The title of this post pretty much says it all.

I drove to the airport yesterday morning - the trip is about 50 miles, the first 15 of which are on back roads and then a bunch of highway. I was about 20 miles into the drive and going slowly in traffic (about 15-20mph) when I pressed my brakes to slow down. At this point, the ABS started going crazy and pulsed continuously while I was trying to slow down (like it would on snow or ice). It also felt like the car was sliding while I was on the brakes, like the car would slide to the right as I tried to slow down. It had rained that morning, but at that point the roads were mostly dry - there should have been no reason for slippage. After doing this for about 30 seconds during a few different stops, the ABS light came on and my brakes went back to normal, though now untrustworthy. I made it to the airport and am now at my parent's house for the weekend, but am dreading my drive back from the airport on Sunday night.

From my research on the forums, it seems like maybe one of the ABS sensors got screwed up somehow, or maybe I need a new ABS module. My car is a '98 with 103K miles, and other things have started falling apart too. I plan on pulling the codes when I get back to my place, but in the meantime, I think I'm just going to disable ABS for my drive back so I don't have to deal with it (please don't flame me for wanting to disable ABS - I like having ABS as much as anyone, but I don't want this to happen again on my drive home because it felt like I had no control over stopping my car). Is it just the one fuse for ABS in the fuse panel under the steering column that I have to pull? Or are there other fuses elsewhere that I should know about that might interfere with my drive home?

Thanks,

Dan

 

Check all of the sensors, make sure they aren't covered in debris and/or crap (whether literal or not).

There are a number of fuses that indirectly power the ABS system, but you can just remove the two under the fusebox on the left side of the hood. Marked 'ABS SOL' and 'ABS MTR'. You could also just unplug the ABS actuator, same effect.

And of course as you said, pull the codes. FWIW if the light is on, the ABS is disabled already; no reason in pulling fuses.

 

since pmohr, as always, already answered your question i'm going to go ahead and LOL at his comment.

 

In his situation yes, that's probably why his brakes went back to normal but I may have seen otherwise. For example whenever I go a smog check, the light would come on for awhile until I drive the car a bit. When I hit the brakes hard while it was on, I realized the ABS still worked. Maybe it turned off so fast I didn't realize, but just thought I'd throw that in.

 

I would venture to guess it's just a bad sensor. It could be the control mod, but doubtfull. If when you get back you find the light is 'off' when you start the car, drive it and see. If it starts acting up, then I'd do as Paul suggested. Could just be a 'one time' thing too ... if there was oil that had come up from the rain and maybe you didn't see it, but the ABS did.

 

Ok, so when I got back to my car last night, the ABS light was still on, so I decided to leave the fuses in (assuming that the system was already not in use). I drove home about 50 miles, and the light is still on. I just tried to pull the codes, though, and my OBD II scanner did not come up with anything (I have a cheap one I bought off of eBay). Is it true that not all scanners will read the ABS codes?

 

No, you can't pull the codes with an OBD-II scanner.

Pull the codes manually.

 

How do you pull the codes manually?

 

i would just pull the fuse for ABS, unless u seriously need it.

 

You read the codes just like checking CEL codes. Long flashes, then short flashes.

 

Very nice Pmohr .... I learned something new!

 

Thanks pmohr for that info.

I finally got the chance to check the ABS codes the manual way. It seems like it was throwing two codes at me:

1) Long Short Short
2) Long Long Short Short Short Short Short

Can you help me figure out what those mean? I couldn't find a guide online.

Thanks

 

Code 12 either means the same as 0505 for the CEL (everything's okay) if it isn't followed by any other codes, otherwise it's just used to signify the start of code reading.

Code 35 is your left rear sensor.

Check the FSM diagnostics, Brake section, starting page 48 (BR-48). That'll guide you through checking it out.

Brake section PDF: http://boredmder.com/FSM/Nissan/Maxima/1998/br.pdf

Before doing that though, I'd just pull the sensor (you're lucky it isn't a front sensor, they rarely like to come out in one piece) and take a look at it. Also check the harness connector, it runs right along the trailing arm IIRC (in that area, anyway).

Note E and F (sensor and harness connector, respectively):