[stevehatestom]

Alright, so since I bought my 96 the ABS light has always been on. Well, should have been. The last owner took the bulb out and I didnt know until I had to replace a bulb in the dash, but that was almost months after I bought the car. So I really think its had this problem for as long as the guy had the car and he just took out the bulb.

I already checked around the forums for some ideas and tried approaching a few. The master cylinder was replaced numerous times, I kept getting the MC meant for the DOHC somehow. I dont know, screwups behind the counter ordered it 2 times! The MC's look the same but I guess the insides are different. I needed it replaced anyways, the stock one was leaking but thought it may be letting air in and causing the ABS light to pop on. After that was all said and done, with the right one finally on. The light was still on. Mind you in-between all those MC's being replaced and putting back on the stock leaker, I didnt realize it was the wrong one and even replaced the power brake booster. My brakes kept turning themselves on and dragging, I had to constantly pull over and bleed out the top to let out the pressure.

So just over the weekend I even swapped the ABS module off another mustang i just recently bought to fix up. AND THE ABS IS STILL ON! So the only thing left I can think of is the sensors.

So my question is, How do i know if one is bad or bent? How do I try and clean them up? and if needed how do I remove them? I could always take the sensors off the other mustang, that has no abs light on. I just need to know how they come off. I was looking at them and the line goes up behind the liner. Just need to be certain how to take them off. Any other ideas on what to do would be much appreciated.



and 1 problem which I'm pretty sure i know what it is. is my fan/coolant light keeps coming on around mid range when the fan should come on at low speed. over the weekend it was the hottest my cars faced, since i owned it. I had the a/c cranked and she ended up over heating and boiling over.
So I took a look and the last knit wit to own my car did a hack job on the fan. :shrug he put in a 1 speed fan from what im assuming to be from a 94-95 mustang. and just straight cut off the low speed wire and tucked it away into the harness. So understood why my car overheated. I just took the fan off the other mustang I have and wired back in the lowspeed. Now it comes on when it should, so I'm assuming the sensor just got burnt out. Now i just flushed the car and filled it back up with new antifreeze, so would I have to flush it again just to replace that sensor. I really hope not. and any ideas on how much the sensor costs?? thanks a lot!!

 

[nyuk98gt]

stevehatestom:

There is a coolant sensor (ECT = engine coolant temperature) that is used for many control items (and the ECT sensor is the one you want) and there is a gauge sensor for the dash gauge. The ECT sensor is not too costly. The Haynes manual has a procedure for testing it - just measuring the resistance at cold and hot conditions. If the resistances are out of spec then replace the sensor. Maybe there was some air trapped in the system? This can cause the engine to overheat, too. In any case, you should be fine with the coolant (50/50 mix, yes?) in the system.

For brake info, I suggest that you check out this site:

http://www. veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/brakes/ [take the space out to make the link work]

It is chock full of handy info and diagrams and is model year specific. Truly very useful as the owner's site name says.

The sensors are tucked in on the inboard side. The back ones are easy to see and get at. The front ones are a little more work but still accessible. I really don't know what happens if you disconnect the sensors. It is easy enough to do. What about pulling the ABS fuse? That would be easier than disconnecting four separate sensors.

HTH,

Chris

 

[stevehatestom]

what in the hell

@nyuk98gt thanks so much! :bigthumbsup and yes i put 50/50 in. what i noticed when looking at the reservoir, was a connector that was half plugged in. could have been the issue? maybe not, i just snapped it back on and took it for a long drive, and it stayed around mid temp and no light came on. may have solved the problem. or it might sneak up on me, ill havta see.

as for the brakes, i ended up taking it to the stealership and was charged for **** i already knew! 3 hours totaling 360 bucks!! some freaking way, i received yet another BAD MC! or was told this MC is whats causing my brakes to drag and lock.

i wanna blow napa up! all this money for all these bad MC's they keep selling me! not once have i bought refurbished! and for the abs i was gunna try and see if it could be bypassed. but the ford techs would prolly take another 3 hours.

but i was told the abs had nothing to do with my brakes locking up and it didnt have to be pressure bled. only if the pedal was soft and spongey. mine gets stiff with no play. just one of the sensors went bad. all in all ive been screwed and its still not fixed. what i paid them for was to just find the problem. which i already had a feeling the abs sensors were bad, i was gunna swap em. and the MC i should of known!

 

[nyuk98gt]

stevehatestom:

Call it an investment in your car. At least you know exactly what is wrong and NAPA should have some sort of warranty on the master cylinder. They will have your purchases listed so they know what you bought and when you bought. I hope it works out for you. Replacing the same item a couple of times gets old in a hurry.

Please post an update when you get things sorted out.

Chris

 

[stevehatestom]

Finally

@nyuk98gt/hey chris,


well halleluiah!!:worshipproblem solved! just finished up today and i believe i can drive this car for years (exaggerating) without the brakes giving me grief. I was gunna order a brand new MC from advance, but it takes a week to come in. I cant wait that long, so i figured id take the MC off the stang in my back yard. Since I knew it had no problems related to brakes. I wanted new on my DD to keep everything under the hood looking clean but whatever. the yellowed out reservoir will do. tried making a pressure bleeder for the hell of it, but it leaked. spent like 10 bucks on cheap crap from harbor freight tools. it ended up leaking, just ended up doing it the old fashion way.

for record tho I replaced all the calipers, hoses, pads, proportioning valve, brake booster, and swapped the mc, abs module and driver side sensor from the other stang. took er for a long drive and had 0 problems! nothing locked up and no lights are on anymore! only weird thing i noticed was the ebrake light dosent turn on when applied. it comes on when i start the car but when i go to park and pull it up, no light. but im not gunna drive myself crazy over it. I know it works. probably the switch.

and as for napa ill be getting my money back either way. ill try and get in there sometime im not working, my schedules allover since i work nights. i dont care what policy they have, they were the root to my problems and money out my pocket. if they need to, ill show them all the receipts and the print out from ford, showing the MC they sold me had a defect. i plan on "kindly" suggesting they should use a different manufacturer for parts too lol. and now that i think about it i bought a gasket from them before for my last car and that **** leaked like hell. after this is all said and done i dont ever plan on using them for parts. theres a reason their prices are lower! i got what i paid for. tried saving 70 bucks in the start by using them and it got me into spending hundreds and hundreds more!

but nothing i can do now but be assured my brake system is almost 100% new and working correctly! :laughlitt
thanks again for the tips and lookin out chris!
much appreciated!

-Steve