I've found something that seems slightly disturbing.. I can lock up the wheels on my parent's 1995 Ford Taurus.. but only sometimes. Most of the time I can feel the ABS "kicking" when I slam on the brakes.. but lately, sometimes when I hit the brakes hard at anything over 40kph, the wheels lock and the car slides... my parents say there's nothing wrong with the car, but they don't know anything about cars... and since the ford dealership says the car is fine, they believe them.. I was telling them the transmission was broken for months, and finally when I went with my mother to the dealership, and they actually checked it instead of automatically saying it's fine... they found a problem and fixed it.. it's broken again 2 weeks later though.. d@mn POS.......
Anyway, either I'm simply stronger than the brake system in the car.... or there's something wrong. comments??
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10:22 PM
PFF
System Bot
Raydar Member
Posts: 40686 From: Carrollton GA. Out in the... country. Registered: Oct 1999
Anti-lock does not mean "anti-drag". When you down shift and "bark" the tires, the tires are slowed more than they can hold, so they drag. On the ABS cars I've messed with, you could easily cause the tires to drag, but a true lock-up with the tires completly not spinning was never accomplished. The false sense of security from ABS is really dangerous! While on a test drive in a new Lexus, my dad-in-law's boss was told by the salesman to try out the ABS. Jack did- in a curve. The car broke traction and slid into a ditch. The car was totaled, and a few occupants were hospitalized because someone did not know the limits of ABS.
Hey- Jack's company is based in Holand. Cliff- Dapec poultry equipment sound familiar?
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11:06 PM
Jun 30th, 2000
Monkeyman Member
Posts: 15809 From: N. Wilkesboro, NC, USA Registered: Nov 1999
Sure you can get ABS equipped brakes to lock up. In 3 different vehicles that I can remember. 2000 Freightliner 132XL, '98 Cavalier, and a '96 (?) Pontiac Transport mini van (I wasn't driving that one.). All it takes is a little bit of dirt on the sensor. Doesn't mean it's broken. Give it a bath. Maybe it'll straighten out.
------------------ Dave- Grape Ape ('85GT)
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10:10 AM
Raydar Member
Posts: 40686 From: Carrollton GA. Out in the... country. Registered: Oct 1999
Dave, Thanks. I stand corrected. the only experience I've ever had with ABS has been with my Sonoma. It's never malfunctioned, so I've never had to troubleshoot.
Thanks for all the info.. this car has had somewhat of a history for problems.. including the brakes..
if the sensor was dirty, wouldn't it lock all the time? It only happens sometimes, when I really slam on the brakes hard.. such as when there's a tree branch in front of a stop sign, and my sister saw the sign before I did.. and I hit the brakes and slid a few feet into an intersection.... luckily there was no one there..
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01:58 PM
Monkeyman Member
Posts: 15809 From: N. Wilkesboro, NC, USA Registered: Nov 1999
Not necessarily. My wifes car ('98 Cavalier) had a lock up problem last winter. It didn't happen all the time. Maybe once a week?? Took it into the dealer. $140 later (yes, I got ripped off) it worked fine. All they did was clean things up. If you don't mind getting under the car, you might check and make sure one of the wires hasn't come loose from the sensor.
take the wheels off and check all the sensors. remove any dirt, and especially any loose metal/rust flakes from both the sensors and the notch wheel. check the wiring on all wheels/axles. Any contamination of the sensors or notch wheels can make the system batty. Loose/damaged wiring will also cause intermitant problems.
ABS is intended only to prevent lockup, not eliminate it. ABS can and will lock. When it does so can be pretty unpredictable. It all depends on the exact application in question. Ask a few older police officers how long it took them to get used to new cars with ABS. (Officers with less than a 5-7 years experience likely where trained on ABS cars to start with.)