1996 1500 ABS issue

[pags20]

Hey gang,
My problam is this, when I applie the brakes ever so lightly the ABS pump activates. This is a intermitten problam and I never get an ABS light. Any help on where to start would be helpful. Thanks pags20

[phantom564]

Hey there...I have a 1996 K1500 that had the same problem...sounds like a bad wheel speed sensor.

(If you search the forum for posts by 'phantom564' there is a post where people helped me out with it.)

When i replaced the wheel speed sensor everything was fine for about a year...then I started having the same problem again. Rather than replace the other sensor or the same sensor twice, I decided to pull the ABS fuse and just get rid of the ABS system altogether (not suggesting you do this, just what worked for me)

If you have any questions, feel free to message me, although I'm not on the computer very much anymore.

[phantom564]

Here are the highlights from those posts...should be everything you need:

I own a 1996 Chevy K1500 stepside with a 5.7L V8 and have been having the same problems as a lot of other people out there with regard to ABS activation. Initially, the ABS only activated at low speeds but recently it has been activating any time I hit the brakes. Can anyone walk me through the troubleshooting/repair of this problem?

Unwarranted abs actuation is usually caused by a faulty wheel speed sensor, this should be scanned and driven with an abs capable scanner to look at codes and individual wheel speed inputs to determinen the problem.

I agree! Generaly its a bad wheel speed sensor that as your stopping it missreads the wheel speed telling the system that wheel is going slower than the rest and then on come the anti-locks. However you do need to have the right scanner to physically see the problem If you can have it scanned they are easy to replace.

Advance Auto Parts will not do this, you will need to seek a gaarage with an abs capable scanner, you could check the resistances with an ohmeter, usually around 1200-1600 ohms depending on temp, but it still could be bad even with this check

Check out these websites for more than you ever wanted to know about ABS and GM brakes.

My personal experience with an ABS light turned out to be a faulty passenger side ABS sensor. The picture from Advance Auto is very close to correct, the only difference from the picture would be the mounting bracket for the wire so that it does not get caught in suspension movement. I personally tried getting that sensor every way that I possibly could without paying $100. Timken is the OEM supplier to GM and boy are they proud of them! Siemens(Autozone, after searching through catalogs) also makes them, but for the same price. Hell for that price you might as well go ahead and buy the whole bearing/sensor assembly as one unit. I can't remember if I had to remove the whole assembly anyway just to access the allen head screw that holds the sensor to the hub. In any case, good luck. A word of warning though, if you do end up having to remove the hub assembly just to access the sensor, you will ABSOLUTELY NEED an impact gun of enough strength to bust the 3 bolts out of the spindle. Usually they are somewhat rusted into place, use PBlaster liberally, and wait overnight. If your doing this outside, the colder it is, the tougher it gets.

Hope this helps -Chris 96 Z71 5.7L All stock

http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf60133.htm http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf70142.htm http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf50434.htm http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf30414.htm http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf120312.htm http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf50230.htm

[tempfixit]

I have a 1996 k1500 alos with the same symptons. here is the fix i had.

Removed wheels, calipers, rotor, and shield held on on by 2 bolts to access wheel speed sensor. (I used 9/16" deep dwell impact socket with a breaker bar and cheater pipe to break the bolt's free) Remove top bolt and loosen lower bolt and shiel should move out of way. Use allen wrench to remove screw hold senor in place, pull sensor upward and carefully as not to break sensor in hub. Using a wire brush clean off the rust that has built up on the wheel hub causing the magnetic field gap to be incorrect ( Plug sensor hole so bearings in hub DO NOT become contaminated. Clean sensor of rust, grease sensor and hub sensor surface. Reinstall and test drive.

Here is the wheel speed sensor testing procedure:
http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us...rInfoPages.htm

Hope this helps