The ABS light on my 2003 Accord was coming on and off. Went to Advanced and read the code, which indicated a short in the front left wheel sensor.

I bought a new wheel sensor and replaced it. In order to get the old one out I had to drill out the plastic, as the old one was so corroded in place. I reassembled the car, turned it over and no ABS light. Backed it down the driveway, hit the brakes and it was smooth. Started going forward hit the brakes and had a thumping feel/ sound to breaking. Drove it a little ways and every time i would break going backwards all was fine, just going forwards i had the issue. Eventually i hit the breaks hard and the thumping stopped, but the ABS light came back on.

Any ideas? Another part to switch, some plastic leftover in the chamber from the old sensor, or what?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

are you sure you tightened the lug nuts? unlikely anything with the sensor would cause a thumping feel/sound. I would take it back apart and double check all your work before driving any further.

 

yep, all lugs tightened to speced 85 f/lbs. I was going to retrace my steps on the whole installation to be sure, but still think there is some other reason.

The thumping (perhaps more a feel than a sound) sort of felt like the abs was trying to pump the brakes, but doing it very roughly. This only occurred when braking, and the second the ABS light came back on, the rough braking stopped. It feels fine when driving now and braking capacity doesn't seemed diminished.

New rotors and pads were put on at the end of 2012 so I know that isn't the issue. (ABS light was coming on before that)

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

 

could be some foreign material from your drilling process to get the old sensor out. this may interfere with the signal provided to the ABS system tricking it into thinking it has to actuate.

 

That was my initial thought as well, but wasn't sure if that was a possibility or not... any ideas on how to clean it out further, its a tight squeeze and i thought I had most debris out with shop vac, air compressor etc, but its tough to say.

If I do find some more debris and get it out, do you think the new sensor will be fried and I'll have to get a new one, or with a reset i should be good to go? Thanks for the help.

 

it is possible you drilled in too far and damaged the tone ring on the axle. that would cause some problems.

 

is the tone ring easy to determine damage or replace it, if needed?

 

i've been corrected, by redbull and a previous thread. this model year uses a magnetic encoder built into the wheel bearing/hub assy. would have to be replaced as a unit if necessary.

getting old ain't for sissies....

 

Lol. Dr. D was the one that gave us the info. before, he probably just had a brain fart earlier. See post # 33 and 35 in this thread regarding Dr. D's responses.

https://www.hondaaccordforum.com/for...n-46462/page4/

 

Thanks, hopefully i don't have to go that replacement. I'm going to start by re-checking for debris and go from there.

Any ideas on why it would only act up in the forward direction, and not reverse? Something directional?