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ABS + Brake light on dash?


tdauria
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Alright so heres the story:

I was having a bad morning and it was wet outside on my commute to school. So I (yes, i know irresponsibly) downshifted from 3 to 2 at somewhere around 25mph around this turn and threw the back of the car out a little bit to relieve some stress. Everything was fine except i noticed my ebrake and ABS lights turned on while the tires were spinning. When i straightened out they both went off and everything seemed normal (lights were on for about 1.5s). Anyone have any ideas what would cause this/if i have anything to worry about? The brake was all the way down and i'm fairly certain i dont have abs since ive easily locked the wheels in wet weather before with no sign of anti-locking magic or the light coming on. I wasnt on the brake or the clutch, only the gas when it happened.

 

95 pathfinder 5spd XE

94 pathfinder inst. cluster because the guy who sold it to me sold me the car said the speedo wasnt working and all i had to do was swap in the extra cluster that came with the car (it was the speed sensor not the cluster though)

Ive put purple LEDs in place of the stock cluster illumination bulbs a few months ago and everything has been working fine since.

 

Any input greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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ABS + BRAKE light means you're low on fluid..when they came on for that short amount of time, it sloshed the fluid around enough to make it think its low on brake fluid. :)

And IIRC all WD21's came with ABS. But only for the rear tires, same for HardBody Trucks. Hope this helps!

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And IIRC all WD21's came with ABS. But only for the rear tires, same for HardBody Trucks. Hope this helps!

 

I can't speak for the 4WD Hardbody, but my 2WD Hardbodys have never had rear ABS. My 94 had a load sensing valve, which I promptly removed because the truck was lowered.

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I agree it's because of low brake fluid (temporarily, in your case). When I bought my Pathy, both these lights were on and went off as soon as I topped off the brake fluid.

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Ah, that's why I said I wasn't sure..I mean I remembered seeing a HB in the JY having ABS and assumed they all came with it. Sorry about that! :-P but I've never seen a WD21 without ABS?

Edited by NissanNismoZ
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If you really want to, there's two ways. The ABS module mounted under the frame around the passenger side..or remove the drover seat and look for a big black box (it'll have a cover over it) and it'll say Nissan on it. That's the ABS computer

Hope this helps!

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since you have an ABS light, I'm sure you have ABS. pathfinder's were R-ABS only, and the module is on the passenger side frame rail, around the B pillar location. If your brake fluid is low, and you don't appear to have any leaks, it's probably time for new brake pads.

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Yep, I've done what you've done numerous times driving around my college campus (hard left turns going into steep hills.. want as much momentum as I can get!) and both lights come on. It is just your fluid. Take a look under the hood and see where it's at. If you're halfway or less, add some. Like others said, it was just that the fluid sloshed around enough for the sensor to trip. No worries.

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  • 2 years later...

Sorry for bumping this post. I was wondering would this happen if the rear brakes were in some way seized? I guess what I am asking is if it is shoes can it be the rear shoes that cause this issues with the fluid being low? I will be honest I have to change the front ones however when I took the pathfinder in for tires the fellows at CT mentioned that my rear brakes were seized. It wasn't until after they did the tires that I noticed the light (I know that it has nothing to do with the tire replacement or their skills) I just wonder if that could cause my lowered brake fluid? Also could the fluid be getting burned off by the brake heat in the rear drums if they are seized?

 

Just trying to get an idea of the full problem before I start taking stuff apart...

 

Thanks for this thread and again my apologies for bumping such an old post.

 

Edited by MrEviLDeD
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  • 4 years later...

The brake reservoir is sized for the brake system. If there is no leaks, when the fluid gets down to the minimum level, the brake pads are worn down to where they should be replaced. The fluid level sensor is a simple float with a magnet inside. When the float gets close enough to the switch at the bottom of the reservoir, the magnet will close the switch, turning on the brake warning light. When there is abs and stability control systems, those lights will turn on also because the low fluid level is indicating that the brake system requires service. That said, the floats tend to turn on the lights a bit early, I suspect it is because the average driver will ignore it for a while. That has been my experience as a mechanic anyway, people tend to put things off until forced to deal with the problem. Usually it gets more expensive as well. All the 90 to 95 WD21s for North America had rear ABS. A primitive system, but it does work as long as the brake systems are functional. 

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