Hi all,

looking at a real nice w124 wagon 250TD that's for sale. It runs real good, quiet, no rust to speak of but...

Before test driving I noticed the ABS light does not come on when turning the ignition key, and when driving it doesn't either even though there seems to be something wrong with the system. When almost at a complete stop, the last few meters the pedal reacts as if it's slipping in snow or something. the kinda "pushing" of the pedal you get when the ABS kicks in.

Anyone know what this is? Is that a difficult fix, or a known issue? I'm scared to buy the car when it's going to need a lot of work. I do the work myself, but have never worked on abs-systems.
other than that it's the first w124 I've found thats' not rusted to bits...

Some will disagree, but ABS systems can be disabled if not functioning properly and you don't want to invest the time / money to repair.

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You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime you just might find you get what you need.

One of the wheel speed sensors is defective, dirty, loose, broken, or something.
I have seen this problem many times on ABS systems. I have also seen it happen when a wheel bearing is going out. I used a scan tool or scope to find out which one it is.

Paul

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84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)

I used to have this problem, When I serviced the front wheel bearings with fresh grease and set to correct specification the problem went away.

There was quite some stuff stuck to the ABS sensor and tone wheel - A bit of cleaning up there helps a lot too.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

My 300E had that same issue, would trigger constantly at low speeds. Bearings were good on mine, I suspect it had a bad sensor. I ended up just taking the cover off the ABS unit and removing all the relays to disable it.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

To me ABS is such an important safety feature I would do at least some basic troubleshooting with the wheel sensors before killing it.

I would first try pulling the front wheels and cleaning the sensors. They are magentic and all kinds of crap stick to them.

Then I would hit the yard for a replacement set of sensors. Heck pull the ABS pump and control box too, should be less than $100 for the whole lot.

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The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

kent has a video up on this exact issue I think.. Might be worth a look

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2004 F150 4.6L -My Daily
2007 Volvo XC70 -Wife's Daily
1998 Ford F150 -Rear ended
1989 J-spec 420SEL -passed onto its new keeper
1982 BMW 733i -fixed and traded for the 420SEL
2003 Volvo V70 5 Speed -scrapped
1997 E290 Turbo Diesel Wagon -traded for above
1992 BMW 525i -traded in
1990 Silver 300TE -hated the M103
1985 Grey 380SE Diesel Conversion, 2.47 rear end, ABS -Sold, really should have kept this one
1979 Silver 300D "The Silver Slug" -Sold

ABS is only helpful on heavy cars in my experience. W126 and W124 it does a good job, on little cars like the W201 not so much, it just reduces braking control and promotes longer slides in the snow. I have it disabled on my W201 for that reason and its much more pleasant.

Also, no system like ABS is a good substitute for the right tires for the conditions. ABS with all seasons will pale in comparison to No ABS and Snow tires etc...

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

so weird, the guy selling it test drove it himself hitting the brakes a few times pretty hard and the problem went away. The car has been sitting for a while, maybe some dirt or what not got stuck?

Not a fan of any extra unit that involves electricity in a car myself. It usually breaks at some point...

I accidentally tweaked a sensor mount on a VW Golf once when I was replacing the struts and it created a problem just like this. I went back and looked at all the sensors and one was much further away from the tone ring than the others.

I think the gap is only supposed to be about 1/16".

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250