99 Passat ABS light

The ABS light is on and I can't figure out why. Here is what I've done.

pulled the sensors and cleaned them. They were caked. ABS light is still on, fuses good. How do I reset the light and see if it comes back. Is it just a matter of driving it for a while?

Mate, your not supposed to need advice on these sorts of things........


You should be able to pull a code from it that will tell you what is failing.
It is possible for a wheel or pressure sensor to go bad, wiring to go bad, bad earth, or the ABS computer might have failed. Could also be the pump is gone.
Could also be

This Passat is going to be the death of me. The oil pressure light is on even though it makes 30-70 psi. The ABS light is on for no apparent reason, the IAC is tripping a code but tests fine... if it weren't a customer's car I'd just unplug the sensor and give it back.

Unfortunately it's pretty common for the EXPENSIVE Hydraulic Control Unit to fail in that generation of Passat. The valves stick and or solder joints break. Some people have had success with opening the unit, removing the conformal coating, then reflowing solder (a co-worker of mine got lucky this way). It seems like most have ended up either replacing the HCU or retrofiting some valves from a Ford (Mustang, I believe) ABS pump into the VW unit. I remember seeing some threads on a different forum for this about a year ago....

-Rod