salimshah

A friend of mine was working on his truck and pointed out that the magnets on the rotation sensing unit had accumulated metal filings over the years. There was no malfunction, but the bridging formed by the metal was definately reducing the pickup.

The above makes technical sense, but I have not bothered to locate and clean the magnets. Any one else has done this or can point out exactly where the magnet(s) would be in the RX.

Thanks

Salim

thomas1

I have cleaned the sensor on the ABS wheel speed sensor on the left drive axle. Next time I rotatate tires I am going to clean the rest... and Yes there was some metal debris on the sensor.

Lexmex

I will take a look this weekend at this. I give me vehicle a pretty brisk wash underneath and in the wheel wells, but it would be interesting to see what is there.

thomas1

Now there is a speed sensor somewhere on the axle, I wonder if that is what he meant? That is one that I have not looked at.

Lexmex

Well, the ones I have been seeing on the net are known as ABS wheel speed sensors and from what I see they can get some magnetic filings. I heard probably 1 mention of this before a long time ago, but will have to take a look in the manual and see if there is something else that could also accumulate.

salimshah

We may be stuck in terminology ... in essesnce it will be a rotation sensor ... magnet on the rotationg part and sensor on the fixed ... and this information can be used to interpret speed.

This sensor should take part in ABS and VSC operation. So it has to be on both front wheels. I am not sure if in RX the speedo is connected to the same set of sensors or to the transmission (typical).

I am too lazy to crawl under to search for it. I was hoping some one knows exactly where it is.

Salim
ps: Wash may not remove metal stuck to the magnet unless the jets is very strong ... which by itself can cause damage. I hope no damage is done in this exploration :^)

thomas1

The speed sensors on the front wheels are for ABS only I believe. Mine were quite dirty (8years old) but are easy to remove and clean.

Lexmex

Salim,

Don't worry I don't think any damage will occur. Will take a look this weekend and see if I can fire off a few photos.

Lexmex

Here is the one on the front, right side. It uses a 10 mm wrench to remove.

Note also the back of the tranny cooler on the left side of the picture

Lexmex

Here is the one on the rear left side. On the AWD, like the one in the photo, the 12 mm nut is on top, but in the FWD version, the rear sensor has the nut on the bottom, and both are located in the same area whether AWD or FWD. The FWD uses an o-ring.

salimshah

Thanks Lexmex:

From the pictures, the set up looks pretty tight and it seems pretty unlikely to get metal accumulation.

Salim

thomas1

There is a gap on the axle to the toothed gear... debris can come through that area, or even from the front or rear bearings....