that’s whacked

brakes? i don’t need no stinkin’ brakes…

Monday, Dec 11. 2006  –  Category: Cars

when it rains it pours. after plunking in a bunch of cash to have a room remodeled, and some new hardwood laid down in our master bedroom, and seeing my bank account depleted…. what else should i expect but something in my car to die.

this one manifested itself by way of intermittently flashing my ABS & parking brake lights about twice a week accompanied by three high piercing beeps.

consulting my usual audi mailing lists resulted in a spot-on diagnosis of my ABS controller failing.

doh. i called up a couple mechanics and audi shops… $2000 for a new ABS controller. yikes!

googling around, and fleeing back to the audi mailing lists gave me a pointer to ModuleMaster, who have a good record of rebuilding ABS controller modules. so Sunday morning, i followed these two very good guides:

• bba-reman

• audiworld’s tech article

and spent a total of about 1.5 hours removing my ABS controller.

the only notes i would add are:

• it’s far far easier to remove the pump hose to the windshield washer tank and drain the tank. when you try to be wily and crafty like i did, you only end up having to move around a much heavier tank, only to watch it fall, unplug itself and start draining windshield washer fluid all over the driveway while you desperately try to shove the bucket under the car before the beagles start drinking it all. do yourself a favour: just drain it

• disconnecting the power coupler is not obvious at first. it’s much easier if you slip a flat screwdriver into the gap and leverage it back against the power coupler to slide the pull out. once you have the pull all the way out, then the coupler just pops off nice and smooth.

anyway, my car is still driveable… i just have no ABS. and boy is it unhappy. when i turn it on, i’m greeted by a cacophony of flashing lights and beeps (windshield washer fluid empty, ABS controller failure, brake failure, etc. etc.) which i suppose is to be expected given that i essentially gave my car’s computer a frontal lobotomy.