I purchased an 2000 RX300 for my kids and have a problem concerning the Antilocks. When I brake and I'm almost to a complete stop, the antilock system is activating for a second. Its very annoying (somewhat like my wife)and I have been told it is problably the Axle sensor gear. If that is the case has anyone been able to methodically diagnose and pinpoint which axle is the problem. I am hoping I don't have to see the MAN (aka dealer).

 

The brake system has a diagnostic port [which is also used in servicing at shop] used by the man. On your own you can start by cleaning the sensor.

Salim

 

Thanks Salim, cleaned the fronts, not the rears yet. Its seems most everyone says (gees what bummers)that just does'nt work. I tryed to have NTB diagnose it for me, but they did'nt have the brake diagnosis tool. I wonder who besides the dealer might have that?

 

If you don't have a ABS or TRAC light on, there are no codes to retrieve. Here is a quote from the service manual: "If ABS or TRAC OFF warning lights flash or stay on constantly,
retrieve Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC). See USING ABS WARNING LIGHT
or USING LEXUS SCAN TOOL."
Also I bet the only place you will find the Lexus scan tool is at the dealer. But the manual does give a procedure for retriveing codes by jumpering some pins and reading how many times the ABS light flashes. But then again, I don't think you have any codes to retrieve. I could be wrong but that is what the manual seems to indicate.
Be careful cleaning the sensors. I have never heard of anyone fixing your problem by cleaning the sensors. But I have heard of people causing additional problems while attempting cleaning. You most likely have a cracked sensor ring which is part of the axle shaft and a expensive repair. Many have had the same problem and it always seems to be the sensor ring.

 

Hey Mikey, you are exactly correct, in that I don't have a light on and probably have no codes to retrieve with a scan tool (darn..that would be to easy though), unless the ABS stores codes without a indicator light (doubt it). That being said, do you think I have to visualy inspect every axle to find the culprit ring? Thanks for some great info Mikey.

 

Dont confuse the CEL [OBDII scanable] with the brake system controller. The OBDII is a standard protocol to diagnose typically emission issues [some manufacturers have expanded set of information].

Brake service/diagnostic port is Lexus proprietary [that is why you can not have it read from other places... don't even know if Lexus sells it, but who would want to buy the reader].

For brake issue, I understand if something is wrong the ABS light would come on. NOTE: ABS light can come on for things not related to brakes as well.

Salim

 

No confusion here. The Lexus scan tool gets plugged into DLC1 port to retrieve OBDII codes and gets plugged into DLC2 port to retrieve Lexus proprietary ABS codes. If you don't have a Lexus scan tool to read these proprietary ABS codes Lexus provides a procedure in which you can jumper pins and count ABS light pulse to retrieve code.

 

I don't know the method to determine which sensor ring is causing the problem. I would go to the "search this forumn" pull down menu at the top of this forumn and search on "ABS". You will see many others have had this exact same problem and some good troubleshooting info is in their posts. You could pull the "ABS fusible link" in the fuse box, which will eliminate the annoying activation until you are able to complete repair. Your RX will then operate as a car without ABS and the ABS light will be on. If you decide to do this there is a trick to pulling the fusible link (it is bolted in from the back).

 

Hey, I just wanted to thank you guys for the insight and info. I will try your suggestion on the forums Mikey. Yeah the port for the ABS scanner is actually under the hood, don't have the car right now but saw it when I purchased it. I may pull that fuse to stop the agg factor (wish she had a fuse to pull).