1996 Mazda Pickup ABS Light Intermittent

is there a trailer pig tail wired in to the tail lights?

Yes there is a pigtail wired into the main lume that i purchased from mazda



Mazda P/U 1996 mileage: 63.000

[quote:ac47d31df5="MellowMan"]Yes there is a pigtail wired into the main lume that i purchased from mazda



Mazda P/U 1996 mileage: 63.000[/quote:ac47d31df5]

Also i noticed something the other night, when i take off from a stop the brakelight flashes for just a second, never noticed it because i dont drive that much at night.

I seen this pigtail short out and cause the abs to flash or stay on. not saying thats the problem but easy way to find out would be to unplug pigtail. also the wheel bearings if they have alillte more play than they should that will cause the light to come on.

I'll give that a try and let you know the outcome it would be nice to be something as easy as that, im also having what i think is an egr valve problem truck runs fantastic while driving but i come to a stop it idles real rough and its not consistant, i was told that it could be the egr valve and that it might not be opening and closing completly due to carbon build up
thought i might ask if you have ever heard of that problem, i have on some of the ford rangers which is basicaly what my truck is and i can purchase a new one for a ford ranger alot cheaper than a mazda OEM
or even a after market.. that one thing has come in handy for me in the past as far as getting parts.

Thank you very much for your idea's and i will let you know if it takes care of the problem.

Just for a giggle, check the brake fluid level in your master resevoir....if it is near the low line the light will come on....adn since your there, check the connector going into the resevoir itself, the Bseries trucks were famous for rotting out the float level switch and turning on the abs light


Cosmo...Mazda Tech

Nope checked that first off, You where on the pigtail though it did go out when i disconnected it, now i have to figure out away to hook up my gardening trailer so i can pull my tractor around town without getting a ticket for no lights :) i appreciate the help and im still working on that egr valve so i drcided to take it off and clean it with some carb cleaner and see if it helps it any.. wish me luck hehe

Thanks again

Well unfortunalty i jumped the gun and the light was off but this morning sure enough it came back on and i have the pigtail unplugged so the only thing that i can think of is removing the rear tires and seeing if the ABS sensor is stuck on stupid and replace it if neccasary, I know there is a way to reset
the ABS system but this lame manual i have for the truck does not specify where i can find it, so im going to make an attempt to go to a shop here nearby and see if they will tell me where this reset switch is and just maybe it will work, I know its not the brakes because i just redid them all the way around, i take care of my truck like i do my kids and it might be a 1996 but you could never tell that its almost 11 years old, 8) and i am the original owner and i will never sell it, if anything i will hand it down to my son who loves it because of the outragous stereo system i have in it hehehe... if you have anymore idea's for me to try i would greatly appreciate them... take care and thank you

James Evans

Ok first answer. The ABS sensor on the back of your truck is on the top of the diff housing. We have seen a few of these go bad over the years. But what you should really do is find out what code is in your ABS system. There is a way to make the light flash the code by jumping a wire on the passenger side of the truck in the passenger compartment.

PM me for the info

Cosmo...Mazda TEch

Ok i new i was close on that, and i have jumped the brain to get codes from it so ill see what pops up, i wasnt sure if it stored codes on that or not so thanks for that info, and ill get back to you in a few hours and let you know.


Thanks For All The Info!!

One of the most common fault with ABS system occurs at the wheel speed sensors. Remember that the core of thes sensors is a permanent magnet. In the case where an ABS fault or warning light is on, you may very well find that the sensore is covered with metal particles it picked up on the road.These metal particles can cover the sensor, keeping on rather than letting it switch each time it sees a tone wheel or exciter ring vane, In addition ,you also may find that a vane has broken off, giving the ABS computer the wrong wheel speed informationOf course , the mounting pads for the whell speed sensors are prone to corrosion in areas that use a lot of antiskid materials
These conditions can cause the wheel speed sensores to move toward or away from the wheel or ring, causing false signals to occur at the computer
Another common problem of today's system is corrosion and electrical of the cable that run from the computer to the wheel speed sensors.There supposed to be little or no electrical resistance in these wires.
however, there two main methods of getting the data from the ABS computer:
using a scan tool or the flash codes from the ABS warning light on the dashbord

Maybe not i cant see and its telling me to spread the points around so guess u dont get nuthin dude lol i tried..... later :twisted:

Well i did what you said and i didnt find much there at alll, so i went ahead and pulled the EGR Valve and i never seen anything so plugged with carbon in my life
i did try and clean it but no such luck so i threw it and got another one that cost me $42.00 and its all good now but i need to run simething threw the engine and clean it all up and i think ill be good for another 50,000 miles if i take it easy like i always do, so if you can recommend something good to run threw the engine i would appreciate it :shock:

Thanks You
James Evans