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ABS problem and a broken sway bar... Oh what a fun day

R

ronmexico

New member
So I managed to track down my long lingering ABS problem..... the sensor wires were completely broken in the harness tube. While I was poking around there I looked over at the sway bar and the top part of the bar was broken off (see pic).

I guess I have a sway bar replacement to do now as well. Anyone done this? Is it a big deal? It looks like a pretty simple job.


The ABS wire harness is a interesting story. I thought was going to be a straight forward splice new wire in job. But as I got into it, I tried stripping the green wire and the copper wire inside the insulation would just disintegrate as I stripped it. I keep moving up and up the wire harness trying to find good wire and it keep disintegrating as I stripped it... Literally the copper wire would crumble to dust. I got as far a the wire underneath the oil pan and still the wire is totally shot. Interestingly, the orange wire was completely fine.

So I think I am just going to replace the wire all the way up to the ABS connector. Any recommendations one what kind of wire I should use?


IMG_0250Small.JPG



Thanks...
 


If I were you id just go up to the abs module. Then you know its good and you'll only have to do it once. Had to do this on my 04 fortunately for me we didn't have to go that far up. Just my 2 cents.
 
Thanks for the tips.... Looks like I have a fun Saturday of car work ahead of me :-)

Re:Sway Bar.... does it come it pretty easily? i.e. once I've unbolted everything (bushings et al) will it just slide out (with some manipulation I'm
sure)?
 
I find that it'll go out one side as long as the car is about 1 foot off the ground. A tip for you. If you lower the rear two corners of the subframe 2-3 inches..you'll have that baby out in half the time. Cause the bolts will be easier to do.
 


Just wanted to close the loop on this in case anyone may benefit....

I replaced the sway bar in my 2003 GP GTP this weekend. Getting old sway bar out and new one in was a pain. I didn't have a problem removing the bolts/bushings, I just couldn't manipulate the old bar out.....so I unbolted the 2 rear subframe members. That gave me an extra inch or so and I was able to *just* get the old bar out.

No matter what I tried, I could not manipulate the new bar back in place (Dorman)... I guess it was slightly different in its bends etc. So I had to remove the tie rod from one side and that allowed me to get the bar in place.

Removing the tie rod ends wasn't an easy task either. Since they original to the car, the bolts were pretty rusted. No amount of PB blaster let me get the nut all the way off. I got the nut most of the way off, then just decided to whip out the reciprocating saw (cut off wheel would have been nicer) and cut the bolt off. I decided to just go ahead an replace them. I figured they were original, pretty cheap to replace and I needed an alignment anyways - so it was good timing to just do it now.


So if you take on this job, be prepared to remove a tie rod end....and possibly replacing them. Air tools (ratchet & impact) make the job easier but shouldn't be a problem for a trusty socket set.


I also replaced my plugs and wires, which is another story but I didn't have a problem actually getting my big hands on the rear plugs - just took some coaxing/force to get the wires off..... not sure why people unbolt the engine and rock it forward... I can't see it making that much difference.


Next adventure is to replace a burnt out bulb in the instrument cluster (which means I will replace them all). I am afraid what that is going to entail :-)

Good luck and thanks for the tips....
 
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