Bleeding the ABS unit on a 1996 Ford Thunderbird

Vehicle

1996 Ford Thunderbird LX 3.8L

It has the Teves MK IV ABS system with traction control.

 

Symptoms

I've been having a problem with my brakes for a few years now. The rear brakes don't have enough braking power. When I took my car in for safety inspection, the brake bias was way too far forward, meaning the fronts did most of the braking, and the rears barely did anything.

The other problem was that if I pressed hard on the brake pedal, I could get it to go all the way to the floor. If I did a panic stop, I could almost get the wheels to lock up on dry pavement, but this would require lots of pressure on the brake pedal. I was worried that I would have to press too hard in an emergency situation.

 

Attempt 1

So I replaced the master cylinder and bled the brake system. That didn't help at all. I was considering replacing the proportioning valve, but didn't because I suspected air in the ABS unit because of the excessive pedal travel.

I activated the traction control while bleeding the brakes. I activated the ABS in the snow, then bled the brakes. I bled the brakes again. Nothing helped.

 

Research

So I turned to the internet and the service manual. Both sources said that I needed to get my hands on a T90P-50-ALA tool. I didn't have the $300 that they wanted for one on ebay. So I found some wiring diagrams and a pin-out diagram. These were really helpful, but I still made a couple mistakes along the way. Hopefully you don't repeat my mistakes.

 

Attempt 2

This was a near disaster. I blew a fuse trying to hook up power to the ABS valves. I was connecting to the wrong end of connector C-104. Basically, I connected power to pins 3 and 33 of the ABS module without the ABS relay being activated. When the main ABS relay is not activated, it connects pins 3 and 33 to ground. Connecting power to ground is not a good thing. Something had to melt. It's a good thing there was a fuse between the battery and my connection to ground. 

After recovering from that mistake, I thought you run the pump with all the valves activated. Well, that made the ABS motor make an awful sound. I hope I didn't damage it. After putting it all back together, it still wasn't fixed. I was not having a successful day.

The ABS module is located in front of the front wheel on the driver's side. Here's a picture with the inner fender removed and the wiring harness detached.

 

More Research

Then I took a look at the hydraulic diagram. I realized my mistake. By closing the inlet valves, I blocked the path of the brake fluid from the pump, preventing it from circulating. (See dead head definition.) If I activated only the outlet valve, then the motor could circulate brake fluid, leaving the air bubbles in the reservoir. The inlet valves are normally open, while the outlet valves are normally closed. When you activate either valve, you change the state (open to closed, or vice-versa). Activating the valve is done by grounding the appropriate pin on the connector to the ABS module. 

This is an ABS diagram similar to my Thunderbird, but it doesn't have the traction control valves in the diagram.

 

Attempt 3

Here's the approximate procedure I used to bleed the ABS unit on my Thunderbird without the help of the T90P-50-ALA tool.

1. Remove the front driver's side wheel, remembering to implement all safety precautions.
2. Remove the inner fender.
3. Disconnect the wiring harness from the ABS control module. You pull on the metal clip and rotate it up to the top. Then lift the connector to remove it from the module.
4. Ground pin 34 to activate the main relay. This makes power available to the valves.
5. Ground pin 15 for twenty seconds to run the ABS motor.
6. Ground pins 2, 21, 36, and 18 to activate each wheel's outlet valves, one at a time while the ABS motor is running. Don't run the motor for more than 60 seconds. Maybe run each valve for 5 seconds each.
7. I'm not sure if you're done at this point if you have traction control. But here's what I did next.
8. I hadn't found a hydraulic diagram for the traction control part yet, so I opened both rear dump valves (pins 18 and 36) with the ABS motor running while I activated pins 37 and 40, one at a time to run fluid through the traction control part.

I was really hoping this worked. Unfortunately, it is mostly the same. But it was enough to get it to barely pass the brake skid-pad test at inspection.

 

More Research

I found this diagram on the internet. It looks like this is the traction control version for FWD (still not my RWD version, but maybe close enough to figure it out).

 

 

Only the outlet valves are normally closed. The inlet valves and the two special valves for the traction control are normally open.

When the traction control is activated, the special valves close to prevent the ABS unit from applying pressure to the  front brakes.

I'll probably have to work on this again to pass the next annual inspection. So here are the next two possible solutions I'm going to try.

Bleed one-way valves

Activate both traction control valves and dump valves for the back wheels while pressing on the brake pedal to bleed through the one-way valves.

Close the inlet valve and compress the caliper piston to bleed each one-way valve on the inlet valves. Do this for each wheel.

Bleed pressure relief valves

Activate both traction control valves and the ABS pump.

Hopefully this fixes it. I don't see a way for the $300 bleeder tool to bleed the one-way valves if there's any air stuck in them. So I don't see a point in spending the extra money if there's a chance it won't solve my problem. Inspection is coming up, so if the brakes don't pass this month, I'll be updating this post soon.

Changing Spark Plugs and Plug Wires on a 1999 Mercury Cougar V6

The old Cougar developed a misfire. Sometimes when I hit the gas, it would hiccup or go chug-a-chug, especially if it was below 2000 RPMs. It would also lose power when starting from a stop, so it seemed like I didn't know how to work the clutch right. I bet my kid was wondering why I couldn't work the clutch right. Once, the check engine light started flashing at me when I didn't let off the gas while it was misfiring. At night, in the dark, without any lights on, you could see blue rings of electricity going up and down the spark plug wires, especially when I revved the engine.

Cylinder 4 (front of the engine, front of the car) had some misfires counted up on the computer when I scanned it. Also, the O2 sensor #1 on bank 2 (same side as cylinder 4) was taking longer to warm-up than bank 1. I figured I'd just do plugs and wires together. But before I could get to it, the check engine light came on for P0420, catalyst efficiency below threshold.

I decided on a set of NGK wires and NGK Laser Platinum spark plugs. I was going to try the NGK laser iridium plugs that had an iridium center electrode with a platinum tipped ground electrode, but RockAuto.com was out of stock. I really like the performance of double platinum plugs, so I'm still happy I got the Laser Platinum plugs.

Judging by the wear on the old Motorcraft spark plugs, I'm guessing that they were in there since the car came from the factory. If the plugs were original, then the Motorcraft wires on the car were probably original too.

The new plugs were pre-gapped to 0.044". The old plugs were worn much wider.

I measured them with a ramp gauge after I took them out.
Plug #1: 0.075"
Plug #2: 0.071"
Plug #3: 0.067"
Plug #4: 0.092"
Plug #5: 0.089"
Plug #6: 0.089"

I was a little worried about cylinder 6 after it was still tight when I turned it 1/8th turn, so I squirted some WD-40 down the hole and turned the plug back and forth until it was a little looser, before backing it all the way out. This is just one of those things I do by experience. When you're loosening any bolt and it stays tight, or gets tighter, don't continue loosening it. Work it back and forth with WD-40.

Here, you can see the plugs from cylinders #4, 5, and 6 had about twice the gap they should have. I normally wouldn't post about such a routine job, but I had to show you the huge gaps on these plugs.

The new spark plugs are threaded longer, but that just means they fit more cars. Since there's no washer on these (just a tapered seat), the spark plug box recommended 1/16 turn to tighten them.

Before installing the new plugs, I put a little anti-sieze compound on the threads. This should prevent the new plugs from binding and damaging the threads the next time they need to be removed.

Before installing the plug wires, I put dielectric grease (included in the plug wire box) on both ends of the plug wires. This will keep moisture out, and also prevents the plug wires from gluing themselves to the plugs.

Even though it's a sideways V6, getting to the back three cylinders wasn't too bad. The worst part about the job was that it was freezing cold outside.

Now that it's done, it's really nice to drive without any misfires.

How to Fix a Westinghouse LD-4680

Our friends were given a 46" LED LCD TV that didn't work. The previous owners were watching TV when it just turned off. It sounded like it was worth a shot to try and fix.

With the TV plugged in, there was no LED, no beep, no picture, no signs of life. 

When I unplugged the power supply from the TV, it measured 19V as it should. I grabbed an old 19V Dell laptop charger and plugged it in to the TV and the green light on the power supply turned off. I figured the TV was shorting out the power supply.

So I checked the internet and found that a common problem was the LED ribbon cables short out. I went straight for the common problem, hoping nothing else was wrong. This was one of those lucky cases. Here's how I did it.

Take the stand off the TV by removing the six screws. If you're following along, I hope you have enough sense to lay the TV flat before removing the stand.

Remove the back, by removing the screws around the perimeter and the two screws near the I/O ports. Slowly lift the back cover, being careful because the cable for the buttons is attached. You can peel off the tape and unplug the wire.

The five screws along the top row are machine thread screws. Also the two screws next to the inputs are machine threads.

Remove the small metal panel (centered between the two speakers) by removing four screws.

Remove the screw holding the remote sensor to the front bezel. Then remove the front bezel (the front frame around the entire TV).

Remove the 15 clips that secure the front glass in place.

Remove the screws that secure the plastic trim pieces on the sides and bottom.

After removing the bottom plastic strip, you can see the LED bars and the ribbon connectors on the edges, one on each side. The usual problem is a short between the ribbon cable and the aluminum light bar frame. 

I left the top plastic piece in there because I didn't want to deal with all the LCD panel connections. But I removed the side and bottom black plastic strips.

I lifted up the panel, including the plastic sheet at the bottom and unscrewed the LED light bars using a right angle screwdriver. I used the speakers as spacers to hold up the display panel.

You can disconnect the ribbon cable by flipping the socket's black lever up, then sliding the ribbon cable out of the slot. This style of connector is commonly used with this type of ribbon cable. I then cut and attached black electrical tape around the edge of the light bar.

Carefully re-insert the ribbon cable and flip the black lever closed to secure the ribbon cable in place. Then screw in the light bar and it should look like this. I had to peel the cable off the frame to get a little more slack to screw in the light bar.

Here's a quick power-on test before re-assembling the TV. It works, so it's going back together.

Here's the TV connected to a computer as a monitor. There are a few LEDs not working on the bottom left. It looks like a connection problem. I'm not very motivated to take it apart again. Allow yourself about two to three hours for this repair if you decide to try it.

Fixing My Car With a Little Help from Above

I've rebuild a couple power steering pumps because it's so much cheaper to buy the rebuild kit and it usually isn't hard. But this time, I probably should have bought the remanufactured pump instead. It would have been worth spending the extra $35.

My new-to-me 1999 Cougar had a leak, so I thought I'd fix it. It seemed like it had an oil leak coming from under the power steering pump. I took the belt off, and was having trouble getting the pulley off the pump because the engine mount was in the way. Time to get serious. I pulled out the coolant reservoir, jacked up the engine, removed the engine mount, power steering pulley, and the cover plate over the power steering pump.

Disconnecting the power steering hoses made a mess and I couldn't tell where the leak was anyway. So I put it back together. I made a bigger leak. This time it was running down the side of the engine and was obvious that the shorty pressure tube had a bad o-ring. No kudos to Ford engineers this time. Instead of being able to just put a new o-ring on, I had to buy a new $5 part for $25.

Teflon o-rings? Really, Ford? One-time use and that's it. Destroyed. They don't even fit right brand-new. Time for teflon tape instead. Apparently it works just as well.

After a few days, I was still smelling oil burning on the exhaust pipe. Since the power steering fluid level seemed a little lower than I remembered it, and the pump was wet with oil, I figured I'd rebuild it. It shouldn't be too hard.

This time I went straight for the coolant reservoir first, then the engine mount, and then the belt, pulley, and cover plate on the power steering pump. It was much easier this time. I figured I'd be done in an hour. My wife is used to my time estimates for working on cars. She doubles my estimate, and then adds another 50%. I figured that sounds better than saying she triples it.

After a quick look-over on the pump, it was obvious I had to remove the circular clip on the back of the pump. After a half-hour of trying to pick at it, I managed to rotate it and see the hole in the side. If I'd only read the instructions . . .

Poke the pick through the hole and voila! I popped the back cover off and proceeded to take it apart. Then I got to the little clip that holds the shaft on. I figured a pair of 45 degree needle nose pliers should do the trick. I heard the clip go bing! ting ting ting. [Don't ask me to do the sound again.] Okay, it must have landed somewhere on the other side of my table.

After looking around on the floor for a minute, I figured this was going to be a lost cause. I'd have to take a trip into town and waste two hours to buy a 25 cent clip, if they even had the right size. It was time to ask for help. Please, God, if it's your will, please help me find that clip. I opened my eyes and saw it sitting down inside a bracket on the lawn mower deck. Wow. I don't think I've ever seen such a speedy answer to prayer. 

I replaced the two o-rings inside the pump, the one on the back cover, the front seal, and aligned all the parts back together. It was kind of a pain getting the insides lined up and back together. I must have taken the back off at least four times trying to get it back together. The kit didn't have a replacement teflon ring for one of the plugs, so I used an o-ring. I think it's holding, but I'm not sure. I could have left it alone and been fine.

On the pressure hose, I didn't want to totally squash the new teflon o-ring, so I didn't tighten it all the way down. That was a mistake. Although it wasn't leaking when I put it back together, it was by the next day. I made another oil mess on my driveway. I tightened the pressure hose fitting until it stopped. Apparently the teflon ring isn't what holds the pressure in. Maybe it's just to keep dirt out.

Right now, electric power steering sounds really nice. There's no fluid to leak out. I still don't know if I fixed all the leaks.

How to Build a GPS Navigation PC in Linux

For this project, I used my old Acer Aspire One D257 netbook PC and a
GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS receiver (or see the GlobalSat web site)

The total cost was only about $35, just the cost of the GPS receiver.

Brief Overview

1. Install a Linux operating system.
2. Install gpsd, xgps, and Navit.
3. Copy /etc/navit.xml to ~/.navit/navit.xml
4. Download a map from openstreetmap. Copy to ~/.navit/maps/yourmap.bin
5. Edit ~/.navit/navit.xml 

Software Installation Details

Operating System
For the operating system, I installed the 64 bit version of Lubuntu by writing the .iso image onto a 2GB micro SD card using the USB image writer program that came with Linux Mint 17. Then I inserted the card into a USB card reader and booted the netbook PC from the USB port.

After I installed the Lubuntu version of Linux, I had to play around with the settings in the Lubuntu Software Center so that it would update the available package list. Even then, searches were still agonizingly slow.

GPS Software
Once the software center started working, I installed Navit navigation software.

Then I installed gpsd. It makes it easy to get the GPS receiver working. And it works well with Navit.

I also installed xgps to test the GPS receiver. If you type xgps in a terminal, it will give you the link to install it if you don't already have it.

To test the GPS receiver, the instructions that came with it said to use the following commands:

su root
 
stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 ispeed 4800 && cat < /dev/ttyUSB0

This didn't work out so well, or at all. It works if you split up the second command into two parts. Then you get to see gibberish. That's not a verification test in my opinion.

Here's how you test to see if the USB GPS receiver is working.

1. Install gpsd. If you don't already have it, type gpsd in a terminal, and it will tell you the command to install it. Then you can highlight it and middle-click it onto the command line.

2. Plug in the USB GPS receiver.

3. Run gpsd. But you need to specify where your GPS device is. If you just try the command gpsd without any command line arguments, you'll get this error:

gpsd:ERROR: can't run with neither control socket nor devices

So I used the following command to tell gpsd to look at USB port 0:

gpsd /dev/ttyUSB0

4. Run xgps. Once the red LED starts flashing on the BU-353-S4, it's locked onto your GPS location. You should see a list of satellites and a picture of the sky view. (I had to re-boot my desktop PC after installing the software before xgps showed satellites.) Since I don't want to publicly share my GPS location, here's a screenshot of the program without any satellite data, before I re-booted my computer:

Setup Navit

Download a map from the navit planet extractor. It uses maps from openstreetmap.org
Zoom in on the map area you want to download, then under map controls, click select. Then click on Get map! It will download the file to your Downloads folder.

Create a folder called maps in ~/.navit/
(The folder will be created after you run Navit for the first time.)
Rename your map file to something like UT.bin
Move your map file to ~/.navit/maps/

Edit navit.xml
Copy /etc/navit/navit.xml to ~/.navit/navit.xml
You can use this command:

cp /etc/navit/navit.xml ~/.navit/

Use gedit to edit ~/.navit/navit.xml

Search for openstreetmaps and it will find this section:

<!-- If you dont want to use the sample map, either set enabled="no" in the next line or remove the xml file from the maps directory -->
        <mapset enabled="yes">
            <xi:include href="$NAVIT_SHAREDIR/maps/*.xml"/>
        </mapset>

        <!-- Mapset template for openstreetmaps -->
        <mapset enabled="no">
            <map type="binfile" enabled="yes" data="/media/mmc2/MapsNavit/osm_europe.bin"/>
        </mapset>

Change it to this (changed text is in bold).

<!-- If you dont want to use the sample map, either set enabled="no" in the next line or remove the xml file from the maps directory -->
        <mapset enabled="no">
            <xi:include href="$NAVIT_SHAREDIR/maps/*.xml"/>
        </mapset>

        <!-- Mapset template for openstreetmaps -->
        <mapset enabled="yes">
            <map type="binfile" enabled="yes" data="~/.navit/maps/UT.bin"/>
        </mapset>

Save your changes to navit.xml.

Run Navit
You should be ready to run Navit now. If you have your GPS unit plugged in and xgps shows satellites and your location, Navit should start with your map loaded and your GPS location circled.

Click on the map and it will disappear and show you a menu.
To navigate, click on actions, then click on town.
Type in the town you want to navigate to. Click on the suggestion.
Then click on Streets. Type in the street name. Click on the suggestion.
Then click on House numbers and type in the house number. This step never works for me. So hit escape or click the green check mark to go back.

You can add it as a bookmark or set it as a destination. Adding it as a bookmark is good if you don't want to enter it every time. Since the house numbers feature isn't working for me, after I click "set as destination", it plots the route on the map, but ends up at the wrong place on the right street.

I haven't yet actually used it to navigate, so I'll probably update this post soon.