Chevy Tahoe ABS

I have a 97 Tahoe 4wd that has a weird issue with the ABS system. Recently I find that the ABS will come on when it is rolling to a stop, like the last 5 feet. This is a normal stop not a panic stop. From what info I can find it's probably a bad or dirty wheel speed sensor that is making the ABS think that wheel is locked up and skidding.

The problem is, when the ABS comes on it the brakes really suck and it adds some distance on to your stop. So, you have to remember that when you are rolling to a stop. I am going to clean the sensors here in the next few days but in the meantime, I'm thinking of removing the fuse to the ABS (if it has it's own fuse).

I had the same problem recently with my 06 Silverado 2500HD, I had to change the complete wheel bearing/speed sensor to solve it
Be careful trying to clean the sensors, i tried to do that at first and the sensor came apart when I tried to get it out. I replaced the sensor and it didn't solve the problem.

Did you have the same issue (ABS comes on when rolling to a stop)?

Yea, I also had the ABS light come on if I was driving around 5 MPH

Let us know what you guys find out. My 2000 Tahoe has a similar problem. Intermittent ABS & Brake lights comes on sometime while driving. Lights usually clear when engine is turned off for any length of time. As far as I can tell it doesn't throw a "stored" code.

I did have a bad left front wheel bearing go out awhile back, and I hear they tend to go in pairs. Maybe the other wheel bearing is starting to shoot craps??

I have a 2007 Cadillac SRX
The brake and stabilitrack lights kept coming on.

The ABS was also acting like you described.

They changed a rear wheel bearing and it works fine now.
I'm not sure if they changed the sensor, but I would think they did.

I scanned my Silverado when I was having the problem and there was a code for the RF wheel speed sensor. When I changed that bearing the code and problem went away. If the light is coming on you should be able to see a pending code if not a set code

Stpman said:

I scanned my Silverado when I was having the problem and there was a code for the RF wheel speed sensor. When I changed that bearing the code and problem went away. If the light is coming on you should be able to see a pending code if not a set code

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You know, that's interesting the wheel speed sensor will pick up and the computer RECOGNIZE a slightly erratic signal , and tell us something wacky....but all it was is a mechanical bearing failure...not the brakes per se....

kinda like this Miata, RF hub was toast, but ONLY when cornering hard to the left.....I swore it was diffy related, RONG, lotta work for nothing, it was fine....

but when I cut that old hub apart and saw the bad outer race it looked like hit with acid or something, the steel totally lost it's finish....now IF the car had ABS that sensitive, I wonder if it would have told the tale from just that signature analysis.....

I know I still have VSS problems in the vette, but am too damn lazy/too much HEAT and humidity to do anymore till weather breaks a bit....

:banghead:

BBShark said:

the ABS will come on when it is rolling to a stop, like the last 5 feet.

Click to expand...

One of three things cause this.

One is corrosion between the sensor and the wheel bearing increasing the airgap between the sensor and reluctor wheel.
Two is the sensor going bad.
Three is a cracked reluctor wheel.

New wheel bearing is the best fix for a vehicle of that age.

The only two good ways to tell which bearing is the problem is a scope or watching live data on a scanner.

MY 1-ton did that too. Pulled both front wheels,rotors, and pulled the sensors. The mounting points were rusty and had pulled the sensors too far from the reluctors. Cleaned the rust off reinstalled the sensors and no more troubles. There's a GM tech bulletin on them for that problem.

I took the Tahoe to a buddy's shop this morning to get the codes read. The left front sensor is bad. However, they also found that the ABS is swiching in and out from 25-40 mph. This has the Kelsey Hayes unit and now it looks like there is a problem with the ABS unit itself. All this adds up to big money to fix.

So pull the fuse right? Well pulling the fuse will disable the cruise control. So, I pulled the connector to the ABS motor. Now I have the brake light on but maybe I can learn to live with it or get some black tape!

Update. Pulled both of the data conectors off the unit in addition to the motor connector. No more brake light and the cruise control still works.