Single axle truck, DT 466 engine. Found out that there wasn't a bulb in the socket, now I know why. The light won't turn off. I didn't find a fuse in the cab labeled ABS. Anything simple to check before I have to take it in for service?
I may be mistaken, but I believe the indicates the ABS system being active (i.e., the lack of the light indicating a problem). We have two Freightliners and an International and the ABS lights are always on.
Umm... No. ABS light signifies you HAVE an issue. More than likely a wheel sensor is bad. Find the info for your particular system, and it should tell you how to troubleshoot them with a good multimeter.
Zucker is right you have an issue with abs. Check the connections on the cables going to the wheels also. More than likely a sensor got pushed back from the tone ring on a wheel. Sometimes grit can get caught in the tone ring and knock the sensor back, mainly in winter. The front axle is easy to check you can tap the sensors in real easy. The rear wheels and drums will have to come off to check those sensors. Truck Shop
Three trucks all with ABS lights on. DOT inspections, an inspection by the DOT and even an engine replaced by the dealer no one has said the lights should be off--even the state DOT.
ABS light definitely means the system thinks there is some kind of problem. Generally the codes are pretty easy to get and simple to troubleshoot if you know electronics. However there are about 10 different models of ABS out there so getting the codes can be quite different. The reason the lights are on in all those trucks is that ABS is so darn troublesome it seldom seems to function correctly for long and nobody cares enough about it to do anything because the brakes still work the same way they did for 50 years when the light is on.
Up here where road salt gets used a lot I would bet that 1/2 the ABS lights are on in any vehicle over 5 years old. As stated everyone ignores them and drives as they always did. Another forced law helping to dumb down the population by keeping them from learning how to drive on ice and snow. Dealers charge about $400 a side to replace and fix here. Probably has a lot to do with bulbs being removed.
Reread my post... I only stated that an ABS light signifies a fault. How you deal with it is your problem. Me, I fix mine. Seems like Check engine lamps and ABS lamps that are on all the time put drivers into a complacency mode that I refuse to allow. YMMV.
Push all the wheel sensors against the tone rings. Light should turn on briefly at startup and immediately turn off. If it stays on there is an ABS fault and ABS braking is disabled. I am ASE Master Heavy Truck and International Diamond Certified.
Are the brakes air or hydraulic? If air the module should be mounted on top of the rear relay valve. it has a row of LEDs on it that tell you what the fault is. If it Hydraulic there is a way to get blink codes from the module or it can be scanned. As a previous poster mentioned make sure the wheel sensors are pushed in. The fault code on the air system has to be cleared to put the light out. Drag a magnet across the side of the module that has the LEDs to clear it. Terry