5th gen intermittent ABS light

Anzezaf · Post by **Anzezaf** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:34 pm

Out of the blue, the ABS light popped up on my 5th gen today. I stopped the car, shut it off and started again and the light popped up again, not long after that.
I repeated that cycle about 4 times over the course of an 1 hour drive, and I always got the ABS light back.

Since the error clears up after shutdown of the car, I won't be able to read it with the paperclip trick.

What can I expect, how do I identify the problem? Or do I just keep driving and see if the error finally stays memorized..

YouTube · Post by **Sailor** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 11:31 pm

You could check to see how much crud is around the wheel sensor(s).

Anzezaf · Post by **Anzezaf** » Thu Oct 10, 2019 7:47 am

Thanks for the suggestion. I have to remove the brake calipers and brake rotors to check that, correct?

I also noticed that the ABS light pops up when braking harder than usually (not enough to trigger ABS/lock the wheels, mind you.. Just a bit more than your usual city stop-and-go traffic style braking)

Post by **Vtecmec** » Thu Oct 10, 2019 8:35 am

You only have to remove each wheel to check the sensors. My beemer started to do this a month ago, caused the traction control to continually kick in too. Turned out to be excessive rust on the hubs, pushing the ABS rings out of shape, only cost £10 to fix

, but took me 5 hours.

When you pull the sensors off, check to see if they have been making contact with the reluctor rings.

Anzezaf · Post by **Anzezaf** » Thu Oct 10, 2019 3:30 pm

Alright, seems like I spoke too soon about the codes. I was able to read them and got 31 and 81

At least now I know what to do and check, hopefully its an easy fix. Will report back in a few days when I get around to it (and the weather clears up

)

Post by **Merlin** » Fri Oct 11, 2019 8:52 am

Anzezaf wrote: ↑
Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:34 pm
Since the error clears up after shutdown of the car, I won't be able to read it with the paperclip trick.

Wont it store the codes like CEL and 4WS codes?

Anzezaf · Post by **Anzezaf** » Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:35 pm

Well, this was the cause >.>

I had the car at a mechanic not a week prior, and the dumbass managed to leave the cable hanging and rubbing against the power steering pulley.
The insulation rubbed off and the wire short circuited, just as error 31 indicated..

Quick fix, but I'm still pissed off

toadster · Post by **toadster** » Fri Oct 11, 2019 6:08 pm

Did You let them know

Cheers

Toadster