Ouch, My Car Needed Work

[not on the rug]

6 minutes ago, 230jhp said:

The cheapest scanner I could find that could diagnose traction control issues was $139.

Where are you located?

[Woodsman416]

If you had a wheel speed sensor not reading it should set a code and turn on your abs telltale. You probably don't have a code set and a code reader is not going to help you anyway. If no codes are present, I would pull up abs data stream, look at all four wheel speed sensor pids, graph them and test drive the truck. Then I could go back and look at the recording and see if/when one of the sensors is dropping out. The abs module might not know the wheel speed sensor circuit in question is bad, it may think the wheel has actually stopped turning or is turning at a speed different than the others. If I find a problem with a particular wheel speed sensor circuit, depending on the vehicle and sensor type, I'll either measure resistance in the sensor or scope the sensor output if it's a hall effect type. About 30 percent of the time the sensor is fine and the problem is a broken wire in the harness. The wires break because of the constant flexing of the harness when the wheels are being turned back and forth. To find this I'll measure resistance on all the wires between the sensor connector and and the abs module. If  I find an open circuit there, it's usually pretty easy to find and repair the break in the harness. All this is assuming you actually have a wheel speed sensor circuit problem and not a malfunction in another part of the abs/tcs system.

Edited February 28, 2020 by Woodsman416

[230jhp]

The TC  light comes on after the truck is parked and shut off. Under normal conditions it should come on with the bulb check. In this case it stays on after the bulb check.  Usually if I drive it a short distance then shut it off and restart it resets. Lately it doesn't always reset when I do that.

I suspect what Woodsman said about a wire or connector is the source of the problem, but I don't have an easy way to get under the truck to check that.

Too bad Woodsman's shop is so far away or I would bring it there. I don't have a local shop I trust.

 

[230jhp]

1 hour ago, not on the rug said:

Where are you located?

Bloomingdale

[not on the rug]

10 minutes ago, 230jhp said:

Bloomingdale

If you are willing to come down to Warren County,  I'd send you to my buddy's shop.  Nicest folks in the world and 100% trustworthy 

[230jhp]

1 hour ago, not on the rug said:

If you are willing to come down to Warren County,  I'd send you to my buddy's shop.  Nicest folks in the world and 100% trustworthy 

Thanx I appreciate the offer, but thats too far

[Booner]

21 hours ago, 230jhp said:

I have a small problem with my 2012 Ram. The "traction control" idiot light was coming on when I start the truck. If I drove it a short distance then turned it off and started it again it would go out. The last few days starting and stopped the engine doesn't always reset it.

I think one of the wheel speed sensors need to be replaced. This is a $17 part held in place by one bolt and a connector. There is one for each wheel. However, in order to determine which sensor is malfunctioning a diagnostic scan is needed. Most places charge a fortune to plug their scanner into the diagnostic port. I think I'll just keep driving it like that. The concern is this controls the anti-lock brakes....if I need to make a panic stop I don't know what will happen.

It's the speed sensor. Same truck same issue. Eventually the 4x4 light will come on. 

[Booner]

21 hours ago, BHC said:

I think it was about 3 weeks ago roughly we got about 4" of snow. I was driving to work  4am in my commuter car on Rt.78 East and I was going up hill Jugtown Mtn, this area has no lights tractor trailers spraying dirty mist covering my window, all of a sudden there is a huge block shape metal in the lane, either I hit it, or swerve and run into one of these tractor trailers.....well I hit the metal, pulled over turned the car off in case the oil pan got ripped off. I see no damage, the car is running fine, 2 days later I hear my  muffler is sounding like one of these young kids cars which is the least of my problems. Thursday evening I drove over a speed bump maybe 3 mph and I hear something rubbing/dragging, my wife and I thought it was the muffler fell off, I get home 2 mins later and we smell burning rubber. It's late take it into the shop in the morning. So yesterday morning at 0730 my wife followed me to the shop 2 miles from me, I got 3 blocks from my house when I hear a "POP" what the hell?! I got a flat. So finally I had it towed to the shop, well the damage was I need two new tires, replace both sides: sway bar, bushings, strut, springs....the spring broke causing it to gut the tire as you can see.  I asked the owner of the shop, if he ever saw this happen, and he said YES but not as server as this with what it did to the tire

 

 

I know the feeling. Hit a tractor trailer tire with rim in fast lane on Driscoll bridge at 85. Had no way to avoid it even at 5am. WAS a great truck. Ripped entire passenger suspension out. Twisted frame. Sad to see her go. You never know what's laying on the road anymore. 

[ESetter]

You can get an android OBDII scanner for under $12 bucks and a free app for your phone. Spending a few extra dollars on an app can give you live data diagnostics using the same scanner as well.