well last night my abs unit started to do the buzzing thing, I tried tapping the relay but that didn't help so I just un plugged the thing so it would stop and not run down my battery.
now I've driven it with it disconnected and seems to brake fine.

Is this something thats ok to do or do I need to get this replaced asap before I get total brake failure?

not really concerned with having abs brakes so if its not going to hurt anything I'll just leave it unplug.

 

With the relay unplugged the ABS will not function but the brakes will work the same as long as you don't lock them.

 

good

the car only has 59,061 ,I wonder if thats normal for it to fail so soon.
Granted the car is 11yrs old.

 

the abs sensors are frail, they break liek everythign else on our old cars. ABS is for women, learn to drive your car like a man. youll be fine.

 

"ABS is for women, learn to drive your car like a man."

well.....

If you can get enough practice threshold braking to be really good at it, and you never have to make an emergency stop, you can brake without abs almost as well as with it. I've been on the track (instructing HPDE's and racing)for quite a few years now without ABS, so I think I'm reasonably skilled in that regard.

However, when a deer jumped out in front of my (non-abs) street car in the rain while I was doing 45 mph, I still locked the brakes up and didn't modulate out of them before I creamed the deer (and my car). I don't know for sure that I would have stopped in time with abs, either, but I wouldn't have locked up the brakes and would have had a better chance. I have also had several friends hit antifreeze or oil on the track in the braking zone after a long straight tell me that the abs is the only thing that kept them from wadding up their car.

So....

IMHO - threshold braking is a valuable skill that is worth learning. However, on the street, ABS provides a significant safety improvement. Sure, you can drive without it just fine - heck, most cars didn't even have abs 15 years ago. But I'd really feel stupid if I balled my car up when all I needed was to replace an ABS sensor. My philosophy is to take care of things you have some control over - there are so many ways out there to get you or your car hurt that you don't have any control over.

YMMV

 

And by the way, Barban - what's with the excess testosterone? Most of the women I know in motorsport are damn good drivers.

 

This is going to seem like a REALLY stupid question so bear with me. Are all 93 models supposed to have ABS? Because mine definately did not.

 

All 93-95 rx7s had abs standard.

 

ok this is a serious problem and maybe i should have known this but the dealer who sold me my car said they didnt and theres no abs light that told me. Especially since i was just in an accident.

 

Macdaddy
I think its more than a sensor I'm sure but I think its the relay thats on the side of the ABS unit, and I might be wrong but I think the whole abs unit needs replacing.

and on a side note my '87 FC had no abs and I drove that year round in Silverthorne, CO which has snow about 7 months of the year, and drove the car for 8yrs so I'm somewhat familiar with driving cars without ABS. (but by no means am I a race instructor)
so I'll be careful , hopefully a deer won't run out in front of me on the 10 freeway in SoCal.

 

the ABS sensors at each of your hubs are probably covered like crazy in magnectic bits and stuff.... simply take off one of your wheels... look at the toner wheel behind the rotor... youll see it, its a toothed ring around the whole hub with a small magnet in front of it. If there are alot of magnetic sheddings and things on it... the rest of your wheels are probably like that too. This are one of the main reasons why ABS doesnt act right or at all. Just spray a bunch of brake cleaner on the magnet and toner wheel until all the little bits are off. If you do all four wheels... you may need 2 cans... or even 3

 

Thanks for the info I'll try that

 

Barban, were you 'driving your car like a man' when you wrecked it? I'm not sure I trust your advice.

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/wreck-371495/



I once blindly followed someone's advice of "disable ABS" because it's "just better that way." Then a national champion autocrosser drove my car and his comments were along the lines of:"Why did you turn off the ABS? Turn it back on, it's better than skidding!" So now I'll blindly follow Tom Berry's advice, because he's won more championships than the guy who said to disable it.

-s-

 

Sure I can threshold brake very well when I'm at the track and have absolute concentration on nothing but driving the car to its limit. When it's 7:30am and I'm driving to work with the radio on thinking about what I need to do after I arrive and some idiot scares the **** out of me by bolting out of a driveway it's much nicer to just be able to slam on the pedal, steer the car and not worry about locking the brakes. Especially if it happens to be raining at the same time.

Anybody anywhere who drives their car mostly on the street and claims eliminating the ABS is a performance mod of any type is completely ignorant of reality. Oh, but they are much better drivers than average they say. In fact they claim to be excellent drivers! I don't care how good you are, you will make far fewer mistakes with ABS than you will without it.

 

P.S. ABS saves your life and your car ESPECIALLY in the rain. It saved my car last week from bapping into an 18 wheeler which doesnt give a **** about anyone else on the road. I ended up a few inches from that trailer bumper thing in the back. If i didnt have ABS id probably wouldnt have my Apexi PFC i just got. And the DP and MP im about to buy. With only owning my car for 6 months... im SURE there will be a few more moments to come where ABS will save my car.

 

have you tried pulling the relay and then reinstalling it at a later time?
I had a similar problem.I pulled the relay and then reinstalled it a few minutes later.Back to normal.

 

I did the "unplugging the relay and reinstalling it" and it worked I have ABS brakes again.