abs light and brake light illuminated

j.lamarine · 03-18-2006, 08:11 PM

the abs light and brake lights are both illuminated on our 99 ford winstar 3.8l.
the fluid level is good and the lights come on and off while driving, all of the sensors are in tact and there is still a lot of pad on the brakes. We though since the power steering pump was going out , and that most vehicles brakes are assisted with the power steering that that would remedy the problem, but it didn't work. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
thank you

j.lamarine · 03-18-2006, 08:13 PM

abs light and brake light comes on intermittently

gsdreams · 03-30-2006, 10:28 PM

We have the same problem on a '94 Econoline E-150 we are getting ready to sell. Les Schwab (local all around tire, brake, suspension store) said it was a bad sensor on the ABS.

baja180 · 04-24-2006, 08:19 PM

Dear windstar owner: I have a 2001 SEL winstar w/o traction control. My wife just recently smelled smoke like electrical burning. The smell went away with an associated abs and brake light. The brakes work fine but we also lost the speedometer indication and the odometer reads dashes. I looked at the abs control module which is located under the drivers door side and found the abs control module burned up completely. Talked to the dealer and he said they will only replace the controller modulator and pump because they really can't say for sure the controller was at fault. total cost for all this with wire harness $1200.00. I don't know what I'm going to do yet but hopefulley you'll fair better than I. My only suggestion is to take a look at your connector to the abs conntroller to make sure it is'nt burnning up before it destroys your wire harness.

baja180 · 04-24-2006, 08:22 PM

Dear windstar owner: I have a 2001 SEL winstar w/o traction control. My wife just recently smelled smoke like electrical burning. The smell went away with an associated abs and brake light. The brakes work fine but we also lost the speedometer indication and the odometer reads dashes. I looked at the abs control module which is located under the drivers door side and found the abs control module burned up completely. Talked to the dealer and he said they will only replace the controller modulator and pump because they really can't say for sure the controller was at fault. total cost for all this with wire harness $1200.00. I don't know what I'm going to do yet but hopefulley you'll fair better than I. My only suggestion is to take a look at your connector to the abs conntroller to make sure it is'nt burnning up before it destroys your wire harness.

Nutdriver · 07-25-2006, 01:48 PM

If the brakes are working fine, you could have a bad connection (moisture) at the abs module, or simply a bad sensor, but check the connection at the module first.

tr918 · 07-26-2006, 09:36 AM

http://www.ford-forums.com/ford-wind...0-problem.html

Check out the "fuse #10" thread in this forum. I believe they are similiar problems. I also have the same problem as you with the abs light and brake light coming on. I found the answer in this thread. In addition to the abs and brake light coming on, I now have brake fluid dripping out of the speed control pressure switch. From what I can tell it has been leaking for a long time. It is now leaking enough fluid that is leaving drips of brake fluid on the garage floor. My fuse#10 has not blown...Yet. I bought the replacement switch yesterday and plan on installing it this weekend. I believe that this will solve the problem. I will post the results after the install.

Flyingjackal456 · 07-26-2006, 03:18 PM

behind each wheel, there is a metal wheel with teeth and a magnetic sensor, this sensor becomes filled with brake particles (espesially on the drum brakes) clean the sensors and as much other metal particles on that toothed wheel as you can

hope this helps

fdx_604 · 07-27-2006, 09:07 PM

when my does that i just put some break fluid in the comparment and the lights go off i think is like a warning letting you know that the break fluid is low.

tr918 · 07-28-2006, 05:39 AM

fdx 604,

The red brake light is a warning light for low fluid. But if your fluid is low enough to trigger the red brake light then you have a leak somewhere.

You may have the same problem as mine. In order to find out.

Start the van and have someone sit in the drivers seat and pump the brake pedal. Pop the hood, get a flashlight and while the second person is pumping the brake pedal, look at the end of the master cylinder. There is a speed control pressure switch hanging off of the fwd end of the master cylinder. If you have the same problem as I do, there will be brake fluid leaking out of the bottom of this switch(near the wire harness) when the brake pedal is depressed.

This is where the fluid is going. The brake fluid in the wire harness causes all sorts of weird things to happen. One of these things is illuminating the abs light when the other components of the abs system are functioning properly You should inspect other abs components to make sure they are funtioning properly and are not the cause of the abs light coming on. I have checked my abs system myself and have had it checked out by numerous shops(including Ford dealers) and the abs system is fine.

In the thread I refrenced earlier it caused his fuse#10 to blow. The replacement part is only $27 at the dealership. I will post later this weekend how hard/easy it was to replace.