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2004 Maxima ABS issues Forums > > 2004 Maxima ABS issues 2004 Maxima ABS issues
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  #1  
Old 04-08-2013, 08:39 AM
oldvwguy oldvwguy is offline
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Default 2004 Maxima ABS issues

Good morning folks.

I'm helping a friend of mine fix his 2004 Maxima with the V6 and ~95k miles in Omaha, NE that has the typical ABS issues of the 6th generation. I've been reading various threads on this site and I must say, you guys are really helpful and knowledgeable, like many of the folks I've met on the VW centric forum, thesamba. I'm mainly an aircooled VW guy or fixing my own or family members' radiator laden daily drivers. However I did work for a year for my late friend at his import repair shop so I know my way around a vehicle. Anyway here's what I've been doing with simple hand tools and a jack, like I've read in a few threads:


I replaced a bad right rear hub and ABS sensor (per what a scanner diagnosed at a local business) on a 2004 Maxima as per the Nissan TSB protocol. The diagnosis stated the rear wheel bearing was bad and the sensor wasn't reading correctly. This shop/chain wanted $750 to replace the 2 parts. $400 for the sensor and $200 for the hub/bearing with the remainder in labor and taxes. That's a bit steep, so I tracked the parts down online and we got them both for less than the hub/bearing alone. The knuckle was cleaned well and the notch added to it prior to installing these aftermarket parts from Autozone. The plastic dust cap was reused after a cleaning since it wasn't damaged upon removal. The hub bearing was indeed shot and didn't like to turn, while the sensor had a gouge in it from debris. We decided to try it with the new hub and old sensor, but to no avail. So I installed the new sensor as well. I also disconnected the battery for 30 min and pulled the ABS fuse block under the hood that's red with 3 sub fuses inside it to see if I could get the system to reset. I also took out the other 3 sensors and checked them for any damage, they were ok other than a cut left front ABS wire that had been repaired by the shop that scanned the car in the first place. All these things I disconnected were put back to normal after the half hour.

I did call the local Nissan dealer and they told me the rotors could be warped or the calipers bad if the problem continues after doing the TSB. The pads and rotors look decent to my eye, granted seeing a warped rotor is a bit hard with the naked eye but they appear to be ok to me. This was during a lunch break after driving it with the new parts installed before the ABS light came on.

When braking the ABS kicked in leading to a chattering/grinding of the front end indicative of the system malfunctioning prior to replacing the parts. The ABS pump ran for a second or two when the car was turned off previously, now it continues to run for long periods of time post key removal. The ABS lights were not on before these parts were replaced, nor did the computer have and codes stored in it. Now that the hub and sensor are replaced the ABS light on the dash is on intermittently and the car still occasionally does the chattering/grinding like it previously did. We will be trying to go to a shop soon to have the codes read for him. Does this mean the pump is also probably bad due to the persisting problem and continual pump running on after key removal?



Thank you all in advance.
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  #2  
Old 04-08-2013, 11:13 AM
Jacarter220 Jacarter220 is offline
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Those things are really bad about this... when the wheel speed sensors go bad, I've seen them take out the ABS actuator with it. There is actually a bulletin on this issue. The bulletin is #NTB07-016b. you have to grind a hole in the knuckle to allow debris to exit. The debris is what takes out the wheel speed sensor, which in turn takes out the actuator. http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/ba...NTB07-016b.pdf
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  #3  
Old 04-08-2013, 11:44 AM
oldvwguy oldvwguy is offline
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Thanks for the bulletin direct link, I had lost the URL. Luckily I have it printed off and used it Saturday when doing the whole procedure. I didn't have access to air tools or power tools so I made the notch on page 5 with a file and feathered it with sandpaper. There was debris in the drainage hole and in the knuckle as I suspected, but it's all gone now. The sensor killing the module and pump is a shoddy situation. Getting some of the parts off was harder than working on a 40yr old VW from the midwest!
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  #4  
Old 04-08-2013, 02:04 PM
Jacarter220 Jacarter220 is offline
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Basically, from what I understand, when the sensor starts sending weird readings, the ABS actuator starts cycling on and off, on and off, very rapidly, an it overheats and basically kills itself. It's interesting to watch the wheel speed sensor data.... It will just have random little blips... And unfortunately, the module is in the 1000 dollar range
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  #5  
Old 04-12-2013, 01:19 PM
oldvwguy oldvwguy is offline
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This weekend we'll be going to a small shop or somewhere to get the ABS codes scanned. The pump running with the key out killed the battery. That tied to your description of the way the system goes haywire and kills itself means it'll be time to start searching for a module.
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  #6  
Old 04-24-2013, 04:09 PM
bubartribe bubartribe is offline
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Unhappy ABS troubles

Presently having troubles with the ABS in my 2004 Maxima. Had taken the car to a local garage and no codes were showing up and all wheel sensors were registering the same speed(Monday, April 15). Then came home and checked things out on the internet. I disconnected the passenger front abs sensor found below the a/c line. Took what I found back to the garage and set up an appointment to get the hubs cleaned up and the drain holes drilled as stated in the TSB. Found a post that also said not to try to remove the sensors, just to clean them up. The car has 160k+ miles on it.
Before they were going to do the work Monday(April 22), they told me the wheel bearings were bad and should be replaced while they do the work, so I ordered the bearings and just received them today. They are scheduled to be installed next Tuesday along with cleaning up the hubs, etc.
The morning(yesterday-Tuesday) after they advised me I needed new bearings, I went out to the car and heard humming. Started the car and turned it off and the humming went away. The next day, today, my wife told me she heard the humming when she went out to the car for lunch and the humming was still going on when she came home tonight. Have since found out it is the abs pump(actuator?) and have taken out the ABS Meter fusible link to get it to turn off.
What are the chances now that I won't have to replace the actuator? If it is bad, when the hubs are cleaned up, some codes will show up according to the TSB, right? The scanner will also show if a sensor is bad because of differences in speed readings, right?
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  #7  
Old 04-25-2013, 02:34 PM
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mpe235 mpe235 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bubartribe View Post
Presently having troubles with the ABS in my 2004 Maxima. Had taken the car to a local garage and no codes were showing up and all wheel sensors were registering the same speed(Monday, April 15). Then came home and checked things out on the internet. I disconnected the passenger front abs sensor found below the a/c line. Took what I found back to the garage and set up an appointment to get the hubs cleaned up and the drain holes drilled as stated in the TSB. Found a post that also said not to try to remove the sensors, just to clean them up. The car has 160k+ miles on it.
Before they were going to do the work Monday(April 22), they told me the wheel bearings were bad and should be replaced while they do the work, so I ordered the bearings and just received them today. They are scheduled to be installed next Tuesday along with cleaning up the hubs, etc.
The morning(yesterday-Tuesday) after they advised me I needed new bearings, I went out to the car and heard humming. Started the car and turned it off and the humming went away. The next day, today, my wife told me she heard the humming when she went out to the car for lunch and the humming was still going on when she came home tonight. Have since found out it is the abs pump(actuator?) and have taken out the ABS Meter fusible link to get it to turn off.
What are the chances now that I won't have to replace the actuator? If it is bad, when the hubs are cleaned up, some codes will show up according to the TSB, right? The scanner will also show if a sensor is bad because of differences in speed readings, right?
If the pump is running with the car off you are going to need a new one.
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  #8  
Old 04-25-2013, 04:51 PM
bubartribe bubartribe is offline
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Default How do I disable ABS?

So, the moral of the story is that disconnecting an abs sensor isn't going to keep the abs actuator from running and burning up. Unplugging the ABS Cont fuse didn't shut it off either after it started constantly running. I had to remove the Power Window 50A ABS MTR 30A ABS SOL 30A fusible link to get it to go off, but I also lose Wipers, Power Seat, Power locks, turn signals, and I'm not sure what else. Not sure I see that ABS systems are worth the $thousand + this would cost. Is there a way to disable the ABS without getting too many warning lights? Can I cut the ABS MTR and/or ABS SOL fusible links to do so? What warning lights would that give me? What if I remove the connector from the ABS Actuator?
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  #9  
Old 04-26-2013, 11:53 AM
oldvwguy oldvwguy is offline
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Sorry for not updating. My friend is currently saving his money for a used or new pump for his 2004 Maxima. The car will drive/stop but he doesn't use it often. The shuddering is gone when braking after replacing the sensor now, or at least it's less than it was before. The small shop couldn't read the codes caused by the ABS light since their computer isn't fancy enough and they weren't stored in the memory. The pump running on after the key is out is still intermittent, so he disconnects the battery when not driving the car to not run it down. We tried the fuse removal method, but since it's that giant block of them together we didn't want to risk any major issues by driving it like that.
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  #10  
Old 05-08-2013, 01:23 PM
oldvwguy oldvwguy is offline
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Now that the ABS light on the dash is on, we got it scanned at Nissan since the smaller shops say they can't scan the ABS codes. Autozone was able to scan it when we brought it in for a check engine light. Which wound up being due to the battery being continually disconnected. Autozone said now that the light is on the driver rear ABS sensor reads as faulty, either due to a bad sensor or the buildup of rust because of poor hub drainage. The Nissan dealership took 3 hours to scan the ABS code to make sure the pump wasn't bad. They said it was fine and the problem was in the hub and sensor on the driver rear.

So it looks like my friend will be making another trip to the parts store for the hub and sensor. If we don't use them they'll be returned, but if I know anything from working on ancient VWs you should have the spares on hand when you take something apart so you don't have to do it half a dozen times. I'll pull the hub and clean the aluminum first etc etc etc while inspecting the old parts to see if they need replaced.
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  #11  
Old 05-15-2013, 05:09 PM
bubartribe bubartribe is offline
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Exclamation '04 Maxima ABS issues

Just thought I'd share my experience with ABS on my '04 Maxima. About a month ago, my ABS started pulsing during normal braking sporadically. I took it into the local garage the next day and they couldn't find any codes and found that all the wheel sensors were all working(all showing all the same speed.) We noticed that the ABS pump would come on when driving forward without even using the brakes. At first, it didn't appear the pump would come on when going in reverse, but I later found out it would when going a little faster in reverse, again w/o using the brakes at all.
I then came home and found the posts pointing to TSB NTB 07-016b. I took the Bulletin back to the garage and scheduled a service to clean out the rear hubs. In the meantime, I disconnected the front passenger wheel ABS sensor "to disable the ABS system" to avoid my ABS actuator burning up. This is the connector found below the A/C lines near the power steering fluid well on the passenger side of the engine compartment.
When I took the car in to have the hubs cleaned out, I found out that both rear wheel bearings needed to be replaced. That's why the rear end had been making more and more noise for about a year? My car has about 168,000 miles on it. I took the car home to find some more affordable wheel bearings online. I ended up getting some Moog Wheel Bearings(which have been working fine) made in China. I also ordered two new style rear hub grease caps part number 43234-ZK30A to replace the now brittle grease caps that came with the car.
In the meantime, while I was waiting for the bearings, I heard humming the next morning when I went out into the garage. The car wasn't even on. I turned the car on and off and the humming stopped. When I started the car, the belt squealed from the load on the alternator charging the battery. Later that day, I determined that what was humming was the ABS actuator(aka pump or modulator.) It would come on when the car was off. I then found online that when this is happening, the ABS actuator would need to be replaced. Disabling the ABS sensor didn't disable the ABS system and save my actuator after all.
In order to save the battery, I found out I could pull the red 50A, 30A, 30A fusible link in the fuse box near the battery. I first tried pulling the ABS Cont fuse in the fuse box next to the Windshield Washer fluid but that didn't stop the pump. When I pulled the link, I also lost a lot of other things like power windows, remote locking, etc. I ended up cutting the two 30A links in the fusible link to disable the ABS without losing all the other functions. Maybe, I should have tried to snip the middle 30A link first to see if that would have worked without snipping the outer 30A ABS link, too.
So, I waited to get the bearings and see if we could fix the problems in the rear hubs. In the meantime, I bought a new fusible link to use when I wanted to see if the ABS was going to work after cleaning out the rear hub(s). I was hoping they were wrong about needing a new actuator if it stayed on when the car was off. The part number for that link was 24370-C9906.
I had also found that some had ignored the part of the bulletin that said the right rear sensor needed to be replaced when cleaning out the hubs, and they cautioned people to be careful about cleaning things up so as not to damage the rear wheel sensor, so I copied these posts and asked the garage to do the same, hoping to not have to buy any sensors. Just in case, I also found that I could get a rear passenger wheel sensor for $18 including shipping at Brand New ABS Sensor Wheel Speed Fits Rear Right Passenger Anti Lock Brake | eBay I couldn't find any of the other sensors for less than $90 ea.
When I picked up the car from having the hubs cleaned and the wheel bearings installed, I put the new fusible link in and the ABS and Brake lights came on. Something was still wrong. The garage then read the codes and read codes 1124, 1111 and 1110. These were all codes for the ABS Actuator.
So, I went home again and found a used ABS Actuator for my car, '04 Maxima SE w/o Traction Control or Vehicle Dynamic Control, part no. 47660-7Y067 for about $220, a lot less than a new one for over $1000.
When I got that, I took it back to the garage and had it installed to get my ABS functioning again. Took them about 4 hours. It is quite a tight fit and the brakes needed to be bled after disconnecting the old actuator and reconnecting the new. Now, everything is working great and it's nice to have the ABS functioning again for about $450, after replacing both wheel bearings and getting the hubs cleaned out for about $375.
Hope this might help some who may be having similar issues. Maybe, it will even alert others to get their hubs cleaned up and drilled out to drain as it directs in the TSB(NTB 07-016b) before the sensor acts up and burns out the solenoid in the ABS actuator.
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  #12  
Old 05-20-2013, 01:37 AM
bubartribe bubartribe is offline
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Default Still hearing the chattering pf the ABS modulator occasionally during braking

I am still hearing the ABS engage randomly during routine braking, no ABS or Brake lights. Maybe, I still have a problem with a sensor. The right rear sensor would seem to be the most affordable sensor to replace. Hopefully, I will be able to get the local garage to do a code scan and find something I can work with. The closest Nissan dealer is a 6 hour round trip away. If the problem is one of the new bearings, that is going to be almost impossible to pinpoint.
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  #13  
Old 06-28-2013, 01:52 AM
bubartribe bubartribe is offline
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Default Everything is working fine

Turns out, this seems to have resolved itself.
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  #14  
Old 04-12-2017, 07:47 AM
mynissanmaxima2005 mynissanmaxima2005 is offline
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Here is my experience and more information about this ABS problem.

https://mynissanmaxima.wordpress.com/
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