• Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Register for our forum. Even if you don't want to post, you can still 'Like' and react to posts.

Intermittent ABS light causing truck to stall


Three6ohchris

New Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2015
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Vancouver, WA
Vehicle Year
2000
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
V6
Transmission
Manual
First, I have a 2000 Ranger XLT 4 x 4 3.0 V6.

So for the last month or so, my ABS light has been coming on sporadically. At first it would just be the light, it would come on and then just stay on. After a while though that stopped happening and the light would just come on for a minute,then my speedo would rev all the way up then go down to zero and then go back to normal and the light would come off. Now it will do that but it will also act like the truck dies. If I'm driving at a decent speed there's this little hick up then when the light turns off everything is normal. If I'm going slower the truck will buck and feel like it's not wanting to keep going and if I'm going slow enough it will flat out die. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the light coming on... sometimes it'll do it if I hit a bump, sometimes I can be going on a flat road. I replaced the ABS sensor on the top of my diff. Even replaced the wire harness. I checked the square wiring plug underneath my seat under the truck for corrosion. Is this issue something that could be caused by the front ABS sensors as well? That's my next stop but I just wanted to find out if anybody could offer some suggestions. I have checked their connectors near my bumper but not at the hubs. I've done research to try and figure this out but I haven't seen anything to tell me that it was coming from the front end because of the speedo issue and I haven't seen anybody say anything about the stalling issues I'm having.

Any help or thoughts and suggestions would be really appreciated. I'm about to trade this thing in because I just can't take the problem that's causing me anymore. It's been one thing after another it seems like. I love this truck but I don't think it's worth the headaches anymore.
 
Last edited:


lil_Blue_Ford

Well-Known Member
TRS Forum Moderator
Supporting Member
V8 Engine Swap
TRS 20th Anniversary
TRS Event Participant
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
8,208
Reaction score
5,965
Points
113
Location
Butler, PA, USSA
Vehicle Year
95
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
4.9L
Transmission
Manual
That is an interesting gremlin. Sounds almost like a bad wire or something. Only thought I have this early (haven't had my coffee yet) is related to the ABS recall. Does your truck have the repair harness? It is typically zip tied to the brake master cylinder for trucks with 4-wheel ABS. I think there are a couple fuses in that repair harness, might be good to see if one is bad. If you don't have the harness, go to your local Ford dealer. I just got it done on a 2000 Ranger that I recently got.


Sent from my kite using a trebuchet
 

Three6ohchris

New Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2015
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Vancouver, WA
Vehicle Year
2000
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
V6
Transmission
Manual
That is an interesting gremlin. Sounds almost like a bad wire or something. Only thought I have this early (haven't had my coffee yet) is related to the ABS recall. Does your truck have the repair harness? It is typically zip tied to the brake master cylinder for trucks with 4-wheel ABS. I think there are a couple fuses in that repair harness, might be good to see if one is bad. If you don't have the harness, go to your local Ford dealer. I just got it done on a 2000 Ranger that I recently got.


Sent from my kite using a trebuchet
That's a great place to start, thank you. I'm not sure about the recall part, but I'll pop the hood and take a look.

Could a short in wiring anywhere in the truck cause this? The guy who owned the truck before me did a real number on this thing and there's so many splices and "fixes" in this truck that I'm sure there's possibly a short somewhere. This and light issue has gradually gotten worse, to the point that it's barely driveable sometimes. I did blow the #26 fuse for the GEM module last week, but I replaced it (the fuse) and everything seems ok there. Anyway, it's got a New alternator and battery, I just don't know where to go from here.
 

lil_Blue_Ford

Well-Known Member
TRS Forum Moderator
Supporting Member
V8 Engine Swap
TRS 20th Anniversary
TRS Event Participant
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
8,208
Reaction score
5,965
Points
113
Location
Butler, PA, USSA
Vehicle Year
95
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
4.9L
Transmission
Manual
Shorts and bad grounds can cause all sorts of problems. It drives me nuts sometimes seeing the wiring butchery that often happens. It's not cheap to get it done right, and most people don't seem to know how to do it right, so they make a mess. In my spare time I do some boat and trailer wiring repair


Sent from my kite using a trebuchet
 

Three6ohchris

New Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2015
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Vancouver, WA
Vehicle Year
2000
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
V6
Transmission
Manual
Shorts and bad grounds can cause all sorts of problems. It drives me nuts sometimes seeing the wiring butchery that often happens. It's not cheap to get it done right, and most people don't seem to know how to do it right, so they make a mess. In my spare time I do some boat and trailer wiring repair


Sent from my kite using a trebuchet
Well I'm crossing my fingers because I think I might've actually found the problem. There's a wire harness that runs next to the battery but comes up near the ABS that was resting on a piece of the battery tray and it looks like it rubbed through and grounded out. I moved it and taped it up and I haven't had an ABS light since. Of course it's only been about 10 miles in 15 minutes since, but still. It's the small victories. If I can figure out how to post pictures on here I'll upload them so you can see the mess that the guy made for me and the part that was grounding out in case anybody have similar problems in the future.
 

Attachments

lil_Blue_Ford

Well-Known Member
TRS Forum Moderator
Supporting Member
V8 Engine Swap
TRS 20th Anniversary
TRS Event Participant
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
8,208
Reaction score
5,965
Points
113
Location
Butler, PA, USSA
Vehicle Year
95
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
4.9L
Transmission
Manual
Yup, looks like it was grounding out there. Also looks like you have the ABS recall harness on there, so no worries there


Sent from my kite using a trebuchet
 

Three6ohchris

New Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2015
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Vancouver, WA
Vehicle Year
2000
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
V6
Transmission
Manual
Yup, looks like it was grounding out there. Also looks like you have the ABS recall harness on there, so no worries there


Sent from my kite using a trebuchet
Well, thank you very much for your help and thank you for confirming that I have the recall harness.
 

Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Staff online

Today's birthdays

Member & Vendor Upgrades

For a small yearly donation, you can support this forum and receive a 'Supporting Member' banner, or become a 'Supporting Vendor' and promote your products here. Click the banner to find out how.

Truck of The Month


Kirby N.
March Truck of The Month

Recently Featured

Want to see your truck here? Share your photos and details in the forum.

Follow TRS On Instagram

TRS Events

25th Anniversary Sponsors

Check Out The TRS Store


Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Sponsored Ad


Amazon Deals

Top