strange ABS light finding.....how do I reset?

[brentcon01]

I am hoping you guys can help. I have an 03 Town Car, just took it in to Jiffy Lube. As I am leaving, the ABS light comes on. They scanned it for me and it came back as a rear wheel sensor fault. So before getting a new one, I took it off to clean it. Since the sensor is magnetic, after I removed it, I found stuck to the sensor a small steel cylinder about 1/4" in diameter and 1/2" long. what the heck is that from? Anyway, I took it out. Could this have caused the fault? How can I reset the ABS light? Thanks for your help.

 

[Town]

I don't know where that cylinder could have come from beside road or repair debris.

The repair procedures say to clear the ABS codes after the repair. That would likely be with a scan tool accessing the ABS module. You could try removing the neg terminal of the battery for a while to see if that clears the light. When the ignition key is turned to "on" the ABS module tests the ABS system by passing a reference voltage through to each sensor and checking the response. The ABS module will set a code if the response is not right. There is no indication that the ABS will self correct any prior DTC's set that no longer apply, but it is a possibility. There are two types of sensor failure: C1165 and C1175 for circuit failure and C1298 and C1299 sensor signal missing. What code did they extract from the ABS module? It is possible that the metal cylinder upset the sensor reading somehow since any debris around the sensor may cause a fault. The connector for the sensor is located under the rear seat cushion.

The rear wheel sensor magnetic surface is mounted very close to the sensor ring so that it can read the pulses created by the ring moving. Debris in that area could cause a DTC. I presume this metal cylinder was attached to the side of the sensor? However in getting there it may have damaged the sensor tone ring so you probably want to check that closely.

If your DTC and ABS light are still on after those checks and tests then I can get you the electrical diagrams and diagnostics for the sensor circuits for a 2007 model if you want.

Good luck.