possible wheel speed sensor issues...

[muddy12]

This week, the traction/stability control light, ABS light, and the "service 4wheel drive" message in the EVIC have all started coming on again.
The truck is a 2012, 1500, 4x4. This issue first pooped up about 6 or so months ago, happened a few times, and then went away until now
The issue occurs at seemingly random intervals, although it may be slightly more frequent when it's raining.

This time is slightly different than 6 months ago. This time, I'm also getting a slight "slip" or "miss" when all the lights come on. Honestly, it reminds me of when the throttle position sensor went bad in my 99 ram, which would cause the torque convertor to randomly unlock and immediately lock back while cruising.

All of the wheel bearings are quite, and pass the "shake the tire" test, so I think I'm going to start by checking the speed sensor connections.

Has anyone dealt with a similar issue, or have any insight they are willing to share?

thanks

 

[Loudram]

The last time I had issues with a wheel speed sensor it was on my wife's old Trailblazer. The anti lock brakes would activate when she was rolling real slow like when she was about to come to a complete stop.

They weren't bad, they just needed to be cleaned. Rust build up under the mounting bracket caused to sensor to lift up away from the wheel just a hair but that was all that was needed to mess up. On the Trailblazer you had to make sure no dirt fell into where the sensor sits when you pulled the sensor to clean under the bracket. All it took was a little Scotch Brite and a toothbrush size wire brush to clean the area.

I don't know if this is an issue with the Rams but it's worth looking at.

 

[bobnap]

My situation is probably a bit unique but just this week I had the same lights come on in my 2016 2500 and it turned out that a critter of some sort had chewed up a wiring harness that included a speed sensor wire among other things. $650 later and my rig is back in the driveway.

Bob

 

[JOHRY]

This week, the traction/stability control light, ABS light, and the "service 4wheel drive" message in the EVIC have all started coming on again.
The truck is a 2012, 1500, 4x4. This issue first pooped up about 6 or so months ago, happened a few times, and then went away until now
The issue occurs at seemingly random intervals, although it may be slightly more frequent when it's raining.

This time is slightly different than 6 months ago. This time, I'm also getting a slight "slip" or "miss" when all the lights come on. Honestly, it reminds me of when the throttle position sensor went bad in my 99 ram, which would cause the torque convertor to randomly unlock and immediately lock back while cruising.

All of the wheel bearings are quite, and pass the "shake the tire" test, so I think I'm going to start by checking the speed sensor connections.

Has anyone dealt with a similar issue, or have any insight they are willing to share?

thanks

I had the same issue on my 2015 RAM 1500. Would sporadically come on and off. When I finally pulled the codes, I saw that it was a Right Front Wheel Speed Sensor.

 

[muddy12]

I had the same issue on my 2015 RAM 1500. Would sporadically come on and off. When I finally pulled the codes, I saw that it was a Right Front Wheel Speed Sensor.

What did you use to pull the codes? All I have at the moment is a basic obd2 scanner which doesn’t pull abs codes.


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[JOHRY]

What did you use to pull the codes? All I have at the moment is a basic obd2 scanner which doesn’t pull abs codes.


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I used AlfaOBD

 

[muddy12]

Thanks[emoji106]


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[muddy12]

I'm cautiously optimistic that I figured out my issue. On my way home from work on Friday, the truck felt a little sluggish, kind of like a brake was dragging. I tore into the rear brakes on Saturday, and discovered that the drivers side parking brake has deteriorated. The rear shoe had separated, and was wedged against the drum face, which was causing the dragging/sluggishness.
I also noticed that there was a substantial amount of rust, dirt, and grime stuck to the speed sensor. The passenger side was dirty, but not nearly as bad as the driver side. I cleaned and put everything back together, and went for a drive. Drove around a bit over the weekend, as well as 20 miles into work today, and so far, the lights have not come back on. keeping my fingers crossed that it was just a dirty sensor.

 

[muddy12]

Well, the lights came back on again. With the truck having just over 100K miles, I decided to just go ahead and change out the front wheel bearings and speed sensors. Upon tearing everything apart, I discovered that one of the lower ball joints (replaced less than a year ago), was bad. When I changed the ball joints last time, I went with sealed/non grease-able units. Guessing the bad one didn't have enough grease in it from the start.
Anyway, I located two grease able ball joints, and went ahead and changed them out while I had things apart.

Got it all back together with the new bearings and ball joints, and was feeling optimistic as I left for work this morning.
I made it a total of 8 miles down the road before the lights came back on!

At this point, the problem has to either be with the rear axle, or in the wiring/computer somewhere. guess it's time to just suck it up and purchase the alfa obd software so I can read the abs codes..

 

[muddy12]

Just to update; Rear axle speed sensors showed up yesterday, and I replaced them after work. So, all 4 wheel speed sensors have now been changed, and the lights are still on. I did notice that the wire for the rear drivers side sensor seems like it's been pulled a little tight. I'm wandering if the problem is in the wire harness, going to start going over it this weekend.

 

[CVX20]

Well, the lights came back on again. With the truck having just over 100K miles, I decided to just go ahead and change out the front wheel bearings and speed sensors. Upon tearing everything apart, I discovered that one of the lower ball joints (replaced less than a year ago), was bad. When I changed the ball joints last time, I went with sealed/non grease-able units. Guessing the bad one didn't have enough grease in it from the start.
Anyway, I located two grease able ball joints, and went ahead and changed them out while I had things apart.

Got it all back together with the new bearings and ball joints, and was feeling optimistic as I left for work this morning.
I made it a total of 8 miles down the road before the lights came back on!

At this point, the problem has to either be with the rear axle, or in the wiring/computer somewhere. guess it's time to just suck it up and purchase the alfa obd software so I can read the abs codes..

Not to be a **** but you should have come up with something that will give you live data before throwing parts at it.Code readers with live data and ability to read specified items(and graph them)are pretty cheap these days.Would've saved yourself some money.

 

[RedSRT4Me]

Just to update; Rear axle speed sensors showed up yesterday, and I replaced them after work. So, all 4 wheel speed sensors have now been changed, and the lights are still on. I did notice that the wire for the rear drivers side sensor seems like it's been pulled a little tight. I'm wandering if the problem is in the wire harness, going to start going over it this weekend.

Stupid question but did you unplug the battery to give the vehicle time to reset?

 

[muddy12]

Not to be a **** but you should have come up with something that will give you live data before throwing parts at it.Code readers with live data and ability to read specified items(and graph them)are pretty cheap these days.Would've saved yourself some money.

would have saved more time than money. I needed new front wheel bearings anyway, and they came with new sensors already installed. The rear sensors were only $10 each, so I'm only out $20. I did just get a Bluetooth obd II reader (MX+) , but the included app doesn't read Ram ABS codes, I'm currently looking for an android tablet, or laptop so I can get the alfaobd software..

Even if I had a reader previously, all it would tell me is which sensor wasn't communicating, and if it turns out that it's a wire harness issue(like I suspect it is), I still would have replaced the sensors first as they are cheaper and easier than the harness.

 

[muddy12]

Stupid question but did you unplug the battery to give the vehicle time to reset?

I did not, only because the system resets (lights go away) every time I shut the truck off and restart it. After restarting, the lights usually stay off for a few miles of driving, then the traction control/ESC light will flash and the throttle will cut out (like it does when you spin a tire), then it will "ding" and all the lights will come on and stay on until I shut the truck off.

 

[RedSRT4Me]

I did not, only because the system resets (lights go away) every time I shut the truck off and restart it. After restarting, the lights usually stay off for a few miles of driving, then the traction control/ESC light will flash and the throttle will cut out (like it does when you spin a tire), then it will "ding" and all the lights will come on and stay on until I shut the truck off.

If your problem persists check the wiring on the truck side. Make sure you didn't get something eating your wires too stay warm

 

[muddy12]

So, I’m finally, and reluctantly stepping out of the Stone Age. I decided to go with the obdJscan app to use with the MX+ reader. Only had a few minutes to mess around with it, but I did manage to correct the Speedo for the 35’s.

I’m a little worried though, as I could not get any real time wheel speed info to show up. Don’t know if it’s because of user error on my part, or if they are all really dead??

Anyone know if the speedometer uses the wheel sensors, or does it get its signal from a different sensor(trans output perhaps?)?

I’m going to play around with the JScan software some more this weekend and hope it’s just user error, and not a dead abs module.


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[muddy12]

Messed around with the JScan some more today, and was able to see the live data from the wheel speed sensors. Turns out it was user error yesterday, I was trying to access the info from the wrong module. Anyway, see the pic, the problem is with the right rear.
I had the truck on jack stands, and was spinning the tires by hand. Left side displayed correctly, while the right side shows 8191.5 rpm no matter what the actual rpm of the tire is.

I just pulled the wheel and rotor, and the tone ring is clean and undamaged, and
Considering the sensor is new, I’m assuming it’s a problem with the wiring. Problem is, the wiring that I can see, from where it comes off the harness, to the sensor, all looks perfectly intact with no evidence of damage.


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[muddy12]

Oops, not sure why the pic ended up in the middle of the text. My phone has been acting weird today.


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[muddy12]

Figured out how to pull abs codes with the JScan.
Got the following codes:
C1032 - right rear speed sensor erratic performance.

C2114 - sensor supply voltage low.
And I got,
U0415 - invalid data from ABS, from the drivetrain control module.

What I can see of the wiring looks fine, really hoping that a furry critter didn’t chew on something.


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[CVX20]

would have saved more time than money. I needed new front wheel bearings anyway, and they came with new sensors already installed. The rear sensors were only $10 each, so I'm only out $20. I did just get a Bluetooth obd II reader (MX+) , but the included app doesn't read Ram ABS codes, I'm currently looking for an android tablet, or laptop so I can get the alfaobd software..

Even if I had a reader previously, all it would tell me is which sensor wasn't communicating, and if it turns out that it's a wire harness issue(like I suspect it is), I still would have replaced the sensors first as they are cheaper and easier than the harness.

I bought a Foxwell code reader that read all the different systems on a vehicle.ABS,SIR,Steering angle,etc..... for a couple hundred.It's a good unit that like I said does all the different systems live,as well as snapshot/freeze frames as well as graphs.You can watch all of your WSS's on a graph live and see which one is erratic or dropping out.Beats the hell out of just throwing parts at it.