Hello, after almost four years of ownership and overseeing a mini-restoration on it, my 1994 Astra has blotted its copybook. Please can anyone offer any advice on my ABS issue as I have hit a brick wall with this. I am not a mechanic, just an enthusiast, so this issue has already cost me a shedload.
When I bought the car, the ABS warning light came on and extinguished as it should, and never ever popped on when it should not. Then after last winter, having been stored in the garage for about four months. When I connected up the battery and started the car, the ABS light came on as it should, but failed to extinguish. I put this down to a low voltage gremlin triggering the light. But with the battery fully charged, as I was sure it was, the ABS light came on and stayed on every time I drove the car.
Being pre-OBD2 my village mechanic did some resistance testing and found the reading on the OSR sensor was very different to the others. So he fitted a new Quinton Hazell branded rear wheel bearing hub unit with ABS sensor. I was thrilled as he phoned to say it had worked. However he had not bothered to test drive the car, so while the ABS light extinguished on start up, leading me to think he had truly fixed it, before I got home ( a 3 minute journey) the ABS light had pinged on again.
As parts are, thankfully, cheap, I have since had both toothed front reluctor rings replaced, two new front ABS sensors and a new NSR wheel bearing hub/ABS unit - so that is all four ABS sensors replaced with brand new parts
My mechanic has been very reasonable in what he has charged me fitting these parts (he is also an MoT tester so I am confident he is thorough in his approach), as the fault still persists, but I sense he is at the limit of what he wants to investigate on my poor Astra and is sick to the back teeth of it!
My own research discovered the paper clip bridging trick to read off ABS fault codes, I have done this half a dozen times and the fault code is always the same, I get code 2-5 which suggests broken or missing teeth on the reluctor ring -- yet I have just had brand new ones just fitted and they did not stop this code being flagged. I did not know about reading the ABS codes like this before the OSR hub/abs sensor was replaced, so annoyingly I do not know what the fault was causing the ABS light to come on during start up and stay on.
So now I have an ABS light that comes on and extinguishes like it should, but pings back on during EVERY journey. It does not come on at a certain SPEED, it has come on at 80mph and at 20mph, I am more inclined to think it comes on after a certain TIME or DISTANCE. I am still only getting the 2-5 fault code reading off the ABS ECU.
I have also had four brand new tyres fitted so that the tread depth of all is identical, this has had not effect either.
If anyone has any ideas I would be grateful to hear them, and rest assured, if I do get to the bottom of this I will update the thread to share my new wisdom.
When I bought the car, the ABS warning light came on and extinguished as it should, and never ever popped on when it should not. Then after last winter, having been stored in the garage for about four months. When I connected up the battery and started the car, the ABS light came on as it should, but failed to extinguish. I put this down to a low voltage gremlin triggering the light. But with the battery fully charged, as I was sure it was, the ABS light came on and stayed on every time I drove the car.
Being pre-OBD2 my village mechanic did some resistance testing and found the reading on the OSR sensor was very different to the others. So he fitted a new Quinton Hazell branded rear wheel bearing hub unit with ABS sensor. I was thrilled as he phoned to say it had worked. However he had not bothered to test drive the car, so while the ABS light extinguished on start up, leading me to think he had truly fixed it, before I got home ( a 3 minute journey) the ABS light had pinged on again.
As parts are, thankfully, cheap, I have since had both toothed front reluctor rings replaced, two new front ABS sensors and a new NSR wheel bearing hub/ABS unit - so that is all four ABS sensors replaced with brand new parts
My mechanic has been very reasonable in what he has charged me fitting these parts (he is also an MoT tester so I am confident he is thorough in his approach), as the fault still persists, but I sense he is at the limit of what he wants to investigate on my poor Astra and is sick to the back teeth of it!
My own research discovered the paper clip bridging trick to read off ABS fault codes, I have done this half a dozen times and the fault code is always the same, I get code 2-5 which suggests broken or missing teeth on the reluctor ring -- yet I have just had brand new ones just fitted and they did not stop this code being flagged. I did not know about reading the ABS codes like this before the OSR hub/abs sensor was replaced, so annoyingly I do not know what the fault was causing the ABS light to come on during start up and stay on.
So now I have an ABS light that comes on and extinguishes like it should, but pings back on during EVERY journey. It does not come on at a certain SPEED, it has come on at 80mph and at 20mph, I am more inclined to think it comes on after a certain TIME or DISTANCE. I am still only getting the 2-5 fault code reading off the ABS ECU.
I have also had four brand new tyres fitted so that the tread depth of all is identical, this has had not effect either.
If anyone has any ideas I would be grateful to hear them, and rest assured, if I do get to the bottom of this I will update the thread to share my new wisdom.
