ABS light on intermittently

[Bluemill]

We have a 2001 SE with 112,000 miles. The ABS light goes on intermittently, i.e. once it's on it stays on until the next key turn, then it goes off, and you may not get the issue for a day or two after that. It seems to be more common when its wet. There is plenty of brake fluid, and shoes and pads look to have a lot of wear left on them.

I'm from New England, so rust is really setting in. All heat shields from the exhaust system have rusted off years ago. Without actually pulling wheels off and looking at wheel sensors, I'm guessing I have a chunk of rust contaminating a sensor, or I have a wire that's got a crack in the insulation causing a sometime short.

Any experience with this issue?

Thanks,

Bluemill

[Towncivilian]

Next time you see the ABS light come on, perform the self-diagnosis procedure described on page BR-41 of the factory service manual.

Have you ever had the brake fluid flushed?

[xswamperx]

I had the same problem on my 97. Sounds similar to what I went through. Everything checked out on it. It was a head scratcher for sure. As I was reading thru my Chiltons on everything ABS..One little sentence solved my problems. The speed/wheel sensor on my passenger side had somehow broken loose. I could literally pull the wire out of its housing behind the wheel. So I stuck the wire back in the housing and gooped it up with a hardening agent. Been 4x ing alot since then and still have no problems. I don't know if its your problem but hey, check it out it could be. Another indication that it could be it is by watching your speed and seeing if the speedometer maybe stays stuck in position or maybe say your doing 70-80mph, and you look down only to see your speedometer says 50. Best of luck hope this is helpful.

[Bluemill]

I followed the directions from the 2001 FSM, but now my car won't start, and it's putting out 5 MIL codes: P1490, P00446, P1610, P1612, P1131, and P1111. Before grounding the #9 point I had no codes, and the car started in a second, every time. The diagram for the OBD connector on page BR41 is inverted compared to the actual position of the connector on our truck. As a result, I grounded out the opposite corner connector of what I should have. The trapazoid plug is upside down vs. the picture on page BR41!!

What do I do now? I think I'm really in trouble on this one!

HELP!!!!

Bluemill

[Bluemill]

Correction: that second code is P0446 not P00446.

Bluemill

[zach7685]

OK i just had the same thing happen Check ur security light it might be flashing all the time. Check all your fuses twice... it burned one of them out. DONT try to start it all the time of the car will ignore the key..... Warning to all. Make sure your year apply s to the fsm.

[zach7685]

I dont know witch fuse it was but i had it towed to the stealership as I thought it was immobilizer related. they said it was a fuse.

[Bluemill]

Thanks Zach,

I'll check the fuses, under the hood and dash. The car is parked in pouring rain now so I'll gather as much info as I can before trying to fix it. Anybody know if there is a list of codes for the 2001 Pathfinder?

Best,

Bluemill

[Bluemill]

Happy to say that Zach's hunch was dead on. My fuel injection fuse under the dash was blown. Replaced it, tried clearing codes with my reader AND with disconnecting the battery for 1 hour.

Gave it a crank- Nothing! I still had 4 out of the six codes from before, and I was about to call the toe truck.

Then I remembered the direction from the original diagnostic for the ABS, which said read the codes, but do not touch the brake pedal. I said what the hell, it may have something to do with it- and tried it. Instantly the engine roared to a start!!!

So now I'm back to the ABS issue. If someone could comment on the position of the point on the OBD II connector to ground, I'd appreciate it. Look at page BR41 in the 2001 FSM. The top diagram points to point 9 on the OBD connector- but is that inverted compared to what your truck has? In my truck, the wide side of the equilateral trapezoid is up. In that diagram on page BR41, the wide side of the trapezoid appears to be down, totally relocating pin position #9. You can get to the PDF for the Factory service manual in the moderator's first response to this thread.

Best,

Bluemill

[zach7685]

Most likely system went into OMG HE IS STEALING ME! mode when it didnt crank. Glad you got it working. Which fuse number was that if you remember?

[Towncivilian]

EC-653 has a better diagram of the ODBII data port.

[Frontier11]

Hello everyone,
Lately my 01 Path is been acting weird. Running fine, however, sometimes the radio sound moves front front to back and at the same time ABS light comes on. The car runs good, but if there is something that is going to fail, I'll like to fix it before it becomes more difficult and expensive. Any inputs on this will be very helpful. Thanks

[Towncivilian]

Please try the ABS diagnostic described on page BR-41 of the factory service manual.