ABS & ASR lights on

[alan]

I was recently on a trip down to the south of the Cantal when both the ABS & ASR lights suddenly came on. Whilst the brakes appeared to work ok, the lights stayed on until I stopped the engine, then after restarting & driving a bit further they both went off for the rest of the day. However the next day, the same thing happened – after an hours driving they came on again & stayed on until I stopped & restarted the engine. Looking on the fiat forum, it could possibly be the ABS sensor on the wheels – has anyone else had this problem?

Alan

[Barry & Maggie]

It might also be fluid level, Alan?  That’s one possibility easily checked.

What does the handbook say (mine’s in the motorhome, across the road!)?

I’ll have a look later.

[Fred & Gill]

Had a similar problem many years ago on my old Rover 400.

Apparently the sensor picked up the serrations in a ring that rotated with the wheel – my ring had split and it  slipped, which was picked up by the sensor. I believe that it was a simple function like that which detected if the wheel was skidding and operated the ABS/ASR

May be completely irrelevant to your problem as systems may be quite different and I have not been out to check what is on the Ducato

Fred

[alan]

Thanks for the replies, fluid level is ok but the manual doesn’t refer to both lights coming on. The Ducato does have the castellated sensor rings so one may be split – I suspect the only way to tell is to get the garage to do a diagnostic check.

[alan]

I thought I might invest in a fault code reader to locate where the problem is. Has anyone any experience of these?

[Barry & Maggie]

Unfortunately, one owner who could have helped you sold his Exsis last year and has left our ranks.

Does anyone else have knowledge of these OBD readers?  Unfortunately, my own experience is less than useful… I bought a plug-in sensor and the Bluetooth app to read the results.  It all “sort of” worked but I didn’t get the information that I was seeking.  I have to put that down to “operator error” though!

Good luck with this, Alan.  It’d be good to know if you find that they really are a useful diagnostic tool and if so, how to actually get at that information.  They’re not expensive.

Keep us informed, please? Thanks.

Barry

[alan]

Thanks Barry, will do.

[alan]

After looking on line for a fault code reader for the 2.8JTD ducato, it seems that the majority of cheap ones won’t work with this engine & very few will actually read faults on the ABS/ ASR system. I therefore  downloaded a free diagnostic program onto my laptop from www.multiecuscan.net but had to buy the cables to connect my laptop to the vehicle OBD port. These are available from idiagnostics.co.uk for about £20 which includes 4 cables to read engine faults, ABS and airbag fault codes. After connecting the van up to my laptop it quickly showed all the stored fault codes & located the ABS fault to the right rear speed sensor. Having found where the fault is, I’ve now just got to try & sort it out.

Alan

[Barry & Maggie]

That’s excellent, thanks, Alan.  Great information.

Thanks for updating us.

Barry

[TonyFlisch]

A bit late to this but I had to replace my ABS controller with a reconditioned one a few years back.  The weather sealing is not great and it’s in an incredibly silly place.  The only people who can decode the ABS fault codes are Fiat – the usual garage or home OBD systems dot work though I see Alan has a solution above.

[alan]

Yes, the program from multiecuscan does seem to be the only one that works for all the possible fault codes on our ducatos. It allowed me to locate the ABS fault although the replacement of the speed sensor was a bit of a ……. ! Even though the sensor is a plastic encased unit,  the rear wheel housing had rusted around it & the only way to remove it was to drill it out.

[Chris and Susan]

We also had this problem – the ABS & ASR lights came on a few times during our Big Trip but, like Alan, we always found that re-starting the engine cleared the lights and everything would be fine for a few hundred more miles.

This happened more and more frequently but thankfully all was well till we got back home!

Our local mechanic found the problem to be a cracked ABS ring which activates a fault code in the sensor – exactly the same kind of thing as Fred & Gill describe from their Rover 400

It’s just a small metal serrated ring which looks as if it should just cost a few £ – but the Fiat dealership kept insisting that the only way to get a replacement was to order an entire driveshaft assembly at over £300!  Thankfully we have a great mechanic, who hates being forced to spend silly money, so he kept ordering separate components until, after a few tries, he hit on a solution costing about a quarter of that amount – a new CV joint – this is the part number:

Hope that info comes in handy if anyone else faces the same problem!

Our mechanic also assured us that it’s fine to drive with the amber ABS & ASR lights on – just that the ABS is disabled for whichever wheel has sent the fault code.

[alan]

Yes, after replacing two sensors I finally found that the problem was the ABS ring that was split, however you can buy the ABS ring on its own, about 20 euros & not too difficult to fit.

[Author]

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