Fwd: "Anti Lock" light briefly on in E30

[Pearson-Franks Family <pearsonf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul:

No, they it should *not* do that!  When the light is on, the
ABS will not engage.  Did it actually come on with the ignition,
or light up after hitting 5 mph or so?  If the first, the ABS
computer detected a problem internally.  If after rolling, it
detected a problem with the relative speed of each of the wheels.
In the latter case, you can frequently fix the problem by pulling
and cleaning all 4 of the ABS sensors, and the gears that they
"read" to determine wheel speed.  The sensor is a permenant
magnet, and tend to collect a ball of metal filings.  That,
coupled with the filling-in of the teeth in the gear that
the sensor reads produces low level, potentially erratic speed
signals that leads the ABS computer to conclude that it is
in trouble.

Hope this helps, Larry F.

>Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 16:44:39 -0800
>From: Paul De Zan <dezan@domain.elided>
>Subject: "Anti Lock" light briefly on in E30
>
>After letting it sit for about a week (very unusual), I started my '88
>325is and the yellow "Anti Lock" warning light came on, and stayed on
>until I shut the car off. When I restarted the car five minutes later,
>the light did not appear. What gives? Do I need to troubleshoot
>anything, or does this just happen sometimes?

- -- 
Larry Franks
Issaquah, Washington
'95 540i/6
'95 M3

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