ABS light and fault code - potential quick fix!

Started by rambo_005, December 21, 2008, 02:17:35 PM

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rambo_005

A few months ago my Mk4 Bora's ABS light started coming on on every time I drove it.

I took it to Z-One in Palmerston North (VW/Audi service/dealer) who scanned it and found the following fault code:

01276 - ABS Hydraulic Pump (V64)
            16-10 - Signal Outside Specifications - Intermittent


They said based on the above that the ABS ECU would needed replacing, should the code come up again then it would be the ABS pump.

They said previously they would have the ECU repaired, but due to 'safety reasons' they no longer do this and now replace them with new OEM units ($$$)

Well today (thanks to a thread on VW Vortex) I fixed mine in about 15 minutes at a cost of $0.00 8) ;D

Here is the thread:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3986490

QuoteThis is not guaranteed to work, but it did for my car.

Many of us have been plagued with ABS lights on the instrument cluster. Way too many of us in fact. When the car is scanned for codes, the following code is often found:

01276 - ABS Hydraulic Pump (V64)
16-10 - Signal Outside Specifications - Intermittent

There are many threads on Vortex about this code. If you read through all of them. you'll find that most indicate that the ABS control module needed to be replaced. This replacement eliminates the ABS light and code.

I've had this code on and off for a couple of years now and recently, it got to the point where it was coming on EVERY time I drove the car. I did a lot of research on ABS control modules, how they historically fail (there is a large batch of them that fail because of weak electrical leads on an interior circuit board - the fix described below will not correct this problem) and what might lead to an out-of-spec signal. What I found is that the ABS control module is very sensitive to the voltage supplied to it. If the voltage at the module is too low, the module will detect this, assume that something is wrong, log the code and disable to ABS system to protect it from any damage. Obviously, if the voltage to the module is this critical, it is imperative that all electrical connections are good. Since my car is nearly 10 years old now, and the electrical connections for the ABS pump have never been touched, I immediately wondered if my connections were still good enough to keep the voltage to the module high enough. This led me to try the following simple fix - break the original connections and remake them. Hopefully this would reverse any degradation that may have taken place over the 10 years.

On a MKIV, there are three green 30A fuses on top of the battery. The two rightmost ones (S178 and S179) are for the ABS system. On the module itself, there is a large wiring harness that connects the module to power and to the ECU. There is also a smaller harness with two large gauge wires that pass power through the module to the ABS pump.

To fix my problem and eliminate the ABS light and out-of-spec signal, all I did was remove the two ABS fuses and reinstall them a couple of times so that contact surfaces were fresh. Next, I removed the two wiring harnesses from the ABS module and reconnected them (once). The car has been driven a couple of dozen times since this was done for a total of about 400 miles, and the light has not come back on yet. I'm continuing to monitor it, but at this point, it looks like the connections break and remake has elimiated the out-of-spec signal.

I'd be willing to bet that on cars where replacement of the ABS control module eliminated the 01276 code and ABS light, not all of the control modules actually needed to be replaced. Sure replacement worked, but that may solely be due to the fact that the wiring connections had to be broken to replace the module. Sure many of the modules do have actual internal defects that require replacement, but I'm not convinced that all do. In these cases, replacement of the module is an unnecessary and incurs a needless expenditure of $$$.

I'd give this a try if you have the same code. It's free and relatively easy and might just work.

UPDATE - 11-17-08

The ABS light started coming on two weeks ago, approximately 2.5 months after doing the fix. This time I only reseated the two 30A ABS fuses on top of the battery and the ABS light hasn't come back on yet. I would try reseating the fuses first and see if that works. If not, then reseat the connectors on the ABS pump/control module.

80 Vert

Those battery mounted boards are notorious for burning out, also has the cooling fans fuse on it.
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Golf56

A coincidence you should mention this problem. I have just experienced a air con problem which is related to the problem area. The heat has melted the conection to the fuse requiring a replacement board. It was fortunate timing as they discovered 2 breather hoses which had perished which would explain some rather erratic behaivior in performance.
As an aside I had a $300.00 ticket for overtaking some slower traffic a while ago. what ablast! the cop had no plausable excuse & I offered non in that I was passing some iconsisent traffic & I was still in 3rd gear.

djclintriley

Geez thanks - this could potentially save me a bit of coin!!!

BB

Quote from: Golf56 on December 23, 2008, 05:28:09 PM
A coincidence you should mention this problem. I have just experienced a air con problem which is related to the problem area. The heat has melted the conection to the fuse requiring a replacement board. It was fortunate timing as they discovered 2 breather hoses which had perished which would explain some rather erratic behaivior in performance.
As an aside I had a $300.00 ticket for overtaking some slower traffic a while ago. what ablast! the cop had no plausable excuse & I offered non in that I was passing some iconsisent traffic & I was still in 3rd gear.

Huh? So what happened with this fine? did the cop let you off or something?
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

djclintriley

Well just pulled out the fuses and clened them and put them in a couple of times and no ABS light after runnign for abotu a minute so that looks like a good sign - will see what happens on the drive home!!

RS ZWEI

Quote from: BB on September 25, 2009, 08:57:26 AM
Huh? So what happened with this fine? did the cop let you off or something?

Jem, then the user name is black they are no longer a member. So they cant answer your question :)
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vwrally

I love google and vask

I left work today i my GTI and noticed the ABS light on which has never happened so i stopped 5 or so times on the way home turned the car off and started again, it kept coming on

I got home made a cup of coffee sat down at the PC  and fixed before i was half way through my coffee

thanks rambo

rambo_005

Quote from: vwrally on October 09, 2010, 01:53:02 PM
I love google and vask

I left work today i my GTI and noticed the ABS light on which has never happened so i stopped 5 or so times on the way home turned the car off and started again, it kept coming on

I got home made a cup of coffee sat down at the PC  and fixed before i was half way through my coffee

thanks rambo

No worries, I know the thought of the expensive replacement ECU was very stressful for me - was so glad it wasn't what I would have been charged for!

BB

I have fixed a polo abs light problem this way. Thanks Rambo.
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

faulty

I have a 99 MK4 GTI manual. the ABS and Airbag light been on for about 6 months, but i dont drive this car daily. it need a WOF so i started to investigate the issue and posted on the FB page last night. a couple suggestions came up of which one was to use VCDS and an interface cable. It was then that i remembered i had purchased a cable about a year ago. i pulled it out downloaded VCDS lite and gave it a try. i managed to clear the Airbag light, i knew this fault was due to me playing with the radio wiring with the battery connected, problem solved.

Problem number 2. fault code came up stating intermittent Hydraulic abs pump fault. I googled this and found this old thread, so to bring it back after so long. i removed the fuses, put them back in and the problem is gone, drove car round the block and hammered the brakes, abs is working light is off.

thank you team.
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McDoof

And that is why the forum is still bloody good. You never would have found this trying to search through the Facebook mess.
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mark2 golf

No body on the facebook page would know what a fuse was. Its all about the adjusties
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robh

Quote from: mark2 golf on August 08, 2019, 12:38:45 PM
No body on the facebook page would know what a fuse was. Its all about the adjusties

LOL, what's a forum?

Also what is a fusebox?

Also can I use my chinese VAGCOM copy cable to reset my fuse that's burnt out?
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the phantom

those fuses are an area that's worth spending a bit of time on, dismantling, cleaning, vaselineing and reassembling, they get HOT and can catch fire
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Worms

^^^ All the above; Total truth.

But I still think this place would be more popular if the software was fixed properly.

Has anyone tried turning it off and on again???