Are our cars REAR ABS?

[Pokageek]

I am still scratching my head on this one folks. I have had SEVERAL cars with ABS and this mustang is the SUCK SUCK SUCKIEST of them all.

If I need to stop faast it SEEMS like the fronts completely lock up and the rears dont do anything! I have also heard of at least one person with an sn95 personally that got killed cause he couldnt stop the car in time and SEVERaL others that say our brakes really suck because of the locking up. This is characteristic of a REAR only ABS system. Worst system ever made in my o. Is this what we have? If that is the case, I am unhooking the darn things!! It is WORSE than no ABS at all seriously.

 

[illwood]

I am still scratching my head on this one folks. I have had SEVERAL cars with ABS and this mustang is the SUCK SUCK SUCKIEST of them all.

If I need to stop faast it SEEMS like the fronts completely lock up and the rears dont do anything! I have also heard of at least one person with an sn95 personally that got killed cause he couldnt stop the car in time and SEVERaL others that say our brakes really suck because of the locking up. This is characteristic of a REAR only ABS system. Worst system ever made in my o. Is this what we have? If that is the case, I am unhooking the darn things!! It is WORSE than no ABS at all seriously.

I believe the SN95 Mustangs are a 4 channel ABS. However, ABS is an option on our cars (at least it was on a 1994 GT).

Personally, the ABS saved the nose of my car when some jerk in an SUV cut me off in the pouring rain, so I'm OK with the ABS.

 

[Therian]

have you tried pulling codes? The front brakes shouldn't be locking up.

 

[Engel]

my abs is alright, I can feel it working in the front..



if you need more stopping power just throw on a big brake kit...


i find having adequate braking is very important in a daily driver

 

[droptopford 5 0]

to tell you the truth, my brakes havnt been good at all in the last 4 years ive had the car, but the brakes dont lock up, and the ABS always catches a lock up before it happens, so i dont know whats up with your car, proportioning valve? or bad sensors?...

 

[mootang]

mine lock up too, but not because the abs doesn't work. If i brake hard enough my front end will dip and the wheels will hit the inner fender and lock up.

 

[go-stang5.0]

Pokageek, does your car have abs? It was an option not a standard item. If the abs wasnt working and you car is so equipped you would have a light on the dash, but its possible the bulb blew out or something. If the abs is working you shouldent be locking up the wheels... I would say that you check for codes, Oh and check for abs sensors to make sure your car is so equipped. On the bright side, if your able to lock up the front wheels on dry pavement...your brakes are working good.

 

[Fopar]

mine lock up too, but not because the abs doesn't work. If i brake hard enough my front end will dip and the wheels will hit the inner fender and lock up.

 

[Pokageek]

Ok thanks guys. I am going to pull codes as you said. I know I have ABS b/c I can see the unit and it gets in my way when standing in the engine bay pulling off my heads! LOL!

 

[go-stang5.0]

I agree with fopar, Mootang...you got some issues there. What are you running like 20x12's up front or something.

 

[HISSIN50]

And the rear ABS sensors tell us we have rear bias for the ABS.

Pokageek, the only thing I can really think of that might help is to keep fluid impeccably clean. It's something that some of us overlook.

And I actually clean my ABS sensor interfaces off when I have the wheels off. I dont know if it helps but it makes me feel better. In my experience, the sensors are pretty finicky - if one's acting up, the idiot light comes on forthwith.

Good luck bud.

 

[HGFireHazard]

Mine locked up on me before I did my cobra brake upgrade, and I havn't punished them hard enough yet afterwards to see if they do.

I have no codes, no abs light, no burnt out bulb, so I'm curious as to what I can do as well. I've never felt my ABS kick in, I know you aren't supposed to feel that shuttering/grinding ABS feel in the pedal, and I havn't ever.

 

[Dante30]

That sounds strange,
My car has about 150K on the engine, I have cross-drilled/ slotted rotors like many of us and I have ceramic? pads. My car brakes very well, never had a problem and has kept me outta trouble plenty of times. The thing that does happen to me is that I need to have the rotors turned often, it seems like they warp easy. Other than that, they work very well. Maybe one of your brake lines is slightly compromised, in the front, proportioning valve or maybe you have sticky calipers in the rear.

If I were you, take it to a shop you can trust, have them do a complete inspection, including seals & stuff. Hopefully, they can get to the heart of the issue!

Dante'

 

[Pokageek]

Ok. Thanks. The weird thing is that I put all new calipers, rotors and pads and lines on the car when I bought it for... safety... It didn't help. My light doesn't come on and I dont remember if I even had sesnors on though but you would think the light would have come on

 

[WhiteDevil]

Im pretty sure Key on Engine off the light should come on so u can make sure the light even works. My ABS is pissing me off. I put in a line lock over the summer and i had to disable the ABS for the time being (just pulled the fuse). For some reason with the line lock in place my car will ABS at every stop until it disables itself. My brakes are fully bled and work like a champ with the ABS disabled. How do you pull codes from the ABS system? I tried with my normal code scanner but it didnt work, is there a different port?

 

[1TallMF]

The ABS port is the red one between the battery and underhood fuse box. My OBD1 scanner book has the codes for the abs, but I never had to pull them so I don't know if the scanner plugs-into that port.
My abs has save my car on a few occasions. Its quite possible I would have totaled it that one time I got caught in a freak snow storm and slid sideways down a hill lined with parked cars on both sides. The abs helped me steer the car back into a straight line. All I needed was a new pair of pants.