Isuzu Trooper Owners Club UK™

[Sam1]

Hi, I have a 1998 3.1TD LWB Citation with about 125K on the clock.
I've only had it about 6 months and have had no problems until now.

The ABS warning light has appeared on the dash.

This happened when driving normally and having not had to apply the breaks suddenly for quite a while (a couple of months perhaps).

Since the warning light appeared I've tried an emergency stop with no problems (I'm unsure whether the ABS kicked in, but it didn't 'feel' like)

Now I know very little about cars or their mechanics but have a few friends who could help out if the problem is simple enough so could someone point me in the right direction towards finding the fault please?
And is it a problem when the MOT's due, or is the fact that the car will still stop mean that it'll pass?
Having searched the forum it appears this might be a very expensive repair in which case I'll do without the ABS as long as it passes the MOT.

Thanks for any help

Sam

[Google]

[tich]

Hi Sami
Welcome to the club
Yes abs light on is an mot failure i know this because it happened to me.
I had to get a new abs sensor for my front wheel,you need to get a mechanic to see where your problem is i hope this helps.
Tich

[harald]

defo mot failure
it could just be rust the sensor is a magnet that senses the rim turning and any rust that brakes free will stick to sensor so just clean them also where the senser is reading of the disc clean any surface rust of it , if the rust is thick just use small hammer and it will tap off lump hammer not required

[martins]

When my abs light comes on (has done about 3 time in a just under a year )I stop,turn off ignition,pump the brake pedal 3 or 4 times ,then cycle ignition on and off 3 times.light stays off brakes work ok.my mot is end of April.

Martins

[jjcymru]

wheel sensors tend to get *beep* on them , have a look at the front cvs to see if theres muck on them.

otherwise pull the fuse for the abs and take out the bulb in the dash, youll go back to manual brakes then.

[harald]

if the car has abs it must work for mot , if no light comes on to do the first check on abs system when you turn key then it will fail so taking the builb out wont work unless mot people dont notice i would get it repaired it could save you a costly bump penny wise pound stupid

[jjcymru]

trust me, they dont do abs tests in all the mots ive been in.

try and find a garage with a single axle brake tester, which many only have and youll be fine if you take the bulb out!

[Sam1]

Thanks for all of the replies - great forum

martins - I've just had a go at the method you suggested and it seems to have worked!
I realise this may be only a temporary fix, but at least it get rid of the damn warning light off the dash.

I haven't had a chance to have a look at the sensor to see if it's covered in muck but hopefully when I do it will be the problem.

If it's of any use to anyone the ABS light was coming on when the ignition was turned on the the car was doing its 'checks'. Then it was going off as if all was ok, but then coming back on about 10-20 seconds later.

Anyway, thanks again for the replies, now to just try to find the sensor (I did tell you that I'm mechanically challenged )

Sam

[rfairbairn]