I recently finished a complete rebuild of my left front suspension after a gentle curb tap. Control arm, drive shaft (boot was jacked from a bad trip to BMW mechanic) tie rods and boots, ball joints, wheel bearings. Everything new and happy. Aligned and great.

The ABS light threesome was already on, i had replace the passenger side, and came back to the drivers side hoping that would clear up problem.

Of course the sensor was totally frozen in to the carrier. So after it broke off I just pulled the wheel bearing and drove the old ABS sensor down and out. Put the new one in, buttoned up and all was well. Well almost.

Now I have my ABS light, tire pressure light, traction control light still on and added to it , my brake light (the red one not the wear light) and check engine soon light.

Where the heck did all of this come from.

its late some I'll see if O'rielly's can read my codes in the AM, but Im scratching my head as to what I did to make things even worse.

Any grand thoughts, I really want to my lights to go out

 

A MINI dealership can scan and see which one is bad to what corner, if one of the sensor is bad after all the sensor heads are clean, short section right near the wheel bearings. Otherwise, you are just cleaning the all sensor heads behind the wheel bearings first. Then inspect every two pol connection , the sensor have a deep blue socket connect and it has to be clicked all the way up. Also inspect on the male side to make sure the terminal are not corroded past the plug on the top where they go into the plug harness.

The old ones are most of the time rusted into the steering knuckle/ carrier or tailing arm. So you will break everyone of them trying to remove them.

Rusty trailing arm




Rusty front knuckle




New front knuckles

https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Sit...h/31216757498/ Right passenger side



https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Sit...h/31216757497/ Left driver side




Yellow circle is front knuckle ABS sensor location.





Rear



***These will need cleaned with a reaming tool or sandpaper tool really good.** You might need to file down the tabs on the new one to install. Use a little light grease but don't use too much to block the signal.



Front ABS sensor ( work on the left driver side and the right passenger side ) Part number 34526756384

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/34526756384/




When installing the ABS sensor make sure you clean out the insertion hole, as I have had corrosion built up and when you slide it in they tend to stick. When you pop the old one out and its damaged you might have to take the wheel bearing off to get it from the bottom and push up. Soak the top of the sensor insertion with some PB blaster or penetrating fluid and let soak. There is a little hex head screw that holds in the sensor.


For the rear follow the same thing: These go straight in from the back side of the trailing arm.



ABS Speed Sensor - Rear Part # 34526756385

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/34526756385/



Thanks

 

ok

replaced the rear cables, I had already order a set.

came back to the front and took out the one I replaced over the weekend.

still have a full compliment of lights, brake, cel, and the normal trifecta.

stopped at Orielly's and had them run the codes, as suspected I got a p0500

but nothing more.

so right now I have 4 new ABS cables around the car and no fix.

I had to take it on the road no matter what today, I figured what could go wrong at this point

the only thing I noticed was I don't have cruise control now.

on monday next week, I'll take it to my local repair shop and have them run a more extensive code search..

where to go now.

I was really wanting to sell this little jewel and move on.

 

The MINI Dealership can read more into the codes and a more extensive search, think its 1 hr labor to read last time I had it. They can also tell which corner is not reading. I would do that. You might have a break at the connection. If you want to I would inspect all the lines past the sensor into the harness , I have heard of rodents crewing on these wires before and causing more damage. Since you don't have cruise now, I thinking you have damage to one of the wires in the engine bay, which code be from rodents.

Thanks

 

update

I replaced both front cables today, with brand new cables. cleaned the holes, and very carefully installed both

still have the trifecta, but the CEL and the Brake light are gone and my cruise works.

I guess I'll go back to the rears and double check all connections.

if no luck there I'll find a way to read the codes. my closest dealer is 200 miles away.
I do have good shop the I frequent that should be able to read the codes better than orielly's

 

Check those rear connections. Let me know what you find. Again sometimes cleaning the head of the sensor helps.

 

ok, I removed and cleaned the connections on the two new rear cables and reattached.

nothing, same result

 

a crazy thought and I'm grasping at straws

would the ride height sensor on the the front a-arm trigger the trifecta?

while rebuilding the front suspension this winter, I notice the sensor mount was really bent, to the point it was cutting into the inner boot of the drive shaft.

I cleaned up the mount and reinstalled it.

but the did it get damaged in the year or so that it rubbed the boot.

I read somewhere on the forum that a ride height sensor had triggered the same problem

 

UPDATE

So today I headed to my local garage and the owner set me up with his BMW
mechanic.

We took his big SnapON computer out and plugged it in and went for a drive.

he was able to watch the speed for all four wheels.

here's where it gets good

the right front wheel and the left front wheel were indicating different speeds!

sensors were fine all the way around, but the data coming from the left front
bearing was incorrect, setting up and argument with the right front and
thus the triad of lights.

---when the is all started I knew I needed a new left front wheel bearing. That may have been why the lights came on in the first place. I replaced the bearing with what should have been the correct one, but it appears not.

---best part. the code reading didn't cost me a cent.

 

cont.


so I ordered a new oem bearing that should have the correct sender and it looks like it will be on my steps Tuesday evening.

stay tuned

 

Any update?

 

still got the trifecta. Now its on all the time. Until I replaced the drivers side bearing it was off for the first 50 yards or so.

code last read as speed on left and right didn't match. The only error.

so I'm pulling the passenger side bearing tonight and replacing it with another good bearing I had on the shelf. This bearing hasn't been replaced and maybe i screwed up the surface when I cleaned out the hole for the new sensor. I know surface can be dinged up.

I need to get this resolved soon, I want to sell the car so I can finish another project. I've had 6 years with this thing and replaced just about every part on it.

 

there is no "sender"
the sensor is magnetic...
one tip...
I have read a few folks has issues with cheap e-bay sensors..made in china..guess they did not pass inspection/testing...so were e-bay'ed off...

 

talking surface on the bearing, I have an old bearing that the surface that faces the sensor was cut causing an error

 

Is the Mini fixed?
I scanned my friends 08 MCC and P0500 comes up.
Hoping you can help me out.

 

fixed fixed and fixed

it took three cables to get it done.

1. don't buy the cheap cables.

2. don't buy the middle priced cables.

3. I bought one from Mini dealer 200 miles away. Drove up got and came to home and installed. It fixed the CEL and Brake light (and gave me back cruise control.) I made the mad dash to get the part because I have a 1500 mile road trip the next day.

While I was gone I ordered another cable for the drives side, made sure it was OEM and got it from oembimmerparts.com.

when I got home last week, put it in and on the second turn of the key all the lights were out.

fixed !


NOW TO SELL THE CAR http://wichita.craigslist.org/cto/4463942257.html

 

Updated above with more info as i just did a full suspension replacement on a car with almost 300K. ABS sensor were toast on the rusted suspension.

 

I found that OEM sensors only way to go, especially the rear. I had the trifecta so I replaced all sensors with non oem which left me with 4 lights, returned and replaced with oem and all is well. Having a scan tool to see live data helps as well.