Brake Pulse/vibration (kind Of Solved)

[rlin78]

Guys,

I've posted before about my 99 RX300's brake is having pulse/vibration problem when I stepped on it. This is after replacing rotors, brake pads, and calipers. Well, after exhausting all options, I took it in to a Lexus dealership for repair.

First they told me there's nothing wrong with the car because they couldn't read any codes from the ABS computer. Go figure. I wanted to tell them to go f** themselves. Then I took it in again, give them another chance, they said it was the ABS sensors. Would cost $600 to repair, so I gave them the go ahead to repair. But one day later they called me again and said that they found the problem to be the ABS ring or something like that, it would cost total of $1800 to repair because you have to replace the whole assembly.

Do you guys have any advise for me? I know my car is pass warranty, but I am disappointed at the quality of Lexus. I am talking to a Customer relation's lady at the dealership, maybe she will help me out. But still, I am not very happy about the reliability of my RX300. My 99 Nissan Maxima has not given me many problems while the Rx300 has given me problems from brakes, alternator, to AC.

Just feel like blowing off some stream.

[lenore]

Have you had the brake system bled out and removed all of the old fluid with new? I would do that first, but that is just my opinion. I would get a second opinion from an independent garage that works toyotas.

[rlin78]

Yes, the vehicle has been serviced by Lexus, the fluid was changed as part of the 90K service. It's not acceptable for something like a safety system to cost so much to repair.

[lenore]

I would definetly take it to an independent and get another opinion. How do you know the rotors are not warped after the grease monkey at Lexus torqued the wheels with a air wrench instead of a torque wrench. Those sensors are generally just hall effect pickup devices, very realiable. maybe loose or dirty but I have never seen them go bad. Just my two cents.

[wwest]

I would definetly take it to an independent and get another opinion. How do you know the rotors are not warped after the grease monkey at Lexus torqued the wheels with a air wrench instead of a torque wrench. Those sensors are generally just hall effect pickup devices, very realiable. maybe loose or dirty but I have never seen them go bad. Just my two cents.

Sounds to me if your dealer's service bay is taking revenge as a result of your having all the $$$ brake work done at a third party shop and then when the third party failed to diagnose the resulting/continuing problem you decided to rely on them as a fall-back position.

Personally I would disable the ABS pumpmotor and then drive it for awhile to see if the problem then persists. If it DOES persist you will know that it is NOT caused by any functionality related to the ability of the pumpmotor to replenish brake fluid pressure for ABS/Trac/VSC/BA or EBD.

I would definetly take it to an independent and get another opinion. How do you know the rotors are not warped after the grease monkey at Lexus torqued the wheels with a air wrench instead of a torque wrench. Those sensors are generally just hall effect pickup devices, very realiable. maybe loose or dirty but I have never seen them go bad. Just my two cents.

ABS wheelspeed sensors are NOT Hall Effect. Design is very close to the electric pickup used in guitars to detect string vibrations. Sensor is basically a "light" electromagnet in which disruptions of the magnetic field by the ABS gear tooths' passing is detected.

[lenore]

Yes it is similar to hall effect in what it does, but you are right what it does is creates a magnetic field which is disrupted by the teeth or scribe lines which causes a pulse, The pulse is AC in nature and gives the speed by the number of pulses that the computer counts to determine wheel speed.

[rlin78]

The ring that's broken is part of the drive shaft, they can't replace just the ring. So the cost for the part is $800, thanks to the nice engineering I guess. I am contacting Lexus to see if they can help out with the repair because this is a design problem, it deals with safety, I can't drive the car safely anymore....

[alsalih]

This is the first that I have heard of this ring breaking a tooth. Anyway, yes it is pressed into the end of the CV half shaft but it's a simple fix. NAPA sells a rebuilt half shaft for $100 bucks which also includes the gear ofcourse, and any independent shop could install it for you with no more then one hour labour. The dealership is charging you $600 for a new half shaft plus 1.5 hours labor to replace it!.