ABS light on & bad clunking/semi grinding sound

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mgladwin

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Hi everyone,

Just got back from doing the Border Track (Vic-SA border) and have an issue as a result of being stuck in a large mud hole and having to be winched out backwards by a mate.

Anyway... on the way home from Bordertown to Adelaide. I was about 20 kms from home and when I turned a corner, i got this bad sound coming from the front (maybe) and the ABS light is on. The "bad" sound, sound like the ABS kicking in really fast over and over and i get a shudder through the steering not through the brakes. The brakes still work okay but they need pumping up, ie pedal is very low on first 2 pumps then it gets better. Breaks work fine.

Is this a fluid leak? ABS box in engine bay seems fine ie. no leaks.
Strange thing is car was fine most of the way home and didnt stuff up until the end.

I have just spent 2 hours pressure cleaning everything and light is still on. Am yet to take for a drive though to see if there is still a bad sound.

Any ideas?

Cheers.
 
check all ABS cables to the hub make sure theres no damage to them...do the cv boots still look sealed? i ripped off the inner boot when mudding one time...must have been a stick in the hole or something...
 
Will check it all out tomorrow in the daylight. Thanks mate.

EDIT - Have been ringing around today and it sounds like it could be front wheel bearing.
From reading around, the ABS sensor and bearing are all in the main bearing casing and cant be touched/checked.

Hopefully can find problem tonight and report back.

EDIT 3/7/2012 - Turns out it was the front right wheel bearing kicking the bucket.
Some how the ABS is all linked to this so that's why the light was coming on.
Hopefully all comes good after bearing has been replaced.
 
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i ran into a huge pot hole the other day and now have this creak on my front lhs and also had the abs come on the other day for no reason so booking into the service guys next week only 15,000 km on clock!
 
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Hi everyone,

Just got back from doing the Border Track (Vic-SA border) and have an issue as a result of being stuck in a large mud hole and having to be winched out backwards by a mate.

Anyway... on the way home from Bordertown to Adelaide. I was about 20 kms from home and when I turned a corner, i got this bad sound coming from the front (maybe) and the ABS light is on. The "bad" sound, sound like the ABS kicking in really fast over and over and i get a shudder through the steering not through the brakes. The brakes still work okay but they need pumping up, ie pedal is very low on first 2 pumps then it gets better. Breaks work fine.

Is this a fluid leak? ABS box in engine bay seems fine ie. no leaks.
Strange thing is car was fine most of the way home and didnt stuff up until the end.

I have just spent 2 hours pressure cleaning everything and light is still on. Am yet to take for a drive though to see if there is still a bad sound.

Any ideas?

Cheers.


Hi mate,

i had my abs light on few months back after a trip to jindabyne... went through some mud and it got into one of the sensors and the abs would occasionally flicker on and off some days would be fine some days would stay on... took it into nissan and they reset it said it was fine.... i took off down the road happened again they "re looked" at it and found one of my sensors was stuffed and replaced it within the hour..... my guess is your sensors got a bit of mud or water in it. get it checked out

as for the other problems hope all works out and doesnt cost you much...

p/s i also got shudder and could feel it in the steering wheel it was all apart of the abs kickin in and trying to correct the breaking..... dont think its too much to worry about... shouldnt cost much. from my experience it was just the sensor. just tell the guys at nissan or where ever you take it you know some one who experienced same thing to ensure they dont just reset the comp and actually look at the sensors themselves.

hope it all helps
:violin2:
 
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Hi mate,

i had my abs light on few months back after a trip to jindabyne... went through some mud and it got into one of the sensors and the abs would occasionally flicker on and off some days would be fine some days would stay on... took it into nissan and they reset it said it was fine.... i took off down the road happened again they "re looked" at it and found one of my sensors was stuffed and replaced it within the hour..... my guess is your sensors got a bit of mud or water in it. get it checked out

as for the other problems hope all works out and doesnt cost you much...

p/s i also got shudder and could feel it in the steering wheel it was all apart of the abs kickin in and trying to correct the breaking..... dont think its too much to worry about... shouldnt cost much. from my experience it was just the sensor. just tell the guys at nissan or where ever you take it you know some one who experienced same thing to ensure they dont just reset the comp and actually look at the sensors themselves.

hope it all helps
:violin2:

OK so I ended up with both front wheel bearing assemblies being replaced as well as both left and right bottom ball joints. The ABS sensor is directly attached to the front wheel bearing housing. If you buy a new bearing you get a new ABS sensor with it which is good. What had happened was the bearing was very stuffed and a piece of metal from the bearing had chewed the end off the sensor. So this is what was causing the grinding and the ABS light to come on.
So I replaced both bearings and now I have a spare because the other side wasn't to bad. Both left and right bearings are identical, so which ever one dies first I can replace if needed quickly. The shudder I felt was just the stuffed bearing not the ABS. The ABS basically just turned itself off until the sensor was fixed.

Hope that sums it up if people ever experience the same sort of thing.
 
This thread almost matches what happened to me identically, just have to hear back from Nissan to find out if the outcome is also identical.
Will post up the outcome as soon as i find out.
 
Sounds exactly like my issue too. What was the cost to fix yours please. I'll have to go to a mechanic and hope for the best for no bulshit 🙄
 

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