Hello all,

Figured I'd make an account and ask some questions here since I'm at my wits with my girlfriends 08 Fit.

It all started when she put the car in drive and the driver front axle snapped in half. It was pretty rusty under the rubber puck attached to the middle of the shaft and it looked like it already had a crack. Anyway I was on my way to work at the time and I had to come home to replace it for her so she could get to work. I was in a hurry while replacing it since I was already late and tore the wire clean off the ABS sensor. No big deal, thought I'll just grab another one later and she'll be on her way, but told her for now just drive with the ABS light on.

Went to install the new sensor and the sensor shaft broke off in the knuckle due to rust. No big deal just drill it out and be on my way. I drilled it out but also drilled about 1mm into what I believe is the ABS tone ring directly inside the hole where the sensor sits. Didn't think it would be enough to make a difference so I put everything back together and took it for a drive. Immediately noticed a slight clicking that got faster and faster as speed increased WITHOUT touching the brake pedal. As I went faster and got up to about 30mph, the clicking stopped and the ABS light turned on. I figured I probably ruined the tone ring so I purchased a new axle (I wasn't able to find just the tone ring itself). Replaced the axle with a brand new NAPA axle, reset the ABS module with my scan tool, and experienced the same problem, unchanged.

2 ABS sensors and 1 more axle later, I am still experiencing the same problem and I have not been able to get any positive results no matter what I do. I can bring up ABS live data on my scan tool, put it in graph mode for the driver front wheel, and watch a nice and smooth data curve. The data curve remains smooth even while experiencing the clicking. If I try to stop during this clicking noise, I can feel the abs pump fighting me, and then it will give up and turn the light on. When the module gives up and turns the light on, the sensor data from that wheel drops to 0mph and it throws a code for Left Front Magnetic Encoder Malfunction.

I have not been able to find much information regarding this issue anywhere on the internet. I have seen in a few places that the ABS tone ring is actually part of the wheel bearing, so maybe that was damaged somewhere along the way. Can anyone confirm this? Really just looking for any advice someone would have for me in general. Last resort would be to get a genuine Honda axle, but for a price of over $400, I'd like to be sure I really need it. I had someone tell me perhaps there's something about the ring that comes on the NAPA axle that the system doesn't like, so it is still giving you trouble.

Any advice is appreciated, really stumped on this one!

 

Holy crap! How many miles on the thing? Wish I cold help, hopefully someone can.

 

Yeah the tone wheel is part of the actual wheel bearing. You'll need to probably replace it if it's been nicked. Going off youtube's recommendation (South Main Auto is probably the best auto repair channel I've ever found) suggests this happens when either the sensor or tone wheel gets damaged.

 

Thanks for the info, that's what I thought. I'll grab a wheel bearing and see if that fixes it, then post back.

 

Hello everyone, wanted to post my results as I always like to leave a forum post with a solution to help others in the future who may be in need.

I have been very busy and school just got out so I finally found the time to do the wheel bearing. I am happy to say that it has fixed the issue. Upon close inspection, I found that the existing ABS ring was cracked in two spots. You can see this in the linked photos. Thankfully I have access to a shop and a press to perform these repairs so I got the one side done in about 2 hours. I plan to do the other side soon since I have always believed it is good nature to do these things in pairs. I must thank everyone for reading my post and also those who confirmed that the ABS ring is part of the bearing.

If I attach the photos here they appear huge, so please see the link for the photo album: https://imgur.com/a/Pp1liWv

Don't hesitate to send me a message if you have any questions!

 

Good job @alecmesa96 and thanks for the photos.

For generic ABS system errors, you can run a ohm-meter on the wheel sensor. If that registers something reasonable (say 1000 ohms), spin the wheel by hand and see if voltage rises with speed. That would confirm the sensor is good. Then you can test the harness and wires to the abs module visually and with the meter as can fail with frequency. GM testing procedures follow; not sure how Honda might differ
https://www.impalaforums.com/threads...faulty.330933/

SKF make excellent bearings. Interestingly, there is a huge counterfeit market in these quality bearings which doesn't help you but might be useful for future members. It is tough to identify counterfit bearings so my cousin who works with big bearings all day told me:

1. It is imperative to buy bearings directly from relaible distributors for applications that are important or expensive to redo. The local bearing distributor is expensive and charges me a few dollars additional for not having a trade account. "Same" bearings from the usual dirtbags (eBay, Amazon, Alibaba) are 80% or more discounted.

2. SKF and others have verification programs and apps that help confirm a bearing is real.

3. The janky SKF logo on the bearing does not provide any indication if the bearing is good or bad. My cousing said bearings from relaible distributors are always good in his experience; bearings from untracable sources are generally bad. When a bearing fails in his field, that takes 10+ hours of messy labor to fix which he covers for clients, so he really cares about sourcing. If he can't source a known good bearing from a reliable supplier, he replaces the entire motor new.

 

I would inspect for rust everywhere.
My concern just judging from recent events, is how structurally SAFE is this vehicle?
Rust is often referred to as "Automotive Cancer" for a reason.