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ON MY 1991 XJ, MY BRAKE PEDAL IS SUPER FIRM (LIKE HOW THE PEDAL IS WHEN ANY AVERAGE CAR IS NOT RUNNING) . IVE REPLACED EVERY FUSE/RELAY THAT GOES TO MY ABS, BUT STILL NOTHING. ANYONE KNOW ANY FIXES TO THIS?
IF I DISCONNECT MY ABS FUSES AND RELAYS WOULD IT BE LIKE A NORMAL BRAKE SYSTEM? IM TRYING TO GO 4 WHEELING THIS WEEKEND AND ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!! THANKS!eace:
as long as you dont have the Renix system you can pull the fuses, even better is to pull the pump and use a zj prop valve in place of the cherokee abs prop valve. but its a bit of work, you can pull the fuses and be fine.
and is this a new to you xj? did the problem just start one day? all it says is its a firm pedal... usually soft is a problem, not hard. My pedal has abs deleted like I said above and its only soft for about 1/4 of the pedal movement then gets pretty firm, but it stops like a champ, is it a problem to me? no...
yeah it started after i bottomed out in a mud hole.. i just got this one in july and took it out 2 times.. i has a 90xj before this without abs and never had a problem.. now that ive been readin forums, i gues these jeeps with abs are nothing but a nightmare... and honestly i dont know what abs system it has, but ill try pullin the fuses and seeing how that goes.. thanks alot
well, you may want to figure out which system you have BEFORE you pull fuses, because I cant remember the renix break years and i know it was around 89-90-91... if you disable it with renix you will have zero brakes...
The renix system has a big pressure ball that looks like a black softball on the driver side firewall
and breezi to reply to ur first post, my pedal is so hard that i have to literally stand on it to get it to stop... its like i have zero booster or something idk its ****ed up man. everyone i talk to says they have never heard of a problem like that,
it doesnt have a booster, all it has is that black abs ball thing... ive never dealt with this kinda shit before with brakes so im totally at a halt.... someone mentioned maybe my abs sensors inside my rotors are dirty? could be the problem since it started after i was buried in a mud hole....lol
that could be, if one sensor is screwed up/disconnected, then it's going to think that wheel is skidding and cut at least that brake. my buick would do that when i had a ripped wire at the sensor. i pulled the abs fuse and it stopped fine. not sure how that would work on the jeep, but i would guess it might be similar.
Id go through and trace your wires for the abs to make sure one isn't torn or shorted, clean around the sensors and maybe pull the sensors themselves and give em a scrub.
That's a good step one, everything from there is going to be a pain in the ass.
It's not your sensors, and no amount of pulling fuses will bypass this problem and there isn't a quick easy fix if it's a bad pump. 1991 xj's with ABS have a high pressure pump mounted under a bracket that is at the right rear of the engine compartment, against the firewall. This pump supplies extremely high pressure brake fluid to the accumulator (softball looking thing). This is what the system uses instead of a normal vacuum actuated booster. It sounds like you either have a problem in the 12 volts getting to the pump, or the pressure switch that actuates the power to the pump, or maybe you got mud/water in the DC motor that runs the pump or the pump just decided to choose that time to go. The good news is that if it is the pump, the pump is a life time recall repair item. You can take the Jeep to any Jeep dealer and have it replaced free of charge for the life of the Jeep. Don't take any crap from them, they HAVE to replace it free of charge.
warlock, ive been doing some research and thats probably what my problem is... i work with 2 guys who are ex- ase certified and they said thats more than likely it if its not something silly like a fuse or relay (which its not)... my jeep is a strictly offroad jeep only though, with it being all dirty under the hood and stuff do u think they have any rights to refuse to work on it? thanks alot for your post, this might be the problem solver if its a lifetime recall..
yes those anti lock systems did have a recall order. and yes it is very difficult to get the dealer to replace EVERYTHING in the system. they will only replace SOME of the parts, and you will need to pay for others for a complete system. but why bother? the system is going to fail again leaving you with NO brakes when needed. just like your pedal is right now. what you need to do is replace the system with either a WJ booster/ master, or use a 95/96 XJ booster/master. i went the 95 route. you will also need to get the pedal assembly from the 95/96 doner as your ABS pedal will not lighn up with the booster rod. it is an pretty simple swap and will give you much better braking power. get rid of that anti lock system NOW. go to the junk yard and get the system from a 95/96 with double diaphram booster, it pedal assembly, and the proportioning valve with the short hard lines that connect it to the master. you will find all the needed fittings salvaged from the antilock system because you need to remake a couple hard lines. so get a double flare tool aswell.
thats probably what i will end up doing, but im on a short budget right now and need something quick and easy before friday lol. no bypassing of some sort to have manual brakes would work?
no. the only brakes you most likely have right now are the E-brakes. thats what i had to use to get my jeep around untill i replaced all the antilock system. i went to the junk yard on half price day and got the booster/master for $16. the pedal assembly was even less. all in all i think i did the swap for around $29. i did allready have a double flare tool though, but you may be able to rent one for cheap at autozone or the like. the passenger side brake line (hard line) would be a plus to grab from the junk yard because your antilock system uses peiced together lines on that side. possible to use but one line would be better. it took me about 4 hours to do the swap. i HIGHLY recommend you to NOT drive the jeep with the seized antilock system. you basically have no brakes. and nothing will make them come back, even temporarely.
Well, I wouldn't say that you have "no" brakes. With the pump not working, it will be just like having a vacuum booster system with the booster not working, only a little harder. Don't get me wrong, it's a real bear to drive, and I wouldn't suggest driving it any more than you absolutely have to, such as going to your Jeep dealer. I have a 1991 Cherokee also and this happened to me about 4 years ago, so I know what it's like. I will be doing the 1996+ conversion also but it seems like the fastest way to get your system fixed is to drop it off to the dealer. Although I would first go to a self wash and power wash the Jeep and especially the engine compartment. And it's free.
And no, there's no way to "disable" the system. Your pumps gone, it's already disabled. This is what "manual" feels like with disc brakes. That's why they come with boosters of some kind.
The only way to "disable" the system is if your system is in working condition (read "good" pump), you can disable the "ABS" part by pulling the small fuse in the power distribution center in your engine compartment. This will disable the ABS part but will allow the pump to work as intended and act as the master cylinder power booster. It will feel like normal power brakes. I've been driving mine like this for a couple of years and it works fine.
i have a 91 with the bendix 9 as well i can tell you from experience that its not that bad of a swap. I used all pre 96 parts and that actually required more modification than the 96 and up would. go to a junkyard and pull the booster, prop valve and MC from a 96 and up cherokee or the correct zj part. the brake switch is already a 96 style so no mods there. It is well worth it.
yes those anti lock systems did have a recall order. and yes it is very difficult to get the dealer to replace EVERYTHING in the system. they will only replace SOME of the parts, and you will need to pay for others for a complete system. but why bother? the system is going to fail again leaving you with NO brakes when needed. just like your pedal is right now. what you need to do is replace the system with either a WJ booster/ master, or use a 95/96 XJ booster/master. i went the 95 route. you will also need to get the pedal assembly from the 95/96 doner as your ABS pedal will not lighn up with the booster rod. it is an pretty simple swap and will give you much better braking power. get rid of that anti lock system NOW. go to the junk yard and get the system from a 95/96 with double diaphram booster, it pedal assembly, and the proportioning valve with the short hard lines that connect it to the master. you will find all the needed fittings salvaged from the antilock system because you need to remake a couple hard lines. so get a double flare tool aswell.
This is my vote for best answer. 91's have an early model Bendix system (not Renix). There is not an unboosted backup system - you can end up with no brakes. Diagnostics were faulty and it had failures early into it's life. While some components were under recall, expect to pay more for the dealers likely unsuccessful attempt to fix it than you would to replace it with the 95/96 system as described.
Thanks everyone!! I called my local Jeep dealer yesterday, and they doing the diagnostics on it right now and replacing the abs pump, lines, and anything else thats wrong with it free of charge!! I've learned alot about this POS abs system, and i'll have a lot more experience and knowledge the next time this DOES happen..Cause we all know it will.... Thanks again everyone!
eace:
