Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting ABS Light when Rad Fan comes on

My ABS light has been on constantly for a few days. I finally noticed that the light stays off until the radiator fan comes on.

As soon as I turn on the A/C, the rad fan turns on (is this normal?) and then the ABS light instantly comes on.

I also have a lot of whining noise in my stereo.

A few weeks ago, my water pump went and the engine got hot, but not dangerously so. At that time the fans were going as fast as I have ever heard them.

Could the motors be drawing lot of current because they are dying and this cause the ABS light?

Any wisdom would be appreciated.

- Randall Voth

Could be the battery is starting to go.

It's needed to keep the voltage up when the fans kick in--the alternator can't respond quickly enough to keep a voltage drop from happening when the fans kick in, so the battery acts as a big capacitor to keep the voltage from dropping.

You could check that the fans are turning freely--spin them
by hand (with the engine off of course), they shouldn't bind or feel gummed up.

Brian

The battery is brand new. The car has 207,000 km on it.

- Randall Voth

If you never had the Ford rewire job get it. My ABS went crazy when the insulation started to come off.

I too would be suspecious of the underhood wiring.

I remember the Ford dealer looking at the engine for wiring, but I don't think anything was done. Because of the mileage (207,000 KM), I am assuming that Ford will not do this for me under recall.

So what does replacing this wiring cost? Can I just check back from the fan or is this related to the entire wiring harness?

I've been looking back at the archived posts and seen many problems solved by replacing harnesses but I've about had it with this car and would rather not spend a lot of money.

- Randall Voth

The kit of 4 harnesses for the '95 V6 is about $650 or so...

Brian

The Ford dealer took apart my ABS wiring at the brake module and it was as very corroded. They cleaned it and it has improved. I still got a light once, but since then I have removed my stereo and haven't been able to coax on the light again.

So I guess the "corroded connectors" code that was coming from the ABS module is voltage related and my stereo may have just tipped the balance. This makes sense because it was the radiator fan that caused the ABS light whenever it came on.

Ford says that the only real fix is to replace the entire ABS module at a cost of $1500 Canadian... ouch.

Tomorrow I will be trading the car for an end-of-line 2002 Accord and hope that my ABS light stays off when they test drive the car!

I just want to say that this is absolutely the best internet group experience I have ever read. I won't miss the car, but this group has been a god-send.

- Randall Voth