Ford Edge Brake Issue 05 12 2018
When I talked to the dealer he said
that on rare occasion it could be the ABS control module and that
could be a 2 to 3 thousand dollar job.
The ABS control module relies on
sensors that are located in the wheels. They are electric. And they
sense wheel speed.
ABS means Antilock Brake System.
The car has a towing setting that can
be changed from the dashboard. When you turn off traction control it
makes the car run with better mileage. Traction control must sense
how fast the wheels are spinning individually via the ABS system.
But when it is turned on it appears that hydraulic fluid is being
pumped to the brake pistons and keeping them tighter and therefore
less mileage.
In effect it must be putting a drag on
the rear wheels and stress on the brakes.
*****'
Trailer length from rear axle to where
the hitch is located is a key consideration in buying a boat towing
vehicle. Why? Because boat ramps are often very shallow slanted.
Meaning that you have to back further into the lake to get the boat
to come off the boat trailer.
The Ford Edge has a short distance from
the rear wheels to the trailer hitch ball.
So it means the brakes are more exposed
to water than they should be? And therefore more prone to rusting.
And when that piston rusts it seizes. Causing overheating of the
brakes if not complete locking of one of them.
Also the sensors that sense wheel speed
become more likely fouled due to water? And that sets the wheel
speed sensing coordination off.
So the traction control and ABS system
works to apply and take off pressure to the individual wheel brakes.
So what would make one wheel cylinder
tighter than the other? If it was being sensed that that wheel was
spinning more. There would be more fluid applied to the piston
there. Or indeed it could be the ABS control module is defective and
that is a 2-3 thousand dollar job.
Can the ABS control module be
programmed via the dealer computer?
Can it be programmed wrongly? So that
constant pressure is being applied to one of the brakes and therefore
not making your car last as long? Or indeed making you believe it
won't last as long and therefore selling it to buy a new one? I
believe that New Car Dealers are guilty of this kind of activity.
So if indeed you disconnect the battery
for a day will it erase this programming?
Probably not a bad idea to try.
That or always turn off the traction
control so that the ABS system is not activly applying pressure.
The intended purpose of the traction
control system is to balance the wheels via the braking system when
one tire isn't gripping or is slipping. It is designed therefore to
detect very minute changes in wheel speed from one wheel compared to
the other three.
Could active applied pressure mean that
a caliper is more likely to warp? Yes. Causing a Caliper piston to
not come out straight? And therefore stick? Because a wedge is
formed in the surface of it over time?
So you drive a long ways and back the
car with the boat on the trailer into the launch. You hit that
emergency brake which activates the piston via a lever. Can you warp
that piston/caliper by doing that? Can the internal piston emergency
parking brake be bent crooked in this manner?
The same thing that causes a brake line
to malfunction could also cause the ABS control module to fail?
Will disconnecting the battery and
always manually disabling the traction control via the dashboard
setting fix the problem?
It might alleviate it. But that wheel
still needs a new caliper, which I indeed ordered.
Also there is a way to check the wheel
speed sensors.
***'
Can the FBI or another Gov agency send
a radio signal to your cars ABS Control module causing one of the
brakes on it to lock up? Very funny that I was going fishing to
Illinois once and as soon as a I came to the border my right rear
brake started to squeak. In a car that came along side of me was a
young man, white collar, presumably talking on his cell phone and
leering at me.
Because the Traction Control is on by
default and because it makes the gas mileage a lot worse than when it
is off it means that it was likely defective from the very start.
And if they are all that way it means there should have been a
recall? That and the door shut sensors were bad from day one and the
dealer was unable to fix it from day one.
© 2018 Thomas Paul Murphy