Odd Ford Expy brake problem, I thought.

sublauxation

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Here's an FYI for you Ford Expedition owners. I've had some goofy stuff going on with my front brakes for a while, ABS would momentarily engage even without a foot on the brakes. A couple weeks ago a front caliper locked up on me and because I've had one go bad on an EXPY before I just put on a new caliper. Of course when I went to bleed it nothing came out so the next night I swapped out the rubber caliper hose.

I figured that would fix the ABS problem but nothing in life can be that easy, and shortly thereafter the traction control started kicking in on dry pavement along with the ABS still engaging. I figured a ABS sensor or something and was going to replace it over the weekend but Friday night the engine light came on. The code read "Bank 1 Cam Position sensor inttermittent fault". I reset the code and took another test drive and sure enough the ABS engages and the light came right back on.

Yup, $30 and 1/2 hour to swap it out and no more brake problems. I never would have guessed a cam position sensor would effect the ABS and traction control, but it does.
 

GA_Boater

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That is just plain weird, Sub. Wonder if the dealer could have made the connection before the light came on?
 

sublauxation

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Good question about the dealer. I had it read 3 times and no ABS codes showed up. The shop that read it the last time it popped up shook his head when I asked if that could possibly be related to the brakes.

I was more than skeptical about the Cam Position sensor but figured for $30 there was little to lose. I had to go about 5 pages back when researching on Google to find an article that alluded to the possibility of symptoms mine had.

Even after replacing it I figured I would end up also replacing the ABS sensor on the side where the caliper locked thinking maybe all the heat cooked the sensor but I'm 60 + miles in now and no abnormal events.
 

Volphin

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That's really odd! Learn something new every day! This makes me want to study the wiring schematics of the ABS controller...
 

MTboatguy

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When I was driving my 03 Ford Explorer, you would have thought the heart monitor in the cardiac unit went off, when my sensor went bad, what happens is the engine computer can't sense the speed and rotation of the engine, so it does not know how to manage the ABS system for speed, it is a weird situation, but it is one of those that don't let you do much until you get it repaired!
 

sublauxation

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Yeah, odd, and there are a lot of Fords around here that's why I figured I'd post it because had that engine light not finally come on Friday I was all set to start tearing apart the brakes on Saturday with the hopes of finding something.

Remember the days where if you had brake problems you fixed the brakes and when you had engine problems you fixed the engine?
 

GA_Boater

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Remember the days where if you had brake problems you fixed the brakes and when you had engine problems you fixed the engine?

We call those the good old days. Long gone! :blue:
 

Pascal

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What year Explorer is this. Some that use ABS for traction control may have a function that de-rates the engine to achieve that function under certain driving conditions. The cam sensor might be connected to that and show your ''symptom''.

Not sure just possibilities....
 

sublauxation

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What year Explorer is this. Some that use ABS for traction control may have a function that de-rates the engine to achieve that function under certain driving conditions. The cam sensor might be connected to that and show your ''symptom''.

Not sure just possibilities....

Mine is an 08 Expedition.

Big lesson learned on this project was not to replace a caliper before making sure it was actually seized up, but it was late in the evening, I was in a hurry and I've had an Expedition Caliper seize up before.

I didn't have the chance to bleed it as it was 11:00PM when I finished. The next day when my kid helped me I got that instant bad feeling when he tried to push down on the brake pedal and it wouldn't go down at all. I disconnected the caliper hose and the pedal still wouldn't go down. $70 wasted.
 

KJM

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Your abs symptoms sounded like a broken "tone ring" on your axel. its a steel ring with what looks like gear teeth, its visible right behind the wheel if you look under the front. its what the abs sensor senses when the wheel is turning. they get rust underneath and crack. they can then spin freely independent of the wheel and cause your abs and traction control to malfunction. I know because it happened to me twice on the 08 ford escape I had. i'm pretty sure it caused my transmission to go on one occasion because it was causing the brakes to come on while I was going thru an intersection and I thought the engine was stalling and forced her with more gas....the transmission went a day or two after that. If the problem returns check it out.
 
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