When driving it feels like a tire is flat or wobbling. Tires are good, lug nuts are tight but when we removed the front drivers wheel the anti-lock was unplugged. Plugged it back in and now wheels are locking up and brakes going to the floor.....brakes and rotors are good, fluid is full.....any ideas where to go from

 

Could be a bad ABS sensor or wheel bearing on that wheel. BUT I think there's something else that you need to check first. The nut on the drive shaft on the outside at the wheel hub may be loose. NOT GOOD as the wheel hub with the tire attached can come off causing a potential crash. You can tighten it and see if the wobbling goes away. Have it checked ASAP and do not drive it until you can confirm this.

If the nut was loose, the wheel bearing seals are probably damaged so it will need to be replaced soon. The ABS sensor may be chewed up on the end due to excessive movement of the outer axle CV housing.

Did you just buy this car? It sounds like someone has unplugged the sensor to disable the ABS in order to get it to drive properly. If this is the case, you should replace the wheel bearing soon. Inspect the end of the ABS sensor in the wheel hub for damage on the end. If it's damaged, you'll have to replace it. These are sort of expensive if you get a new part. You can probably find a good used one for a lot less. The CV axle is probably OK though but inspect the ABS ridges for damage. If they are damaged from hitting the ABS sensor (or anything else) from wallowing around in the wheel bearing, you'll have to replace it to get make the ABS happy again.

 

Thank you for your reply! Yes I bought the car a few months ago at a buy here pay here used car dealership. I recently blew out the front passenger tire and put on a full size-same exact size spare tire but did not have it balanced or aligned 😕and shortly thereafter this began....I know now that was a mistake and probably(?) caused this to happen. I will have your suggestions checked out immediately and until then it will remain parked!! Thank you again and I appreciate the advice greatly!! My usual mechanics dont know alot about this car and I havent yet purchased a Chiltons. Sincerely, Pam

 

It could very well just be a "square" tire or out of balance. But the fact that the ABS Sensor was deliberately unplugged concerns me. You do not need ABS, as you already know, but it sounds if as someone took the low road and put a Band-Aid on a potentially dangerous problem. The ABS warning light should be showing on the instrument panel plus there should be some ABS related error codes stored in the ECU that can be read by an OBD Code Reader.

Hopefully it's just a bad ABS Sensor and a tire balance issue. If the nut on the end of the drive shaft is loose and the wheel bearing is affected, you should be able to jack up that tire off the ground, grab it and feel a bit of slack in the entire wheel/hub assembly. Definitely get it checked out. Please let us know what you find out.

 

Just dropping in to give you an update. My front driver side tire was 'separated' and the lower ball joints are going bad on the same wheel. Havent been able to get any code readings yet. Got 2 new tires and will be replacing ball joints asap! Thank you for the advice and have a great day!! ☺

 

new tires for now and will be replacing ball joints asap!! Thank you for your help and have a great day!!!! ☺

 

Great. Be sure to let us know how the ABS issue works out.