Problems with the ABS ESP/BAS & TCS lights coming on.

kissfan79 · **Posted:** Fri May 30, 2014 1:15 pm

Hey guys...I had an incident the other day that I thought may be just an electrical gremlin but apparently not as the issue has surfaced again. I apologize in advance for the long read and I'll try and make this as short as possible. 3 days ago I was pulling away from my folks place on the way to the landfill when the Jeep starting acting wonky. The traction control started randomly kicking in and the Jeep was kind of surging. The issue seemed to go away if I hit the "ESP OFF" button. As soon as I clicked it back on...the issue resurfaced. I pulled over and shut it off...waited a few seconds...and then restarted it. Same thing. Well as I drove a bit it chimed and the ABS, ESP/BAS, and the TCS (car with the squiggly lines) lights all came on and stayed on. The Jeep drove fine with no issues 15 miles to and from the landfill. I stopped to Advance Auto to see if, by chance, there were any codes. I was hoping it would tell me a wheel sensor had gone bad. It pulled no codes or spotted any issues. When I started it back up, the lights were gone and the Jeep drove fine with no further issues (which is why I thought it may just be a random electrical gremlin).
Yesterday I drove to my folks place again and when I left my house it started acting up again with the traction control going on and off (you could feel it in the wheels). It acted up for a minute and then went away. I got my folks place and as I was leaving it really acted up. If I hit the brakes you could feel the ABS pulsing and you could hear the ESP/traction control in the wheels as though I was trying to drive on an unstable surface. The sound was a bit louder this time and I took a video. If you turn your speakers up you should be able to hear the ESP/traction control pulsing the wheels. At about the 20 second mark I hit the ESP OFF button and it got slightly better. As I was driving home it chimed again and the 3 lights all came on again. The Jeep drove fine the rest of the way home. When I got home I shut it off and restarted it a couple of times and the 3 lights now stay on.
I have done some searching and it seems to sound like an issue with a wheel sensor or the wiring. My concern is that in the posts I have read, they usually mentioned the lights coming on but not any driveability issues before they came on. Does this sound like a sensor or wiring issue to yall or possibly something else? Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.

Jim

Drewd · **Joined:** Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:24 pm **Posts:** 902

A common issue. If you search here you'll see that many, including myself, have had breaks in the wiring harness portion that feeds the passenger side rear wheel wheel speed sensor. Mine was intermittent for a long time before the wire broke completely clean.

Get the ABS system read to see which wheel is acting up...replace sensor first and then trouble shoot wiring...sensor's are cheap. Have had wiring break on me 3 times to date.

kissfan79 · **Posted:** Sat May 31, 2014 9:40 am

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking that it was either a sensor or the wiring. The only thing that made me wonder if it was something else was that, in the searching I have done, most of the posts I saw mentioned those 3 lights came on but didn't mention the driveability issues with the TC and the ABS kicking in constantly while trying to drive. Is it safe to spray those connectors with brake cleaner? When I looked under the Jeep real quick the other day to have a look-see.....they were pretty gruddy.

Jim

Drewd · **Joined:** Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:24 pm **Posts:** 902

Yes, its ok to spray them. Many times my ABS/traction control lights came one after I drove thru a puddle. The break in wire was not hard to find and simple rewire job with solder, heat shrink and liquid tape, did the job for me.

kissfan79 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2014 3:24 pm

Ok...I finally had a chance to crawl up under the Jeep and have a look-see. I didn't see any immediate breaks in the wires or harnesses. I do have 2 questions:
First....how do the darn connectors come off the sensor? Do you push the red tab in or pull it out. I tried both ways but didn't want to break it. Second....do the front wheels have sensors or just the back? I didn't see any but I also didn't pull the wheels off.

EDIT-I did see on Moparonlineparts.com that there are speed sensors on the front wheels. They are quite a bit more expensive than the rear ones so I'll start with the rear ones first and go from there.

Thanks again, Jim

papaindigo · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2014 3:41 pm

See viewtopic.php?f=98&t=61983 for speed sensor plug removal.

05 and 06 have sensors on both front wheels. 05 has only one on rear somewhere on differential housing, top IIRC, while 06 has one on both rear wheels.

kissfan79 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2014 3:49 pm

Thanks for the link Papaindigo.

Jim

Drewd · **Joined:** Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:24 pm **Posts:** 902

To find break in wire you'll need to do continuity check.....first break the insulation kept the broken wire together with small tear in insulation but not enough to find fault visibly. A good shop should be able to read code and tell you where to focus your efforts.

kissfan79 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 10, 2014 7:04 pm

Quick update: I haven't had a chance to do any further work on figuring out if there is a break in the wiring or not (hard to work on the Jeep when taking care of a 4 month old boy :wink:

). My wife drove it to work today and all was normal with the 3 lights on. When she left work, the lights had gone off and the Jeep drove fine for a while. She then went to the grocery store and it started acting up with the ABS trying to kick on and the traction control going wonky. The lights are still off. My questions is this: Is there any way to disable the ABS and the traction control intentionally....say by pulling a relay or disconnecting a wheel sensor to make the system inactive to make it driveable until I can really figure out whats going on?

Thanks again,

Jim

Problems with the ABS ESP/BAS & TCS lights coming on.

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