ABS warning light, Renault Master van

[newshound]

My 2004 Renault Master horsebox has just thrown up the "service"
warning, together with an ABS light.

Any best guess on what this is likely to mean?

(My "car" man does the basic stuff on these, but sends me to an
independent specialist for things like injectors).

[newshound]

Should have said, it's 120k miles but generally in pretty good condition
for the age.

[Mrcheerful]

First check would be that it has sufficient brake fluid and working
brake lights.

[newshound]

Great, thanks. Brake fluid level was OK, checked the lights the day
before but will have another look now, and also "wiggle" the electrical
connector on top of reservoir.

S

[Adrian]

On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 14:25:17 +0000, newshound wrote:

>>>> My 2004 Renault Master horsebox has just thrown up the "service"
>>>> warning, together with an ABS light.
>>>>
>>>> Any best guess on what this is likely to mean?

>> First check would be that it has sufficient brake fluid and working
>> brake lights.

> Great, thanks. Brake fluid level was OK, checked the lights the day
> before but will have another look now, and also "wiggle" the electrical
> connector on top of reservoir.

Low brake light is going to put the general brake light on, probably same
one as handbrake, rather than ABS.

I'd start by investigating whether a wheel sensor cable's failed,
probably a front.

[newshound]

Must admit that was my first thought too. Presumably if my guy hooks up
the laptop to it he'll get more information. The fault appeared after
getting the front end bogged down in a muddy hollow, but I'd have
thought not deep enough to foul anything. I got a landy to tow me out
before letting it dig in deep.

Thanks all for the comments. Seeing him in the pub at 6.

[Adrian]

On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 16:23:41 +0000, newshound wrote:

> The fault appeared after getting the front end bogged down in a muddy
> hollow

Aha! The drip-drip-drip of pertinent information... <grin>

Did the light come on with ignition, or only when you started to move?

If the latter, then it's possible that the toothed ring is clagged with
mud.
If the former, then it's almost certainly a sensor or cable got clobbered
or snagged.

Shouldn't be difficult to diagnose. Pull the wheels off and look.

[newshound]

Yes, sorry about that. I *think* it came on after I started to move. But
as I say, I'd be slightly surprised at a mechanical cause, the mud was
no more than half way up to the wheel rims. It turned out that there was
a very sharp transition between MOT type hard standing and topsoil and I
*do* know not to keep digging when I am stuck in a hole!

But I will whip the wheels off when I get a chance. (It's parked up in a
stable yard where maintenance is not particularly convenient).

But thanks again for the suggestions.

[Adrian]

On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 16:42:18 +0000, newshound wrote:

> But I will whip the wheels off when I get a chance. (It's parked up in a
> stable yard where maintenance is not particularly convenient).

I wouldn't have any qualms about driving it in the interim. If the ABS is
AWOL, you just won't get the ABS kicking in, it'll just lock up instead.

How often have you braked your horsebox so hard the ABS kicks in, up to
now?

[newshound]

Certainly never with animals on board! In all my driving experience, I
have only had one instance when I was glad to have it, and that was in a
hire car about 20 years ago. Some idiot suddenly pulled into the fast
lane just as I was passing, so offside wheels were locking as I pulled
off the carriageway to within a couple of inches of the central crash
barrier. He noticed me just as I got alongside and I just squeezed past
without touching anything.

Too cold to grovel around looking this morning, but when I switched on
the ignition the ABS light came on, then went out, but leaving the
"service" light on. I then pulled backwards and forwards a few yards,
and the service light cleared. Will see what happens in a 30 mile run on
Saturday.

[Scott M]

I once managed a 6 or 8 wheeled lock up in a Disco towing a horsebox. 4
on the (empty and relatively light) box and a good couple or so on the
Disco (which had had the ABS removed.)

I don't understand people who will pull out in front of something that
could weight in at anything up to about 6.5 tonnes.

--
Scott

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

[Scott M]

newshound wrote:

> Too cold to grovel around looking this morning, but when I switched on
> the ignition the ABS light came on, then went out, but leaving the
> "service" light on. I then pulled backwards and forwards a few yards,
> and the service light cleared. Will see what happens in a 30 mile run on
> Saturday.

Some systems will note a spinning wheel as a fault if it's for any
length of time and take a while to clear it again. Seen this with a
Focus with one wheel jacked off the ground.

[Mrcheerful]

With the new information about the mud. Quite a few cars will throw up
an abs fault light if you get some wheels turning without the others, so
maybe if you had wheelspin in the mud, it may have confused the system
temporarily, a few reboots later it has cleared itself, fingers crossed.

[Adrian]

On Wed, 20 Jan 2016 14:41:42 +0000, Scott M wrote:

> I don't understand people who will pull out in front of something that
> could weight in at anything up to about 6.5 tonnes.

It's either "Oooh, that looks slow, I don't want to be stuck behind that"
or " " (since they didn't even bother looking).

[newshound]

Useful theory. There will have been a bit of wheelspin, but after that I
had a 30 mile drive on normal roads and it was still present at the end.
Still, perhaps it does need a full re-boot!

[Scott M]

The temptation to keep going is always strong. And why is it that people
who nip out in front never actually put their foot down to any degree?!!