ABS an MoT failure?

Rilot

Rilot

Rilot

Don
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
23,803
Location
Wargrave, UK
My 5 has developed a fault with it's abs. I'm pretty sure it's the front right wheelspeed sensor which has given issues in the past. The trouble is, I have an MoT booked for Monday leaving me no time to fix it.
Will the car fail because of it or is it just an advisory? Abs and tc lights are on on the dash.
 
its a failure......! clean the sensor and pick up sensor on the disc. check brake fluid level and disconnect reconnect wiring on inner wing to the abs sensor. try disconnecting battery and reconnect
 
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ABS light not going out in an automatic failure as far as I'm aware :(.

Cancel the test, it isn't even worth turning up unless you are extremely friendly with the tester.
 
I've done all the usual. The snesor is shot and needs replacing. It's nearly falling to pieces and has been glued in there by the previous owner. Cleaning the pickup is a 3 hour job as it needs the entire hub assembly to be removed. Not got time to do that today.

Oh well, guess I'll put it in and let it fail to see what else is wrong.
 
Am I being particulary dim, but can't you just cover up the bulb or something? Surely if broken ABS is soo dangerous then cars without ABS should fail, such as my VTR.
Or is it a case of if the cars got it, it must work?
 
Dont try and remove the sensor from the mount unles your confident it will come out without damage and as joshy says canel your test if you dont have the time to fix it . Some times you get lucky and its just debree on the sensor with it being magnetic.I spend every day all day fixing mot failures and this is a common problem with debree on the sensor so some times you get lucky with a clean.
 
Westyfield2 said:
Am I being particulary dim, but can't you just cover up the bulb or something? Surely if broken ABS is soo dangerous then cars without ABS should fail, such as my VTR.
Or is it a case of if the cars got it, it must work?
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Nope they check the bulb illuminates in the correct sequence etc, it's a safety feature, if it's there it has t work :)
 
if your abs fails it reverts back to normal brakes. you could wire the battery light to the abs light in your clocks ive seen that done before so the abs light comes on and then goes out
 
Westyfield2 said:
Am I being particulary dim, but can't you just cover up the bulb or something? Surely if broken ABS is soo dangerous then cars without ABS should fail, such as my VTR.
Or is it a case of if the cars got it, it must work?
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I think it is a matter if it was fitted from standard then it MUST work.

I've heard of 205s that originally came with PAS being failed because they were converted to a manual rack!
 
Removing the bulb will get you through the MOT. It's dodgy, but I've done it myself just to pass the MOT when waiting for other parts to arrive.
 
emailiscrap said:
Removing the bulb will get you through the MOT. It's dodgy, but I've done it myself just to pass the MOT when waiting for other parts to arrive.
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Depends on how much the MOT tester cares TBH. At the test station at work there is a poster than lists LOADS of cars and the specific sequence the ABS light should show before going out example - "illuminated for 2 seconds after start-up, and then goes out". I'd imagine most other testing stations have something similar, in fact it MAY even appear on the pre-MOT sheet that the tester prints off before the test.
 
Joshy said:
I've heard of 205s that originally came with PAS being failed because they were converted to a manual rack!
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Only if there was something wrong with the conversion (i.e. bodged in some way), it wouldn't automatically fail otherwise.

ABS is specifically covered by the MOT test, but some other safety related devices are not (yet), e.g. an SRS fault (air bags and seat belt pre-tensioners) would not cause a fail.
 
I don't know how strict this is. All the MOT's I've ever had, the engine has never been switched off so how would they check the sequence? Also at what point do they determine if the car has ABS, mine doesn't have it fitted and the dash light is not used, but some cars of the same model do have it.

If the light is on constantly though, it's going to fail, no question.
 
ard-tullaich said:
if your abs fails it reverts back to normal brakes. you could wire the battery light to the abs light in your clocks ive seen that done before so the abs light comes on and then goes out
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Not in an E39 you can't - the lights are LED's all connected to the same bus so you cant do that.
 
Joshy said:
I think it is a matter if it was fitted from standard then it MUST work.

I've heard of 205s that originally came with PAS being failed because they were converted to a manual rack!
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Because they were converted? You got a link? That can't be right.

Thats really odd. I know a few cars that have went to manual, and manual to power steering and they still got mots. I done a conversion myself, and got the MOT.

Maybe leaving the powersteering pump, rad and pipework wasn't a good idea in that case :p
 
Biohazard said:
Because they were converted? You got a link? That can't be right.

Thats really odd. I know a few cars that have went to manual, and manual to power steering and they still got mots. I done a conversion myself, and got the MOT.

Maybe leaving the powersteering pump, rad and pipework wasn't a good idea in that case :p
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It was something along the lines of the tester asking what the blocked off pipework was from, the owner told him and was met with "Sorry I can't pass that."

I'll try and find a link, but I'm not making any promises - I'm extremely lazy :p.
 
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