I have decided to attempt to install ABS in my 99 wagon that did not come with it. DISCLAIMER: I have already been advised that this a very involved job and probably not worth doing, and I know that others who have suggested the idea have been somewhat discouraged from doing it, but I have decided to attempt it anyway. Of course it is very possible that I will change my mind in the process, but that is neither here nor there. I definitely understand why people generally discourage from this job, as it doesn't really make so much sense to do it and I realize that, but I still want to try it anyway.. So please no further discouragement, although if there is something I am not aware of or that is more complicated than I am making it seem, definitely please let me know.
I am attempting this for three reasons: 1) Because I prefer having ABS on my car (if I didn't it would be kind of a silly project). 2) Because on my "parts car" that has the ABS system but got totalled I had literally just reinstalled the electronic module from the ABS after having sent it out and paid like $70 to get it fixed and it feels like a waste. But 3) which is the most important reason is that I like a challenge, and this feels like an appropriate level challenge, somewhat daunting but hopefully not beyond what I can handle. I know some people will say they think ABS is stupid/unnecessary, or that I should just buy a car with ABS etc etc, but let's just move beyond that please and focus on the topic at hand. Meaning whether you think the project is worthwhile or not, let's just stick to how to accomplish it.
I am hoping to use this thread as a sort of sounding board as the project develops. I will throw in the thoughts that I have and where I am holding in it, and hopefully can get some feedback from those who are interested and who are more knowledgeable than myself (which is probably many to most of you). I don't think it will be completed too quickly, but this site is great for fleshing out ideas over time. No pressure to get involved for any who don't find the topic interesting.
Anyway, my starting point is I know that I have a parts car with working ABS. I plan to pull the module of course from the vehicle. I will simply cut the brake lines at the fittings and carefully remove them to hopefully reuse them. I will use Cu-Ni line and I have a cheap bubble flare tool that I have used successfully in the past. I will have to run entire new lines for the car, should be a total of 8 runs, two going in to the ABS, four coming out, and then the rear lines go through a control valve before the wheels. There is no rear prop. valve on a wagon. I will replace all lines, as the rear ones on the donor car were for drums anyway, and I may relocate the ABS unit. Plus I WANT new lines... I should add at this point that part of my reasoning for doing this project is that I kind of wanted to run new brake lines anyway as they are old and rusted, so it's kind of useful work anyway in that sense at least.
My current car already has axles in front with tone rings. I don't have rear hubs with tone rings, but those are cheap to buy, either new aftermarket or used OEM (don't think they go bad too often?). I have pulled the front two sensors already. I can pull the back two also, although there is a little bit of confusion, as Rock Auto lists the sedan and wagon as having different rear ABS sensors; I'm not exactly sure why. The donor car is a sedan, so hopefully I can still use those sensors, if not I'll have to buy new ones for the back.
So that covers brake lines, sensors and tone rings. I think the only other major "component" of this job is the wiring. I might add at this point that it occurred to me that since I am doing this job from scratch I can really install the ABS unit wherever I want, i.e. wherever I can find a convenient work space that doesn't block other important stuff. My wife even joked I could install it in the car interior which is technically true if I could find an opening to run brake line in there. I just think that running the lines and wires would be much easier in an "easy to work" location, perhaps underneath the back of the vehicle somewhere? I would just have to find a way to mount it, not a big deal. Does anyone know a reason that the brake lines going in to the ABS should be short, and close to the MC? I wouldn't think it matters; on my Suburban the ABS unit is under the car like halfway back or so. The only obvious and glaring inconvenience of moving the location significantly would be the wiring. (Edit: Now that I think about this further, I don't think it would make sense to move it very far from the engine compartment for another reason: the rear lines need to go through a "control valve" after the ABS but before they go to the rear wheels. So would be kind of crazy to run them from the MC to a distant ABS then back up front again and then back again. I need to go peek inside the hood though, because maybe this control valve itself could be easily relocated as well?)
So speaking of wiring, it's not my area of expertise, but I know a bit about it. I should mention that I've never done anything like this before. But I think I understand more or less how it needs to be done. It doesn't actually seem like there are a ton of exotic locations that need to be accessed. Below is a pin-out schematic:
http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/att...fter-hub-replacement-abs_connnector_c1057.gif
There are 16 pins that are used. But if you break it down, 8 of them are for the wheel sensors, which are easy. Two are ground, two are always hot, one is hot in start or run. Also, I don't know exactly where the best place to get those is, but I can certainly get them from any number of locations. The three hot wires should have an appopriate size fuse inline. That only leaves three more wires: The brake on/off switch, an ISO link (not sure exactly where that goes), and the ABS light indicator. My thought on the indicator (tell me if you guys think this is crazy) is that since I can't be 100% sure if that light even exists in my dash, and I also don't want to have to start tearing apart the whole dash, I was just going to take a cheap LED from ebay and run the wire from that pin to (and ground from) that LED, which will serve as my "ABS indicator light." I can place it anywhere I want. And the cool thing about this job is presumably initially when I wire in battery, ground, and the LED light, the LED light will go on, because the system isn't functional. And presumably as soon as the system is fully wired up correctly, the light will go off, indicating it's wired properly. I wonder if an ABS light would be tripped because of no brake lines or fluid in the unit, or if the module could successfully self-test "dry." (I looked at a list of all DTCs for the ABS system and none of them had anything to do with brake lines or pressure; they were all internal to the system components, sensors, etc.)
I will pull the connector itself from the donor car, and do my best to trace the wires to where they go, and pull the wires also if I can. At the end of the day it seems like the only truly mysterious location to me is the ISO link.
In another thread some people suggested it would be necessary to pull the PCM and who knows what else from the donor car. As mentioned I know little about this topic, but I'm seriously doubtful if that is the case. It does not seem that the ABS needs the PCM or vice-versa, although there is clearly back and forth communication about the DTCs or the ABS system's "readiness." What I'm wondering is, does the PCM really "care" if ABS is suddenly installed in a car that didn't previously have it? It seems to be a totally autonomous system. People do take ABS units from junkyards and install them in their car, although granted those cars had ABS previously. I own a pirated VCM Ford scan tool, which is supposedly capable of "flashing" PCMs with new modules or whatever (not that I really know exactly what that means) so is it reasonable to assume that either nothing will need to be done, or that this "flashing" would be sufficient?
So if I have correctly covered the basics (which I'm not sure if I have; please fill me in if I'm totally wrong on something) this job basically entails: Having four tone rings, four wheel sensors, running appropriate brake lines, finding an appropriate mounting location for ABS, and locating the correct wires or locations to run new wires in order to get the connector together. And possibly "talking" with the PCM.
Any thoughts?? I know some of you will think I'm nuts, but I like the idea of this kind of project, so humor me....plus besides for the knowledge and insights that people on this forum have, it's nice to have some moral support as my wife and friends probably think I'm crazy and don't understand the appeal of taking on a challenging project that doesn't seem to promise spectacular results (other than hopefully a working ABS system and new brake lines at least).
I am attempting this for three reasons: 1) Because I prefer having ABS on my car (if I didn't it would be kind of a silly project). 2) Because on my "parts car" that has the ABS system but got totalled I had literally just reinstalled the electronic module from the ABS after having sent it out and paid like $70 to get it fixed and it feels like a waste. But 3) which is the most important reason is that I like a challenge, and this feels like an appropriate level challenge, somewhat daunting but hopefully not beyond what I can handle. I know some people will say they think ABS is stupid/unnecessary, or that I should just buy a car with ABS etc etc, but let's just move beyond that please and focus on the topic at hand. Meaning whether you think the project is worthwhile or not, let's just stick to how to accomplish it.
I am hoping to use this thread as a sort of sounding board as the project develops. I will throw in the thoughts that I have and where I am holding in it, and hopefully can get some feedback from those who are interested and who are more knowledgeable than myself (which is probably many to most of you). I don't think it will be completed too quickly, but this site is great for fleshing out ideas over time. No pressure to get involved for any who don't find the topic interesting.
Anyway, my starting point is I know that I have a parts car with working ABS. I plan to pull the module of course from the vehicle. I will simply cut the brake lines at the fittings and carefully remove them to hopefully reuse them. I will use Cu-Ni line and I have a cheap bubble flare tool that I have used successfully in the past. I will have to run entire new lines for the car, should be a total of 8 runs, two going in to the ABS, four coming out, and then the rear lines go through a control valve before the wheels. There is no rear prop. valve on a wagon. I will replace all lines, as the rear ones on the donor car were for drums anyway, and I may relocate the ABS unit. Plus I WANT new lines... I should add at this point that part of my reasoning for doing this project is that I kind of wanted to run new brake lines anyway as they are old and rusted, so it's kind of useful work anyway in that sense at least.
My current car already has axles in front with tone rings. I don't have rear hubs with tone rings, but those are cheap to buy, either new aftermarket or used OEM (don't think they go bad too often?). I have pulled the front two sensors already. I can pull the back two also, although there is a little bit of confusion, as Rock Auto lists the sedan and wagon as having different rear ABS sensors; I'm not exactly sure why. The donor car is a sedan, so hopefully I can still use those sensors, if not I'll have to buy new ones for the back.
So that covers brake lines, sensors and tone rings. I think the only other major "component" of this job is the wiring. I might add at this point that it occurred to me that since I am doing this job from scratch I can really install the ABS unit wherever I want, i.e. wherever I can find a convenient work space that doesn't block other important stuff. My wife even joked I could install it in the car interior which is technically true if I could find an opening to run brake line in there. I just think that running the lines and wires would be much easier in an "easy to work" location, perhaps underneath the back of the vehicle somewhere? I would just have to find a way to mount it, not a big deal. Does anyone know a reason that the brake lines going in to the ABS should be short, and close to the MC? I wouldn't think it matters; on my Suburban the ABS unit is under the car like halfway back or so. The only obvious and glaring inconvenience of moving the location significantly would be the wiring. (Edit: Now that I think about this further, I don't think it would make sense to move it very far from the engine compartment for another reason: the rear lines need to go through a "control valve" after the ABS but before they go to the rear wheels. So would be kind of crazy to run them from the MC to a distant ABS then back up front again and then back again. I need to go peek inside the hood though, because maybe this control valve itself could be easily relocated as well?)
So speaking of wiring, it's not my area of expertise, but I know a bit about it. I should mention that I've never done anything like this before. But I think I understand more or less how it needs to be done. It doesn't actually seem like there are a ton of exotic locations that need to be accessed. Below is a pin-out schematic:
http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/att...fter-hub-replacement-abs_connnector_c1057.gif
There are 16 pins that are used. But if you break it down, 8 of them are for the wheel sensors, which are easy. Two are ground, two are always hot, one is hot in start or run. Also, I don't know exactly where the best place to get those is, but I can certainly get them from any number of locations. The three hot wires should have an appopriate size fuse inline. That only leaves three more wires: The brake on/off switch, an ISO link (not sure exactly where that goes), and the ABS light indicator. My thought on the indicator (tell me if you guys think this is crazy) is that since I can't be 100% sure if that light even exists in my dash, and I also don't want to have to start tearing apart the whole dash, I was just going to take a cheap LED from ebay and run the wire from that pin to (and ground from) that LED, which will serve as my "ABS indicator light." I can place it anywhere I want. And the cool thing about this job is presumably initially when I wire in battery, ground, and the LED light, the LED light will go on, because the system isn't functional. And presumably as soon as the system is fully wired up correctly, the light will go off, indicating it's wired properly. I wonder if an ABS light would be tripped because of no brake lines or fluid in the unit, or if the module could successfully self-test "dry." (I looked at a list of all DTCs for the ABS system and none of them had anything to do with brake lines or pressure; they were all internal to the system components, sensors, etc.)
I will pull the connector itself from the donor car, and do my best to trace the wires to where they go, and pull the wires also if I can. At the end of the day it seems like the only truly mysterious location to me is the ISO link.
In another thread some people suggested it would be necessary to pull the PCM and who knows what else from the donor car. As mentioned I know little about this topic, but I'm seriously doubtful if that is the case. It does not seem that the ABS needs the PCM or vice-versa, although there is clearly back and forth communication about the DTCs or the ABS system's "readiness." What I'm wondering is, does the PCM really "care" if ABS is suddenly installed in a car that didn't previously have it? It seems to be a totally autonomous system. People do take ABS units from junkyards and install them in their car, although granted those cars had ABS previously. I own a pirated VCM Ford scan tool, which is supposedly capable of "flashing" PCMs with new modules or whatever (not that I really know exactly what that means) so is it reasonable to assume that either nothing will need to be done, or that this "flashing" would be sufficient?
So if I have correctly covered the basics (which I'm not sure if I have; please fill me in if I'm totally wrong on something) this job basically entails: Having four tone rings, four wheel sensors, running appropriate brake lines, finding an appropriate mounting location for ABS, and locating the correct wires or locations to run new wires in order to get the connector together. And possibly "talking" with the PCM.
Any thoughts?? I know some of you will think I'm nuts, but I like the idea of this kind of project, so humor me....plus besides for the knowledge and insights that people on this forum have, it's nice to have some moral support as my wife and friends probably think I'm crazy and don't understand the appeal of taking on a challenging project that doesn't seem to promise spectacular results (other than hopefully a working ABS system and new brake lines at least).