1998 Rodeo ABS Light

[TopExec]

Hi! New to the Forum but have read some great posts here so I thought I'd give it a try. I have a 1998 Rodeo and the ABS light would come on and go out. It is now on all the time. I ran the diagnostics by jumping pins 4 & 12 on the OBD II connector. The codes that read out are 53 & 63 (rear sensor problems). My question is based on these codes is it the wiring or the sensor? I don't have the tools to check the sensor so I am thinking to a $hop to take a look at it. I did inspect the wiring and it all looks intact from the sensor to under the drivers door where it goes into the body. I didn't pull the rubber off the area where it goes into the body to check if there is a connector there. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! Jeff

[okmech1]

Top,

I would venture to guess it's a sensor. If i'm not mistaken, those sensors should have some kind of magnetic portion to pick up the wheel speed which could go bad. wiring might give you more of an irratic type of problem.

Actually, I got digging in the manual I have for my '01 and it calls those codes "rear speed sensor open or shorted" - 53 and "speed sensor missing signal" - 63, and points heavily on the sensor being bad, not much on the harness or wiring. It seems to say that the normal reading if you disconnect the sensor should be about 1.0k - 1.7k Ohms. It also says to disconnect the module connector wherever that is first and do a check, but being done with poer off, doesn't seem that it would hurt to check resistance at a disconnected rear sensor. Also, it says to check for play in the sensor to rotor area and iron debris on the sensor.

Hope that helps

[jamesh4]

There is another post on the ABS light that discusses this in more detail. I had the same problem and codes, it was the wire (specifically the white/blue wire) that goes back to the differential. It was somewhere along the length of the wire as the connectors were just fine. I finally ran a new wire and voila, it works great now. I think the multiple codes is a pretty good clue it is the wire and not just the sensor. Unfortunately the guy at pep boys didn't know this and I got ripped off for $400 for him to fix something that wasn't broken.