ABS sensor failed car MOT, where do i go next?

bill_the_bus

Had our car. Mondeo 2008 tdcI 66,000, into the garage this morning for service MOT and ABS diagnostic. After servicing and MOT they have failed the car only on the MOT due to ABS sensor showing on dash. Given 2 quotes, new unit £2300+ and recon unit £1300 ish. May be able to recon our unit but would cost £200 in labour to remove and send away but if not repairable would be left with a car with no unit fitted if not so dont want to go there and still the charge for removal.

Car had until 27th November on MOT but as the ABS was part of MOT it now has no valid MOT. Ver disappointed they did not do the diagnostic check first as not only have to pay for full servie and MOT (£185) and diagnostic charge (£30) but car is off the road from now rather than 27th when the current MOT ran out, difficult for a test drive or Part Ex if i cannot move it. As i just booked it in for all they say that i have to pay.

Refused to have work done as is not woth it for the value of the car. Got a drive way to store it so will be off the road and dont use it day to day, hence the 66,000 on the clock.

How is the best way to continue. Would pay up to around £400 to get on the road or take the hit and go for a newer car but not sure how best to sell this one and get back the value as its otherwise, apart from small bodywork problems, in 1st class condition. Would prefer a private sale due to poor part ex offers but would someone buy it with the ABS problem?

Any suggestion gratefully accepted.

BeenThroughItAll

It still has a valid MOT, and the ABS light being on doesn't make the car inherently unroadworthy, so you can still use it until 27th November.


If it's an ABS sensor, the cost should be nowhere near £2300. Should be more like £1-200.


If it's the ABS control unit, pump/valve block, then it could be more, but even then a recon ABS pump shouldn't be more than £400 or so (BBA Reman normally somewhere in the £350-£400 mark for an exchange) plus fitting.

rich13348

Second opinion. ABS sensors are a hell of a lot cheaper that a whole unit.

bill_the_bus

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

It still has a valid MOT, and the ABS light being on doesn't make the car inherently unroadworthy, so you can still use it until 27th November.


If it's an ABS sensor, the cost should be nowhere near £2300. Should be more like £1-200.


If it's the ABS control unit, pump/valve block, then it could be more, but even then a recon ABS pump shouldn't be more than £400 or so (BBA Reman normally somewhere in the £350-£400 mark for an exchange) plus fitting.

Unfortunately the garage failed it on the MOT for the ABS light before running the diagnostic so it now has no valid MOT, which i am very upset about but cannot do anything about it.

They say the diagnostic says it is the pump and would be £1225 remanufactured fiteed and £2364 origional parts fitted

Problem is with a pump fitted where it is you cannot access the numbers required to find out which pump is fitted to get a price of replacement pump, not as easy as Mondeo 2008 2.0 TDCi. Just having a look on the BBA site and messaged to see if they can advise of a local fitter.

BeenThroughItAll

bill_the_bus wrote: »

Unfortunately the garage failed it on the MOT for the ABS light before running the diagnostic so it now has no valid MOT, which i am very upset about but cannot do anything about it.

They say the diagnostic says it is the pump and would be £1225 remanufactured fiteed and £2364 origional parts fitted

Problem is with a pump fitted where it is you cannot access the numbers required to find out which pump is fitted to get a price of replacement pump, not as easy as Mondeo 2008 2.0 TDCi. Just having a look on the BBA site and messaged to see if they can advise of a local fitter.

Yes it DOES have a valid MOT. The old one is STILL valid and the vehicle is still roadworthy. This is a fact.

Joe_Horner

bill_the_bus wrote: »

Unfortunately the garage failed it on the MOT for the ABS light before running the diagnostic so it now has no valid MOT, which i am very upset about but cannot do anything about it.

It does still have a valid MOT. If the garage are telling you (or even just "letting you get the impression") otherwise then (a) walk away and (b) phone DVSA as you're walking to let them know that the garage is misrepresenting the MOT scheme.

People drove perfectly safely without ABS for decades and even most makers state in the hand books that you can continue to drive safely with an ABS fault showing. So carry on using it while you find a more realistic quote, just don't get yourself into situations where you lock the wheels up

Jakg

Joe_Horner wrote: »

People drove perfectly safely without ABS for decades and even most makers state in the hand books that you can continue to drive safely with an ABS fault showing

I don't want to dissuade the OP from getting another opinion (those prices sound ridiculous - and my experience is that with ABS faults many garages would rather replace aimlessly than diagnose), but I can't agree with this statement.

On a car without ABS, the brakes would be set up so that they all locked up around the same point, to give maximum braking performance.

On a car with ABS - or certainly on my last car (MG ZT) this wasn't needed as it has a multi-channel ABS system so it can always stop each wheel as much as possible, irrespective of any front / rear imbalance. Of course when you turn the ABS off, this imbalance is exposed again. This meant it locked up the rear wheels pretty easily and reduced the maximum braking you could apply.

I also haven't seen any manufacturer endorsed document saying it's ok to drive with an inoperable ABS system - irrespective as to the truth of the statement, think of the liability they'd open themselves up to.

For balance - I've done thousands of miles with a broken ABS system (multiple sensor and hub faults over my ownership, each one I did resolve).

s_b

Find another garage recommended by family/friends, hopefully independent and ask them to do a proper scan of your abs system as a basic reader can obviously not give proper information,i use a Launch CRP129 Premium at work for these jobs it cost less than £200 and so far has saved me £1200 in parts because it can identify the abs faults ive had ,im not saying this will do a ford as i bought mine for Korean cars but there's no way i would not get an independent quote before i trusted a garage that took your money knowing it was going to go on to fail on an mot on such a clear failure

BeenThroughItAll

Jakg wrote: »

I don't want to dissuade the OP from getting another opinion (those prices sound ridiculous - and my experience is that with ABS faults many garages would rather replace aimlessly than diagnose), but I can't agree with this statement.

On a car without ABS, the brakes would be set up so that they all locked up around the same point, to give maximum braking performance.

On a car with ABS - or certainly on my last car (MG ZT) this wasn't needed as it has a multi-channel ABS system so it can always stop each wheel as much as possible, irrespective of any front / rear imbalance. Of course when you turn the ABS off, this imbalance is exposed again. This meant it locked up the rear wheels pretty easily and reduced the maximum braking you could apply.

I also haven't seen any manufacturer endorsed document saying it's ok to drive with an inoperable ABS system - irrespective as to the truth of the statement, think of the liability they'd open themselves up to.

For balance - I've done thousands of miles with a broken ABS system (multiple sensor and hub faults over my ownership, each one I did resolve).

What on earth are you dribbling on about? Brakes aren't 'set up' to lock at any point. Wheels lock up when available grip runs out, which is utterly and completely independent of any brake 'setup'. It's dependent on road surface, weather conditions, and the tyres.

Joe_Horner

Ok, maybe I wasn't quite clear by trying to keep things brief.

Every owners' manual I've seen for ABS equipped cars has stated that, in the event of an indicated fault, the car should be checked / repaired without delay (or words to that effect).

What they don't say (as they do for some potential problems) is for you to stop, do not drive any further, and have the car recovered.

The logical conclusion from the above is that the manufacturers consider it perfectly safe to drive (with caution and not longer than you reasonably need to) with an indicated ABS fault.

Incidentally, most cars (abs or not) are designed / set up to lock the front wheels first because that's FAR safer for the average driver - straight line skid vs doing pirouettes down the road.

But all that setting up changes (sometimes a little, sometimes a lot) the second you put a non-factory set of tyres on the thing, or get the tyre pressures wrong by a couple of PSI, or the dampers develop a little wear, or you stick some shopping in the boot, or you burn some petrol out of the tank, or put some petrol in the tank, or........

So the simple answer is to not get into situations where you need to brake that hard. Many (if not most) drivers managed to do that for decades before ABS, now it seems to be considered some sort of absurd impossibility

Gloomendoom

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

What on earth are you dribbling on about? Brakes aren't 'set up' to lock at any point. Wheels lock up when available grip runs out, which is utterly and completely independent of any brake 'setup'. It's dependent on road surface, weather conditions, and the tyres.

And the design of the braking system.