Hi all, my "ABS Failure" message has become permanent now The car starts fine, Check OK, no messages and ABS warning light goes away. As soon as the wheels start spinning for the first time the ABS Failure message lights up :bang: I just disconnected the battery, disconnected the fuse board in the battery bay, took all of the relays and fuses out and gave it a bath in contact cleaner. I then disconnected the infamous D4 connector and sprayed it thoroughly, waited until it's all dryed out and reconnected and reassembled everything, connected the battery, started the car up and the message appeared again

Really sad, was hoping to fix it the cost free way
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated Is it worth disconnecting and cleaning the ECU connector sitting on the right side of the engine? Next thing on my list would be taking the wheels off and checking the ABS sensors/wires, but I'll visit my mechanic for that next week.

Are you able to read the error codes in the ECU, would give you a better idea of what is wrong?

No, I don't have the cable, never needed it before, but I plan on buying one. Would there be a detailed error message saying what's causing the ABS Failure, i.e. "Loose connection near ABS ring front right"? I always thought it should say the same as on the dash. I just jacked the car up, took both front wheels off, just to have a look at the wiring there and moved the cables around and after I got the wheels back on again - the error was gone I drove it for ~10km and restarted a couple of times and nothing and it's been constantly on for the past 2,3 weeks :bang:
Now I have two options, either the contact cleaner dissolved some corroded/bad contact a bit later, or there is something wrong with the cables going to the ABS sensors. I'll buy a cable or take it to my mechanic next week and I'll read the error message.



Where is the ABS Sensor?

I expect it's the ABS connectors on the topside, they're easy to get to under the bonnet. Look near the suspension turrets. If you know it's the front ones then that's half the battle.

Yes ABS fault code should identify which wheel is causing problems

ABS cable is the one on the lh side of your middle picture

That's an idea, I'll have a look tomorrow, I don't believe the cables are snapped and after I moved them around they magically connected. But a bad contact I can believe, I already had the driver's door stuck closed and all buttons on it not working because of the socket connecting it.

PS. Can someone provide me with a picture of the fuse-box in the battery compartment, please (Decks? ) Especially the first row of fuses, as I first took 'em off and then made the photo that helped me reassemble it I think I got them right but not really sure, it runs fine anyway.

Is the D4 connector the brown one in this picture, because I think I cleaned the wrong one

No, the black and purple one is the D4 connector. Whilst you have it disconnected see if you can re route the two cables so that D4 is no longer under the fusebox ready to get splashed from the wheel well but next to the fusebox where it's much drier and you can keep an eye on it

Small fuses are shown here but this is my 1.6 and fuses may differ between models

Deckchair5 said:

View attachment 91362
No, the black and purple one is the D4 connector. Whilst you have it disconnected see if you can re route the two cables so that D4 is no longer under the fusebox ready to get splashed from the wheel well but next to the fusebox where it's much drier and you can keep an eye on it

Small fuses are shown here but this is my 1.6 and fuses may differ between models

Click to expand...

Ah great, so I cleaned the right one, perhaps I should clean the other one too but I am getting low on contact cleaner with this car That's an excellent idea moving the connector, at first I thought wraping it in plastic foil then it crossed my mind that this could trap moisture even more.

If you're going to wrap it up then put some pinholes in the top of the wrapping (carefully) so it can breath

Problem solved! The front left sensor was just dirty, sprayed it with some degreaser and WD40 and no beeping

Good stuff! Nice and easy fix

Deckchair5 said:

Good stuff! Nice and easy fix

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help am really happy, at least now I know how to fix the other three Next time I will try to make some photos, I suspect the other ones should be on their way