Car has a secret..

[Themoog2]

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..

[sapphireblack]

Only one answer, get the dash pod sorted. Better to know for sure what is or isnt working.

Concealing faulty warnings is a bit naughty

[Themoog2]

I’ve been thinking and 18 months ago I had to replace the abs module and I remember wondering why there were no lights on the dash. Now I know why.
There must have been a similar fault before I got the car.
On my live data I can see that the wheel sensors are working so maybe the abs just needs resetting or clearing. My diagnostic tool doesn’t show any fault codes though.

[Leslie]

If the lights are on it I doubt the abs is working , definitely an mot fail as they should have spotted no lights coming on and going off on startup.You certainly wouldn't get away with that in Government run mot centres over here in Norn Iron ( I know I tried it in the past after like you finding the abs bulb out replacing it , finding out it was out to conseal a fault then taking it back out again Its a can of worms really you have opened now Did the abs module need coding to work right I wonder ? The only way to confirm the abs is working is find a quiet wet road and nail the brakes to try and lock the wheels , a grassy area would be easier though ,if the abs does't kick in them you know its faulty
Getting away with it for 10 years is impressive though

[Alan Gunn]

Run a cluster test in the hidden menu and see what is what.

[Themoog2]

I’ve just had my scanner on it and it says both front abs sensors showing no signal. A few months ago I replaced the front axles and was very careful not to touch the sensors but I also noticed that there were no reluctor rings on the old axles or the new ones. Where is the signal picked up?
I may get a couple of new sensors and chuck them on to see what happens.

[Themoog2]

But further to that - when I drive I can see on live data on my scanner that there are individual wheel speeds.

[Leslie]

It might be in the bearings the pickup but Im not sure on these .

[X5Sport]

There’s no mention of a reluctor ring, but the fault manual suggests faulty wheel bearings as a potential cause - along with bad pulse generators (the sensors) or bad wiring. It also suggests something called a pulse gear, but I can’t find one in Realoem.

UPDATED - the ABS ‘tone ring’ that is used by the ABS sensor is inside the OEM wheel bearing assembly. The below from a parts site was the clue:

ABS warning light: If you are chasing an ABS issue and you have sorted out the sensors, it’s not impossible that damage has occurred to the ABS tone ring inside of the wheel bearing. If you have a single corner fault but the ABS sensor checks out, replace the wheel bearing and in turn the tone ring.

[Alan Gunn]

Ring as said is in the hub/bearing.
Same on a lot of cars.

[Themoog2]

I can confirm that the abs is not working. I locked the brakes on a gravel car park today and the pedal didn't vibrate as it should. Couple of new sensors then..