DIY - ABS relay repair - Fix that ABS light

[mkcurcio]

Fuse for ABS Relay

I saw a couple of people hacking this relay. I think on the side of the relay, it says the fuse value is 7 Amps. I seem to remember seeing it somewhere. My relay has the whole internal schematic of the relay on the outside. I just soldered a piece of wire into the relay, where the fuse wire was, and then cut the wire leading into it, and installed a fuse holder with a 7.5 amp fuse. Seems a lot cleaner, than hacking up the relay cover.

[BMWManiac]

just bumping this up. I have a 90 car (iX), doesn't seem to be a relay under the driver panel, visually inspected the relatys on the ABS pump, and they look fine.

what's the next step?

Bumping an old thread....I have a '91 BMW 325i with my ABS light constantly on and I am having the same issue....cannot find this silver relay under my driver side knee bolster area. Did older models have the relay somewhere else?

[smbstyle]

I'm having the same issue with my newly acquired 91 318is, ABS light is on intermittently. It was on for about the first 400 miles of my trip home, then off for about 50 miles, then on again.... possibly the relay?

[dude8383]

That's most likely an ABS sensor. If its the relay it normally isn't intermittent.

[partner103]

The original link gives me a page cannot be found. :(

[rkhames]

After reading and re-reading this thread and about 15 others online, I absolutely cannot find this relay. I have dropped the ABS computer down and out of the way and there is nothing there. I cant even find anything that looks like the relay would plug into. I've checked under the hood and removed the plastic cover on the pump assembly. There are 2 relays there but, from what I understand, those serve different purposes and aren't the relay I'm looking for. I've looked through my Bentley manual. All to no avail... Yes, the car has ABS :)

Can somebody point out where this thing may be that I haven't looked?

Thanks in advance.

[BMWManiac]

Is your car a '91?

[rkhames]

Sorry, should have posted that. It is a 1989. 325is. I am not the original owner. PO did a stereo job but, not much else. I can only wonder where this relay is. If he moved it, I should be able to at least find the wiring and lead me to it but, I can't see anything remotely helpful up in there.

[Stapes]

Great post.

Hell All,

I did a quick write up on how to repair the ABS relay that always blows. Now you get the ABS light to go out.

Tell me what you think.

Great post Danny.

After owning my firts e30 (1986 325e) for six months I never thought fixing my ABS light would be straight forward. My rely's built-in fuse was burnt (original dated 9/85!!) I'm always amaized at how stock the car was maintained. Went to O'Reilly and got some 8 amp GBC fuses and replaced the wire, problem solved!

I found the rely clamped on top of the bracket holding the ABS.

[rkhames]

It is very weird. I can't find the relay or that wiring loom anywhere under the dash. Is there some other place it might be hidden?

[Seawolf]

Note, late model (89 on) cars don't have this relay under the dash. Later cars have an integral relay on the ABS hydraulic pump, the integral relay does not have a fusible link.

Just done this on my 88iX, I used single core telecom wire to replace the relay internal fusible link and spliced an insulated ATC fuse holder with 7.5amp fuse into the red wire (this is where the relay internal fuse link is connected to), a lot less work than drilling the relay case though this write up was very useful.

Total cost - $7.11c from AZ including a bunch of fuses.

[rkhames]

Seawolf, thanks for the info. I had gone crazy looking for it and just gave up. So, if the relay doesn't have a fusible link, then I just replace the relay?

[Seawolf]

You can get the circuit diagrams from http://www.wedophones.com/BMWManualsLead.htm

I pulled down the 89 is version for reference since you're not alone in fruitlessly searching for this under dash relay on late model cars.

Page 3450-0 (page 42) refers to early production cars, the box in the middle "Over Voltage Protection Relay", you can see the 8amp fusible link.

Pages 3450-2 & 3450-3 (pages 44 & 45) show the later production car circuits. The pump relay is shown on 3450-3 on the right inside the ABS Hydraulic Unit block.

Troubleshooting....I don't know, I don't have a late model car to look at.

If you can pull the relay you could feed it 12v to pin 85 and ground 86 to check that the relay is closing - if it's working you should have open circuit disconnected on pins 87 & 30 and closed circuit when you apply power.

Also check those ground wires (G200) coming out of the ABS ECU, followed by voltage checks on the relay socket itself.

[shoshottz]

yea this thread needs a revive.


shottz.

[driftxsequence]

Has anyone figured out how to repair late model ABS?