Car has a secret...

[Themoog]

Right. Yesterday I was twiddling my thumbs and I happened across a video on YouTube about the cluster pixel repair.
The pixels on mine have been all broken up for as long as I've had the car and I remembered that I had a repair kit so I thought I'd have a go.
Removed the cluster, got the glass front off and was presented with 3 of the warning lights covered with black insulation tape.. ABS, 4x4 and another which I can't remember. Hmm - someone has been here before but it must have been over 10 years ago.
I plugged it back into the car and sure enough those lights were on permanently.
Oddly though, the car drives OK and has no codes stored. I know the abs is working as I can see it on the live data stream with the diagnostic.
It's also passed 10 years of Mots which I thought if the lights on the dash don't show up then go ff was a fail..
What do I do now? Sort it properly or re blank the lights, chuck it back in the car and pretend it never happened.. 🤔

[80stech]

You need a proper code reader for starters. Unless you enjoy working on cars and want to look at as a challenge then put the tape back on! That being said, now that you know there are problems you will probably want to fix them or it will eat away at you, and if you don't they will probably now see it on your face at the inspections! Plus the car now knows that you know, so there is that! Crazy that it passed inspections, or maybe the inspections are only for emissions (not safety) and the CEL is working??

[andrewwynn]

It's the "trifecta" of abs disabled.

BRAKE, DSC, ABS.

This series of X doesn't have limited slip and relies entirely on abs for wheel spin control.

If you never drive on snow you'll probably be ok other than wet leaves which can be literally life threatening.

When my ABS disabled on me, it almost sent me into a curb less than a mile later.

The problem is the easiest wheel/s to spin will and if both wheels from one axle spins or worse, skid from engine braking, it'll send that axle to the curb due to the crown of the road.

We've been driving cars for over a century, 80% of that without abs so if you know how to drive without abs, the most important thing, to know when engine braking is causing a skid on snow and to put in neutral to stop the skid, (or live where there's no snow) you'll be fine another ten years.

[andrewwynn]

You def want to pull codes and figure out what is causing the lights but it's almost always the abs control module. There's a design defect casing bond wires to break inside.

You said you saw abs data live not sure what data would show this.

Slam on the brakes on wet ground when it just started raining and is oily you'll hear the abs buzzing if it's working or feel the car getting squirrelly from skidding if it's not.

What color is the word BRAKE.

If abs related will be orange. If it's red it's from low brake fluid and could be as simple as the magnet float switch inn the cap.

If I'm correct and abs is permanently off then just be mindful of that and practice skidding in a big empty parking lot when it's iced over learning how to use neutral to stop engine braking from causing skids.

ABS is unrelated to emissions which will red flag an inspection fail in the USA. Some states might require abs functionality but I'm not aware of any that do.

[X5chemist]

Has the actuator gear ever been replaced? How many km or miles are on it? Reset and see how fast lights come back on.

[getty150]

The natural element that I come in contact with on a more regular basis is water .
I have replaced the actuator during COVID...but I have to have the thing calibrated. I don't have any of those softwares and I've had so many fires (repairs) to tend this one had gotten lost in the shuffle.
But yes no problem driving in two wheel.

Sent from my REVVL V+ 5G using Tapatalk

[andrewwynn]

I didn’t realize it was a newer model with extra drive. Yes those are much safer to drive without ABS. It’s just a normal rear wheel drive car.

I had early model:

Life threatening to drive without DSC active.

[Themoog]

I can confirm that my abs is not working. My diagnostic is saying there is no signal from both front wheels and I did a skid test on some gravel yesterday and nothing happened.
Two front sensors it is then. I hope..

[andrewwynn]

It's very rare for a sensor too just go dead. I would get some cheap Amazon models.

If somebody taped over the lights it's most likely in the abs module

[Themoog]

I replaced the abs module last year cause the car went into limp mode as it wouldn't communicate with the car.
I sent the old one for repair but they said it was totally beyond repair so I chucked used one on the car.
Whoever put the tape on the lights did it over 20 years ago so maybe it is the sensors - they look original as I replaced the two front driveshafts a few months ago too.
I can swap the sensors and if that works all good but my scanner won't be able to turn off the abs light.