hi, i got in a bind last fall and had to have the front calipers and rotors replaced in a shop.

shortly after the job, my abs and brake dash warning lights started coming on intermittently.

the truck sat all winter.

started the truck up today, now it is happening constantly. it doesn't seem to have anything to do with brake application, it seems to be like a loose wire connection or something. i took the dash panel off and all i see is a massive wiring harness nightmare.

any ideas?

Bob

 

If you just want the lights off there is a black box behind the glove box that you can unplug, doing this will make your rear wheel abs non-functional. If you actually want to try and fix the problem look in the sticky, it has a write up on how to diagnose abs problems.

 

part of the problem is that the o/d kicks in and out when this is going on.

trying to run one of these things on the highway with the o/d shifting itself in and out randomly can really drive you nuts, especially since i swapped out the sloppy t/q

Bob

 

Step 1.... get in truck
Step 2.... open glove box (pull the sides together to open further)
Step 3.... locate black box
Step 4.... unplug box
Step 5.... close glove box
Step 6.... exit truck
Step 7.... walk to fridge and get cold beer
Step 8.... find easy chair
Step 9.... drink cold beer
Step 10... repeat steps 7-9 until satisfied

 

Check for a vacuum leak.

 

so what does the black box do and do you plug it back in after two or three beers

 

The black box is the RWAL controller. It runs the ABS for the back brakes.

 

usualy the abs light will still be on

 

thanks Dave,

i guess it's sort of fixed.

it seems poor vacuum is the cause of the problem, but when it does happen the radio cuts out as well as the o/d.

i will replace the vacuum lines and the fitting in the brake booster as soon as i can but for now everything is just wiggled into a 'fresh' position.

at least i can drive it again.

as far as the beer thing goes... i found that if something was broken, after whole bunch of beers (and or whiskey/tequila) there ended up being even more things broken than there was to begin with.

i wonder if there's any way to get your fingers caught in the blower fan while its running?

Bob

 

Does drinking and things going wrong or more wrong fit into some chapter of Murphies law!!! ABS can give you fits, especially when you don't know about the bleeder behind the fuel tank when bleeding brakes. Spent 1/2 day cussing, throwing wrenches, stomping my feet, ect. Came home threw a couple cold ones down and got the heart rate down, got on here and bam found the problem. Whats the saying-I feel your pain superdodge-lol good luck with it.

 

is your tranny tps controlled? If so, it is probably causing your OD problems... I had the same issue, but my truck is a '94 (2nd gen)... but I think we have the same engine tranny set up (both 12v 47rh I think). I fixed mine with a wiring workaround that I pulled off of here... I did mine a little different than they suggested, but basically you can adjust the output voltage off the tps by installing a capacitor (to filter voltage spikes) and a potentiometer (a rotary variable resistor). I used a 500k pot and a 220 uf cap from radio shack (about $5 total) and soldered it in... now I can set the voltage on my tps so that it shifts into OD and the torque convertor locks up at 45 mph ... I get WAY better gas milage now (from 19-20 up to around 24-25) and you just have to throw in a switch to bypass the TQ lockup ... You can do one for the OD also, but my truck has a factory OD off switch so I didnt' bother to install 2. I hope it helps...

BTW did you ever figure out what was causing your brake issues? Mine are driving me bananas... I get braking with a muchy pedal, and then the next pump of the pedal it's like there is a cinderblock under it (I can't get it to go down) and the brakes won't apply at all... Almost went through my own gate driving home last night... crazy.

Johnny