Troubleshooting ABS: Fixing Low-Speed Deployment Problems (99-02 GMC Sierra/Chevy Silverado)

[@doncooney707]

Thanks for the inspiration to fix that annoying ABS problem correctly. I banged my abs light out today also. Cheers!

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Heck yeah man. Good work and cheer to ya for hammering it out! 🍻

[@kellismith4329]

I got mine fixed for good by swapping out the hub/bearing assy’s, fun getting the old ones free from rustlock, but feels great to drive now on new bearings

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Heck yeah man, get er all done at once, I dig it! 🍻

[@aaronsudbeck1151]

You saved me alot of headache with my 98 chevy great video and Thanks for the good advice 👍

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Glad it helped Aaron! Thank you 🍻

[@neftalirosado6167]

Wow, spectacular close up!!! Great job 👍🏽 Thanks !

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Thank you!

[@Xjank49]

You are a beautiful human being for this. I have tried everything to fix that damn abs issue.

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

It is our bane! Lol. Hope it helps 😊🍻

[@vernongraham363]

Thank you so much was at the same half way point as you were when I found your video. When back tossed that shim and was good to go. Keep up the good work brotha.

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Much appreciated brudda 🙏

[@picwick57]

Had the same issue on my 06 Duramax such an annoying situation coming to a stop especially when hauling a fifth wheel. I had so much rust build up on driver's side I ended up buying replacement cables on Amazon & did both sides just to be safe. Obviously driver's was the issue ! Bearings are good so I didn't need to replace complete hubs.

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

@@picwick57 glad you got the 5th wheel back safely!

[@normdeclercq4052]

Great job that helps me I know what to do now same issue for a long while now

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Heck yeah man, hope this gets your abs back on working order!

[@johnpringle4190]

Another helpful vid. Thanks. So, I'm up at a lookout spot in my hometown, talking with an elderly couple when I see this man with a cool, t trimmed beard. I told him that, and he comes over to talk with us three. Turns out the couple lives in a childhood town of mine, and the bearded fellow lives in Alaska! It gets cooler: the Alaska fellow just sold his home in Ketchikan and is (or has) moved to Hollis! Last name: Jensen Small world, my friend. Hope you and yours are well. John

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Small world indeed! Hollis is such a beautiful low key neighborhood, id love to own property out there. Last time I drove through Hollis I had to wait for 5 or so minutes while the ducks and chickens casually crossed the road 😂 Up above the ferry terminal in Hollis has been my first and last camping spot for the past couple of years. It takes my breath away everytime.

[@johnpringle4190]

@@KooshdaakaaGarage I really thought my brother and I were going to make it up to POW Island Still might in August Looking forward to your next vid

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

If you go, let me know and I'll share a few of my favorite must see spots! I won't be making it to pow to overland this year, only for work. I'm in the midst of rebuilding the turbo, replacing a manifold, downpipe and port and polishing everything as I go. Next is a new set of fuel injectors. PIG will have a new set of tusks when I'm done!

[@kennethdean7959]

Love the sleeping bag headliner :)

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Thanks! Makes it feel very hommie in there 😁

[@johntrejo2522]

2 questions.. 1 if I don't have a file or grinder, can I use sand paper? And 2 .. the guy hollering in the background, can you tell him to go wait in the back of the truck? Thanks

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Lol, ill tell him that 🤣 but yeah, I think as long as you can sand the rust down flat then you should be good to go man 🍻

[@cw5118]

I placed a KaPOW (Batman) sticker over the ABS light years ago. I’ll see if cleaning up the hubs will do something. Thanks! Former 20 year Alaskan here.

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Kapow sticker is always a valid fix 😆 but yeah, cleaning up those hubs and maybe even changing out the abs wheel hub sensors should help. Also a good time to shoot some grease in the wheel bearing directly into the abs sensor port.

[@cw5118]

@@KooshdaakaaGarageOkay, thanks!

[@cw5118]

@@KooshdaakaaGarage I have basically ignored the ABS light as it hasn’t affected my braking… or at least not that I’ve noticed… a connection to spongy brakes… 🤔 I have no codes. Researched all the possibilities. On a mission now. Any advice? Strange anomalies? A ghost in the machine? Lol

[@cw5118]

@@KooshdaakaaGarage A commenter in an auto blog, “It Still Runs” slapped a happy face sticker on his. 🙂 I was inspired.

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

@cw5118 spongy brakes eh? Oh that's going to be a fun one to track down. If your abs light is on, I'd start there. The regular dtc scan tool won't read abs (or transmission I think??), so you'll want to find an upgraded one, there are a ton to choose from. I picked one up that blue tooths to my phone and will scan dtc codes, trans, abs, and you can even download more specific read outs to your make and model. It's the OBD Link MX+, cost about $100. You can probably rent something similar from oreillys. From there id check the pads and rotors. If those are toast then the pistons in your brake calipers will be at full extension which could take a couple pumps to get it there. If all that's good, then I'd look at the hydroboost and master cylinder. My hydroboost is hooked to the power steering, and the stock version is prone to leaking. Usually can see fluid dripping down behind the brake pedal in the cab. That's going to be a fun one!

[@cristianmarchante3592]

Running the same issues smh my brakes feel super squishu and when i hit the brake and makes these weird breashing swoosh sound maybe i gotta bleed em . As for the speed sensors thanks for the video going to try it this weeknd on my 04 suburban z71

[@MrShawnamir]

I like balloon tires no curb rashes

[@kilo.sierra]

It's been a while now. How are the brakes holding up without the spacer gasket dealio in there?

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Hi Kilo, thanks for the question! The ABS sensor is still intact and functioning normally 🤘 I think if I were to do anything different I might add a little rtv in place of that metal gasket. Give it that little extra added moisture protection. Either way, it's doing its job 😁🍻

[@kilo.sierra]

@@KooshdaakaaGarage awesome I appreciate the update homie!

[@artbykeenan]

What would happen if you removed the abs fuse, can it still be drivable

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

You know I'm not sure? It seems that whatever position the valves are in, in that moment they will be stuck in until power is restored. So any of the valves could be stuck in an open, closed or partially open position. I imagine depending on what position they are in will determine how your brakes respond 🤔

[@joshross8408]

So I’m having this same issue on my 01 silverado and I hooked a scanner up to my truck and all 3 of them read exactly as they where supposed to, any tips?

[@joshross8408]

And I should mention the previous owner had changed the front two and I changed the back one and no difference

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

@@joshross8408 oh man, yeah these can be a pain to diagnose. So to confirm, your ABS scan confirmed that your front speed sensors are registering the wheel speed? Just because it's an easy and cheap thing to look at, I'd go ahead and pull the front wheel speed sensors to make sure there isn't a significant build up of rust on the hub itself. It's worth sanding or grinding down if there is rust build up just to ensure that your sensor is getting a strong enough magnetic interaction with the reluctor wheel. If the sensor doesn't get a strong enough reading to tell how fast the wheel is spinning then it may pull to one side while braking because the ABS system thinks your wheels are turning at different speeds or that one is turning and the other is not. Sounds like the sensors themselves were replaced so that is good. If the sensor is damaged then typically it will shut your ABS down because it won't know how fast your wheels are going. Does your ABS scanner show that your pump/modulating valve is working properly? If your ABS checks out then I'd look at the caliper itself and see if the piston is sticking or not. I would take a close look at the the hub where the speed sensor plugs into the front hub. It's an extremely common for those to rust enough to lift the sensor far enough away from the reluctor wheel to cause a false reading.

[@joshross8408]

Yeah I’m probably going to go ahead and just check them here soon, and to be totally honest it was me and my dad that hooked up the scanner so I don’t know a whole lot about it, I do however know that he told me for an absolute fact my front wheel speed sensors are registering the right speed, same with the rear. Also I’ll try and figure out if the scanner showed wether or not my pump and modulating valve where working

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

@joshross8408 ok, if they are registering the correct speed that's a good sign. That means your abs system hasn't shutdown and your pump/valve are probably good to then. How do the front rotors look? Any uneven wear? Does one or both of them get hot? Also, might bleed the brakes out of precaution if everything else looks good just to make sure air didn't get stuck in one of the calipers which would cause uneven pressure on the brake rotors resulting in pulling from one side to the other.

[@michaelclark5749]

2001 Chevy Tahoe, 2WD, front left showed bad ABS sensor, replaced, same issue low speed chatter and brake pedal to floor then stop, odd my ABS module had three of the small shim type washers instead of one, original owner, why are three shim washers installed? is one enough? thanks

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Ah yeah, I'm not to impressed with those shims, they allow dirt and moisture to get trapped in there a little more than just removing them all together. I took the shims out when I made this video a few years ago and haven't had an issue since. So to answer your question: 1 shim will probably work, but zero shims will defininetly work a bit better. Also if you grind down the surface a bit the sensor will pull a strong signal. Best of luck!

[@michaelclark5749]

@@KooshdaakaaGarage Thanks, i wondered if it was a grounding issue with the sensor, i have taken this ABS out three times so far, cleaned and cleaned some more, maybe fourth times a charm. After i about ran through the front of the O'Reilly store, it started to be a low speed problem.

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

@@michaelclark5749 If you have some grinding bits or even a flat file to run over the ABS sensor port (plug the hole first with a rag or paper towel) to flatten it down and shave off a bit, I think that will be the trick. You know, when I was looking at those shims, I couldn't see a good reason to keep it. The sensor is plastic so it doesn't need to be grounded. I hope that works for ya man.

[@michaelclark5749]

@@KooshdaakaaGarage I noticed the same with the grounding issue since the ABS is plastic, i thought maybe a spacing issue, but since this isn't an airplane, auto tolerances are much lower in a production vehicle, if every wheel ABS had to be calibrated with shimms, the line would slow way down. I ran a file over the ABS port as well. Trying to avoid that dealership if at all possible. Thank you and I have taken up enough of your time.

[@stezdag8t]

Thanks 👍 Great job help alot !

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Glad it helped!

[@davidgarrison1988]

Mine is an 06 2500hd and it does that , changed the sensors and fixed it

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Yup! The sensor design on the earlier 2000s had a tendency to rust and lift the sensor beyond its capability to read the wheel speed. Glad ya fixed it 🍻

[@PrivateUsername]

This video should be sponsored by Suave or Pantene.

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Approved 🙋‍♂️😆

[@smashinghum]

Are these sensors only found on the front hubs? I've just done my rear pads and rotors, but didn't see the sensor(s).

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Yes, only on the front wheels. The rear speed sensor is located on the transmission towards the back on top.

[@philburke1902]

Great job

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Thank you 🍻

[@eddiecruz2613]

Mine was doin the same thing and changed out the hub wit a spare one I had and it went away

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

Excellent work man. Sounds like your old hub may have been in similar condition to mine. lol cheers 🍻

[@davidgarrison1988]

Working on those sensors has absolutely nothing to do with the stiffness of your brakes , ask any ase master tech or any good tech for that matter , and when abs kicks in it let's the wheel still roll , not lock up. That's probably the first thing you learn in the ABS mod

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

The sensors has everything to do with whether your abs will shut itself off or not. With no abs pump moderating the valves and line pressure your brake pressure will be all over the place or like i was experiencing one caliper would have significantly more pressure than the other until the sensors could read the wheel speed and tell the abs system what it should be doing 🤷‍♂️

[@waterhawksfan3940]

@@KooshdaakaaGarage I'd agree in that for me, the "rusty" side's sensor was out enough to cause loss of signal between the sensor and reluctor ring. Without the signal the ABS system appears to think the wheel is locked and at low speed activates the ABS on the "rusty/bad" side. The opposite wheel operates properly slowing this wheel more. I noted my truck sometimes pulled more to the working/good side due to it's greater stopping non-modulated (ABS) braking. I can't say mine would lock up but it felt that way a few times when playing around. The ABS typically kicked in for both sides (appeared to) quickly after but as noted, I could get my truck to sometimes pull to the "good" side, maybe once every 10 or 15 tries of harder braking while testing out the issue.

[@eddiecruz2613]

Yea it doesn't lock up it literally feels like your wheel is attempting to break the fuk off

[@cody6.6max]

What was ur issue

[@KooshdaakaaGarage]

The hub directly under the sensor rusted to the point the sensor lifted away from the reluctor wheel. To resolve this issue I took a grinder to the hub, knocked it down a bit to restore a strong sensor reading. Also tossed the little metal spacer gasket thing that collects dirt and contributes to the problem. The fix has held to this date! Abs function restored.

[@eddiecruz2613]

That has to be the dumbest design the dust cover only gets in the way while u attempt to install and wire

[@Looneytokk]

Maybe someone can help me. Whenever I’m going slow and I’m cranking it to the left and I apply my brakes. My break pedal gets extremely stiff and my brakes don’t lock up at all. I’ve almost ran into a few buildings because of this issue.

[@nobullshit9721]

I’ve got that issue also

[@randymarcum5752]

@@nobullshit9721 sounds like a hydroboost issue. most likely caused by a powersteering problem. check powersteering fluid level