It surprises the hell out of me that ABS wasn’t even mandatory in the US until 2008 I think. Retro mustangs were available without it. I think we got mandatory tire pressure monitoring around the same time, actually, although it was done by comparing wheel speeds over time. So yeah, traction control wasn’t all that common indeed. I think GM was still running 3-channel ABS on their trucks then too
Me too, it was super late. However, holy crap it’s different in quality between manufacturers.
My RSX has great ABS, even on gravel or in the snow. It does way better than I could in most situations. Coming from my '98 corolla (without ABS) to the RSX was a massive improvement in braking.
The ABS on my Crown Vic, which is one year newer than my RSX, just doesn’t work. You don’t lock up the wheels, so I guess by the definition of ABS, it works. However, the ABS also increases your stopping distance by a lot. I need to figure out the best way to disable it. Pulling a fuse doesn’t work, as that’s also the fuse for the dash instruments. When I do it I’ll do a test to make sure that the stopping distance is improved by as much as I think it will be.
That’s interesting, so it is pulsing under heavy braking? Is that a common problem? I wonder if either unplugging all the sensors or maybe the module itself would disable it. Just the sensors might freak it out and cause constant abs actuation each startup until it confirms the fault.
Yeah, the ABS “works” as far as I can tell. The wheels don’t lock up. It pulses. It’s just way too generous towards not locking up the brakes, and doesn’t pulse with a high enough frequency, from what I can tell. My vic is lifted for offroading, so it’s a real issue stopping on gravel.
I’m thinking pulling a wheel speed sensor would be the easiest, but I haven’t looked into it yet.
Might have to pull all 4 or else it’ll be 3-wheel braking for the first few miles. I assume the wheels are all the same size? Are the abs wires stained at all with the lift? Might be worth watching them all with a monitor to see if any are acting up. I think Forscan is available directly from their website. It’s a pirated copy of Ford’s IDS, basically, and I know it was recently pulled from the Google store. It works for ios and windows too and can be connected by usb or bluetooth/wifi obdii dongle.
It surprises the hell out of me that ABS wasn’t even mandatory in the US until 2008 I think. Retro mustangs were available without it. I think we got mandatory tire pressure monitoring around the same time, actually, although it was done by comparing wheel speeds over time. So yeah, traction control wasn’t all that common indeed. I think GM was still running 3-channel ABS on their trucks then too
Me too, it was super late. However, holy crap it’s different in quality between manufacturers.
My RSX has great ABS, even on gravel or in the snow. It does way better than I could in most situations. Coming from my '98 corolla (without ABS) to the RSX was a massive improvement in braking.
The ABS on my Crown Vic, which is one year newer than my RSX, just doesn’t work. You don’t lock up the wheels, so I guess by the definition of ABS, it works. However, the ABS also increases your stopping distance by a lot. I need to figure out the best way to disable it. Pulling a fuse doesn’t work, as that’s also the fuse for the dash instruments. When I do it I’ll do a test to make sure that the stopping distance is improved by as much as I think it will be.
That’s interesting, so it is pulsing under heavy braking? Is that a common problem? I wonder if either unplugging all the sensors or maybe the module itself would disable it. Just the sensors might freak it out and cause constant abs actuation each startup until it confirms the fault.
Yeah, the ABS “works” as far as I can tell. The wheels don’t lock up. It pulses. It’s just way too generous towards not locking up the brakes, and doesn’t pulse with a high enough frequency, from what I can tell. My vic is lifted for offroading, so it’s a real issue stopping on gravel.
I’m thinking pulling a wheel speed sensor would be the easiest, but I haven’t looked into it yet.
Might have to pull all 4 or else it’ll be 3-wheel braking for the first few miles. I assume the wheels are all the same size? Are the abs wires stained at all with the lift? Might be worth watching them all with a monitor to see if any are acting up. I think Forscan is available directly from their website. It’s a pirated copy of Ford’s IDS, basically, and I know it was recently pulled from the Google store. It works for ios and windows too and can be connected by usb or bluetooth/wifi obdii dongle.
In the RSX one came lose, and it disabled the entire system, so that’s how I assumed it worked in the vic as well, but I guess I’m not sure.
All wires are sustained from when I bought the vehicle, some could’ve been compromised previously.
I have an OBDII BT scanner, I might check out Forscan, thanks!