Good day fellow audi enthusiasts!

Recently, during sudden motions of the car over bumps and when accelerating, I would get the intermittent blinking abs light and then it would go away. This happened with increasing frequency over a period of a month or so. Finally, one day, ABS came on and stayed solid with a blinking brake light. Braking seems completely unaffected. Small amount of smoke from right rear brake one time after highway braking but pad is full thickness so I guess I have a sticky caliper.

Well, I grew up driving a 5 liter ford mustang in the winters of new england so there is nothing ABS really gives me that my driving skills cant already cover. I would just as well disable ABS and make the light go away and go about my business.

I tried fuse pulling (all 3 of them) to no avail. I tried unplugging the main harness from the ABS module. No good. Still have the light. I was wondering if the light is an LED or a bulb. Is there any way to make the warning go away?

 

if you mess with the ABS both lights will stay on. the only way to make the lights go away is to get rid of the bulbs or fix the problem.

 

Depending on your year you have either light bulbs or LEDs.. I believe the split is for years greater than 96 you have leds, and earlier you have bulbs. If you want to get rid of the lights you would likely have to remove the LED by unsoldering it from the board. There isnt any other way around it, the instrument cluster looks for communication to the ABS computer, and doing any of the above that you did will **** the instrument cluster off that it cant communicate with the ABS computer.

 

Darn...so I will need to actually fix the problem? =(

I like to keep my car running 100% but I would rather not spend a lot of money fixing an option I would just as well ignore.

So can a stuck caliper set off the ABS alarm?

Would an ABS warning light prevent me from passing inspection?

 

A stuck caliper wouldnt set the light off unless it damaged a wheel sensor. With the symptoms you described (the combination of a abs and flashing brake light), its likely a bad ABS computer that can be fixed around 100 bux i think.

 

How can I verify?

The caliper is NOT stuck. It does release. I went in last night and pulled the wheel. It definitely smelled a bit burnt back there but the pad was full thickness. Plus, when I drive and apply the brakes, I can hear that "whooooooooooo" dragging brake sound from the right rear only which stops when I get off the brake. Thus, it is not stuck shut and does retract when I am off the brake.

So 2 years ago, I bought a VAG cable that plugs into the ECU port and has a USB interface on the other side but never got around to getting a laptop to use it with. Today, I bought a 30 ft USB cable which should let me use my home computer to run the software. I am not sure what I should download now. There used to be a sticky.

If it is the ABS ecu, where can I send it?

 

It is the the abs control module without a doubt.

http://modulemaster.com/en/index.php

There are cheaper places if you search, but moduelemaster has a good rep.

 

What does one of those rebuilds usually cost? If I pull the module, can I still drive the car? Shokan has them for $285. Would a rebuild or a replacement be a better idea?

I am also noticing the hooooooooooo dragging sound from the rear brake now when I apply the brakes. Maybe this is because I am listening for it. It does release when I step off the brake but the right rear is the only one making noise. The pad looks fine. I am not sure if replacing the caliper is the right move.

 

I think most people do the rebuild... pretty sure it's like $250

It says on their front page that they don't just refurbish, but they correct the design - sounds good to me

Maybe the noise is a wheel bearing? I dunno

 

$250? Sounds good then.

Will the brakes work with the module removed? I'll just pull it tonight.