The other day while coming to a stop I hit a Pennsylvania pot hole and it bounced my front wheels and caused me to loose breaks in the front. It was much harder to come to a stop with just rears. Then later on the Brake light and the ABS light came on and they won't shut off, even though the brakes seem to be workin fine now. I even plugged in Smarty to clear codes and they still come on. Anyone else have this happen, and what do i need to do? I tried pushing the brakes real hard and i get the antilocks to work. I even pushed them real hard while truck was off to see if it does anything. Nothin. Plenty of brake fluid. I had just put new brakes on the front about 3 weeks before. And adjusted the rears. I am wondering if having the rears adjusted up to where they actually work has anything to do with it. Any suggestions?

 

Did you check the plug on the pressure switch in the proportioning valve, directly in front of the ABS pump?

 

I just bled my brakes and that took the light off, after I changed the rear sensor in the rear differential. Id try bleeding the brakes first.

 

I had just bled the brakes a few weeks earlier also. Put all new fluid in.

 

look at the ABS wires and sensors on each front wheel. maybe the pothole knocked something loose. ii think the dodge diagnostic tool will tell you if a particular sensor is bad...

 

Definitely take a look at the ABS wires. My 01 had a wheel rub through the right abs wire after the tire shop changed the wire orientation by mistake. (this thing almost killed me; jerked me right off the road.). When I got home the abs system thought the brakes were locked up and I almost went through the garage door. The ABS speed sensor can be bought from any online dealership pretty cheap (I paid around $65 with shipping).

 

Well, I tryed pushing hard on the pedal with the truck off. That didn't work. So I did it with truck running, didn't work either. So I bled the brakes again, That didn't work either. While under there i checked all abs connections. They all look fine. I did notice it sounds different while bleeding the front brakes. Kinda like fluid going through partially opened valve. HELP

 

I am having the same problem. Mine started about 3 weeks ago and I figured out that it is an issue with the left front wheel speed sensor.

Instead of pulling everything apart, I found a way to test it from under the hood. On the driver side fender, there is the Controller Antilock Brakes (CAB) which kind of looks like a computer hard drive.

There are 2 plugs that go into it. On the larger plug there is a pair of wires, red/violet & white/Violet that you can check for continuity with a multimeter for the rear wheel speed sensor. In the smaller plug there are only 4 wires. the red & red/gray are for the left front wheel speed sensor and the white/bark blue & white are for the right front wheel speed sensor that you should also check for continuity on.

When checking out my truck I had an open pair in the left front so now I know where to look for the cuprit of my issue this weekend. I'll update this thread after I find out if it was the wire, plug or sensor.

This seems to be a common issue when I was searching for myself and since I found an easy way to test which I haven't seen anywhere, I wanted to get it posted up here. Since I usually ask questions here and not give to many solutions I wanted to share it with everyone.

 

We really appreciate the folks that track down a problem, then post the results for others to read.
It helps all of us become more knowledgeable when we have the same problem, or read of another member experiencing the same symptoms.

My ABS/Brake light problem a year ago was caused by the wire harness for the rear ABS sensor rubbing on the left side emergency brake cable to the point that it rubbed all the way though and was shorting out on the metal wound cable sheath.
A slit piece of fuel line to cover the e-brake cale, some RTV covered with electrical tape to insulate the wires and all well.

 

GizmoJoe thank you for the input, I will check it out and post what i got. I noticed the other day while coming to a stop quicker than usual the left front tire locked up on me. Gettin dangerous to drive on wet roads im afraid.

 

I played around some yesterday. Didn't do the continuity thing cause frankly i don't remember how to set the multimeter. But i bled all the brakes again and checked all conections again. I also unplugged the truck from batteries for over an hour to reset everything. Also used the smarty again and it still didn't see a code for it. Nothing worked. But I have another question, the controller antiloc brakes has another block just to the front of it. I believe it is the thing that will stop pressure from going to the front or the rear brakes incase of a broken line. On top of it is a rubber plug cover thing. When i took it off it revealed a plunger and when we push on the brakes the plunger pops up. Does this mean it is stoppen pressure from going to front or back or is this the way it supposed to work? I also can feel the antilocks working if sittin still and push hard on brakes but when moving i can lock all four wheels, back ones first. I have rear drums. I have a special vacume bleader i used this time to blead the brakes. Started with the furthest wheel and finished with the closest. I do remember first time i bled the brakes a month or so ago i accidently pumped out a little more than was in the resivoure. But i filled it back up and have bled the brakes 3 times since to get rid of any air that might have gotten in. Could this have done something? Thanks

 

My 96 Gasser did the same thing 2 days ago. I hit a rough section in the road and the lights came on. I didnt loose brakes. but the lights did come on. I got home and mess with the plug in the ABS block and the light went away. The plug did seem loose but it made them go way. Hope this helps maybe.

-Mike