This week I'd
like to tell you about Ford Escape
and Mazda Tribute ABS systems.
I got to drive an Escape for several days this
week, because the owner swore on a stack of bibles
that every now and then one or more
wheels would make a very funny noise.
Now we get daily problems thrown at us over noisy
brakes systems, so it's easy to assume it's rusty
rotors or pads that have come loose
in their holders.
But in this case, I drove the car for two days
and nothing happened. The brakes were progressive
and powerful and stopped absolutely
straight. On snowy patches of road, the ABS
seemed to work perfectly, as it is designed to.
Then, coming off a thruway onto an exit ramp,
the brake pedal suddenly started to vibrate and
a very loud noise came at me from the
left front wheel. It sure felt like an ABS vibration,
so I asked my technicians to check. Not the brakes
themselves, but the ABS sensors
and sensor rings.
Sure enough BOTH front sensor rings were cracked
and broken open. The one on the side that made
the noise already had a one
quarter of an inch gap in it.
We don't know if this a common problem with ABS
systems, but it sure is a widespread problem with
these little soft-roaders.
A phone call to the dealer established that the
sensor ring was attached to part of the drive shaft
and it came as a complete
$250 unit.
After buying these units, one still has to disassemble
the drive shaft and install it.
So now, not being satisfied with that price -
over $500 just for parts, we called up a company
that rebuilds drive shafts.
Bingo! He said he would supply two rebuilt driveshafts
complete with his own modified design of the
sensor ring for $160 each,
with a lifetime warranty. Sold!
What was happening to this brake system of-course
is that the electronic scanner is looking down
at this little castellated wheel
called a sensor ring and counting the number
of times each section goes by. With a gap in the ring,
every now and then the ABS
computer would find an anomaly and apply the
brakes.
This defect is apparently quite widespread on
these 2000 - 2004 Escapes and Tributes, so if you
run into an intermittent application
of the ABS brakes on a dry road, for no apparent
reason, you'll know where to look.
There's no recall
from Ford as yet, but make sure you hang on
to your repair invoice, because there's a good chance
that there will be,
eventually.