Archived abs and red brake light on

[CEpp]

after restarting truck after lunch to go back to job i get about 1 mile down the road and the abs and the red brake light come on. i shut it off at the next stop light and restarted, they went off then came back on. i didnt see any speedo problems. so i drove back and parked the truck for about 4 hrs. started it up and drove 60 min home. no light. stopped at autozone to see if i could get codes, they dont do abs. started the truck up and didnt even get out of the parking lot without the lights coming back on. its a 99 with rwal, any ideas, ive checked the fuses. didnt see any thing abnormal.



can i pull codes my self? without a scan tool?

 

[Matt400]

The first thing I would do is verify if the brake lights work and if not repair as needed "then" move on from there. I say this because a faulty brake lamp switch can cause your trouble.



After that fault codes will need to be pulled from the ABS computer via a scan tool.

 

[WBusa]

There are tons of posts on this problem; its very common. Do a search on 'ABS' and 'brake' and 'light'.



Here's the short version: most common cause is a faulty rear speed sensor, or a dirty electrical connection thereto. It lives on top of the pumkin... just remove the bolt holding down the metal shield, clean up around the sensor so junk don't fall in your differential, then twist and pull the sensor out of the pumkin (usually comes out pretty easy). I seem to recall a new one is like $40 at the dealer. If that doesn't do the trick, its prolly a fairly small vacuum leak, which you'll need to track down with a gauge.

 

[CEpp]

does the abs sensor play with the speedo if it goes out? i dont believe the speedo acted up.



i thought that was the symptom of a failing abs sensor or spped sensor whats kinda why i ruled it out.



i did do a search on abs stuff... . and seems

 

[tURBOdIEZEl]

i had the same problem... . brake lights would not fucntion as well as the above listed symptoms. the whole problem ended up being a fuse inside the truck... i think it was the abs fuse...

 

[CEpp]

but the light doesnt stay on all the time. u changed the abs fuse. did i blow or look bad? or did u just change it?

 

[tURBOdIEZEl]

it blew the first time, i replaced the fuse with a bigger one and i have not had any problems since... .

 

[CEpp]

well im going to the ******* ship this morning to see if i can get codes out of it. and prob buy a abs sensor for the rear. (crossed fingers) let u all know...

 

[Fogie]

When my 99 did that my cruize stopped working as well. Turned out to be the brake light switch at the base of the steering column. Cost me 15 at the dealership for the replacement. One time use be careful putting in the new one. Follow the instructions in the package not in the manual.

 

[CEpp]

for what its worth, changed the rear abs sensor and alls fine, did find a little graphite debris on the end, could have cause a miss reading, but changed it anyway. .

 

[cojhl2]

Since this is an intermittent occurance, one of the two wires coming up from the ring gear sensor to the front of the pickup could be grounding somewhere.



You gotta know the code tho. A ground in the wire will appear to be the ABS RWAL computer at fault.



The key here is I think the intermittent nature of the failure. Sounds like a bare wire to me.

 

[wtfd6]

hey cepp, if the brake light was on also, it might not even have been an abs problem. havent seen it on a dodge yet, but some vehicles will turn on the red brake light when the fluid is low. that in turn turns on the yellow abs light. just something to keep in mind. mark

 

[moolie]

don't u jsut back up

don't u just back up a bit then it turns off that's what i do

 

[CEpp]

lights came back on yesterday, going to try a 17. 00 brake light switch, then search for vacumn leaks. the cruise control is inop when the lights are on. dont know if its related to my problem or just disenabled because the lights are on. let u all know.