well.

Also the issue could be air in your brakes if it kicks in when you always hit the brakes not moving.

The good old "hitting the relay" method worked for me.

I'll have to try cleaning the relays. It seems to be an electrical issue. It will do this while braking up to a stop sign or light. I'll see how it works. Thanks!

i have that problem once in a while

Ok update, got it fixed

I pulled the main 40amp fuse under the hood just to kill the power for the time being.

To cure the problem I actually removed the relay cover on the pump and removed the relays then smacked them on the radiator support frame and then reinstalled them.
Installed fuse and drove her around, it fixed the problem.

SO either the relay was sticking or they were still energized a tad which kept it open

The issue is sticking relays subaru had a TSB about this the new relay has a line under the word "Japan" that's how you can tell you have or don't have the replacement relay they go for like $53 at the dealer.

I had my abs pump run and kill my battery about 6 months ago in the 91 SS. Whacked both relays under the plastic ABS cover, and they were fine again till Friday. I was working a night shift and got off at 3am.

I could hear the pump running weakly as I approached the car, but the battery was too dead to start it. Pulled both relays and whacked them, got the car jumped and went on my way.

Anyone know which relay is the culprit?

Are you asking which relay of the two could be the culprit?

Yes

I just unplugged the harness and the problem went away, added bonus, no more ABS!

I don't have a 91 diagram, but in looking at the diagrams for the 90 MY there are no relays for the ABS unit. Fuse 19, 20A is what you'd pull. The only other power lead to the ABS unit is SBF1.

I'll have to look at the full 92 diagrams when I get home.

The 92 diagrams are the same.

Since I don't have ABS, I'm a little behind the 8 ball. Are the relays on the ABS unit? There is only one wire that has power all the time, so I would find that, trace where that goes and to which relay it goes....and then inspect that one.

Yes, the relays are under the plastic "ABS" box on the main unit. I'll check for an Always On wire. Thanks Josh.

Mike, what did you find out about the relays? Did you do anything that remedied the situation? The ABS pump on my '94 wagon just started running tonight. I was in good clothes and didn't want to get them dirty so I just disconnected the battery for now. But I'll need to do something about it tomorrow. Any tips would be appreciated. If not, I'll just pull fuse 19.

I was actually going to post to this thread, thanks for reminding me. So it happened again to my car, but I caught it as it happened. Turns out its the relay closest to the front was the culprit. On mine its the one that has a raised plastic "cross" on it. I just removed it, whacked it with a screw driver handle and that solved the problem again. I plan to get new one from the dealership one of these days.

So mine does this on occasion. In neutral at a stop light pedal starts acting like the abs is pulsing.
Why not just take the abs pump out of the loop and just run it without abs?? Pull the relay and call it a day?

If the unit is going to take like up 900sq-ft in the engine bay, it may as well function.

This topic was hugely helpful, my ABS pump goes berserk in the morning when I first start my car, and once in a while through out the day. Great to know the unit itself likely isn't bad.