I bought a 1993 ranger a couple of weeks ago which had the ABS and brake warning lights on. I was not sure if the system was worth fixing, so it was a low priority.

A week after I bought it the front calipers siezed up so that they would not release the front brakes fully. I replaced the front calipers and flushed/bled the system. When I got the rears to bleed them there was no fluid flowing or pressure reaching the rears. No rear brakes is a problem, so now I know I need to do something. The first thing I did was to clean all the electrical connectors, everything looked good, no signs of corrosion.

I checked pressure / flow at the rear of the RABS valve and find that the valve is the restriction. I removed the valve and found that the valve would flow fluid from the outlet of the valve to the inlet of the valve, but not from inlet to outlet. From what I have read on the forums it should also flow from inlet to outlet. I tried spraying brake clean and compressed air through it to no avail. I tested the valve with an ohmmeter and it tested ok. Since I was at the point of buying a new valve for 184.00 I thought I would try something.

I flipped the valve upside down and smacked it with a hammer where the mounting tab is attached to the valve body. The fluid then flowed in both directions. I blasted it out with air and brake clean and ran brake fluid through it a few times. It kept locking up on me, so each time I would tap it with a hammer and it would free up. I kept doing this until it would not block the flow any more, it took about 4 times, each time I would get a bit more crud out of the valve.

I then removed the cap/spring and plunger assy and blasted more discolored brake fluid out and cleaned it up. I then bench bled it and installed it on the vehicle. After the cleaned valve was installed the rear brakes bled normally.

On the test drive I locked up the front several times and there was no ABS light and I could feel the RABS system pulsing as it should. The vehicle has approx 200 miles on it now with several harsh test stops over a period of 4 days and the light has stayed off and the RABS system and rear brakes functional.

If the RABS system quits working, I wlll make another post in this thread.

Disclaimer: If you try this and end up dying in a flaming ball of ranger fire, it's on your head.



-REJ

__________________
Stock. 3.0L, 5spd.

I might try this after I check some other simple stuff because my lights are on and brake pedal is soft, and the last time I bled my brakes I had some issues getting the rears to flow!

__________________
White '99 Ranger 4x4, 3.0, 5 spd. Torsion bar lift, 32x11.50 BFG All Terrains on Ion Alloy 15x8 rims, Custom Magnaflow turnout exhaust, K&N drop-in air filter, Cobra Super 19 mini CB, Sony Audio system and custom white dash trim, Air horns, throttle cable mod, airbox mod, manual hubs mod, 200k miles & PAID FOR
Rangers > Jeeps!