ABS & Brake warning light on

[jholaway1971]

Well I just got back from my local mechanics repair shop and they hooked the ABS scanner up to my truck and found no error codes or any other problems with my braking system. He was at a loss why the light was on and he tried to reset the ABS and brake light and it wouldn't reset. I asked about front ABS sensors and he informed me that there are no front ABS sensors on my truck just a rear ABS system. I also asked about the main ABS module if there could be a problem with it and he was like well there is a possibility but I wouldn't waste money changing that because they are fairly expensive. He did offer to keep the truck for a few days and go through the whole electrical system to see why the light was on but there was no guarantee that he could find the problem. His honest opinion was to ignore the lights and just drive the truck. I now know why the bulbs were missing in the dash.

Now with that info does anyone have any suggestions of what I could check or should I just say hell with the lights in the dash and just drive the truck ?

FYI: My truck is: 99 Ram 1500 SLT Laramie 5.9L Auto 2wd

 

[leadrofthepak]

For giggles and ha-has I would swap the rear abs sensor out again. Be very careful to keep it looking "uninstalled" so you can return it if it changes nothing.

 

[jholaway1971]

Can I just plug in the new ABS sensor without actually bolting it down in the rear end to see if light will go out ?

 

[leadrofthepak]

That depends if it uses the rear to ground itself. Make sure you clean the mounting location in that case.

 

[Merc225hp]

I don't believe they are grounded at the diff, so try it see what if anything happens. I would do a hard reset of the pcm, disconnect the neg batt cable, let it sit for ten min. Then hook the neg cable back up and see what you get. One other thing you could check is the tone ring in the rear diff, it could have all it's teeth ripped off of it or maybe someone forgot to install it when or if there was rear diff work done. Next choice is indeed the ABS control module and they are not cheap as your mech told you. I would have expected that his scanner would have found a code for that though.

Note; Up here the ABS system must be in working order at all times or my insurance would be null and void, something to consider if this applies to you.

 

[jholaway1971]

Thanks for the heads up because insurance companies are notorious for screwing over their customers for stupid things.

I also think if the tone ring in the rear diff was the problem then the speedometer would go all screwy and my speedometer works perfectly