# Prepping / Emergency Preparedness > Bags, Kits and Vehicles >  Tone Ring ???

## kyratshooter

ABS light came on in my Escape. Brakes acting funny.  I do not like it when the brakes act funny.

It seems I have all the classic symptoms of a "Tone Ring" failure.

I did not know I had a tone ring.  

I am basically tone deaf and did not know my vehicle had a ring tone!

Anyway, it is a little gear on the axle half-shaft that keeps the ABS system calibrated.  Why they call it a tone ring I do not know.  The ring will crack due to pressure of corrosion build up, but still work until the first really hot day of summer comes along and heats things until the ring expands and starts slipping on the half shaft.  Then the ABS light comes on due to the system being disabled.  The brakes still work, just no ABS and the previously mentioned "crazy pedal".

Naturally the part costs $10 and the labor $200 and this is not something I want to do myself.  I do not have the tools or a comfortable place to work.

I have a good mechanic but this will take an appointment, a whole day, and a big chunk of my patience, not to mention my money, and I have a short road trip to take this weekend and that light being on will grate on my nerves the whole trip.  

Irritating!

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## LowKey

Black electrical tape will do wonders for that light. At least in the short term.

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## pete lynch

I prefer the 1" Gorilla tape when covering those idiot lights. But not on my personal vehicle; only the truck I drive at work.

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## natertot

I have never heard it called a tone ring. When I went through the Ford program, it was deemed a part of the wheel speed sensor. This is used for ABS and traction control systems. If it detects wheels spinning and all of a sudden they stop, ABS will go into action. If the wheels have too sudden of an increase in speed then traction control will come into play. The reason it is throwing on a light is that the other three are working which doesn't match the fourth and the ABS system doesn't like it. I have never heard of the ring itself going bad except for getting cracked in accidents or severe rusting which was usually farm vehicles. Now the electrical sensor that detects the ring, I have replaced those several times for being faulty, corroded, or road debris catching them. 

$210 for a mechanic to replace that ring is worth it. Those things are a pain to get off, especially when rusted on.

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## Lamewolf

I have worked in Honda service since 1998 and other automotive service since 1974 and have never seen a ring go bad but the wheel speed sensors do go bad or get damaged.  I did see a ring that was damaged once but the only way to get the ring was with a new axle, couldn't get just the ring by itself.  BTW, we always called them an ABS ring.

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## hunter63

I have to say I haven't heard or had to deal with this either.
.....and will have to say that $250 bucks for about anything is a good deal when it comes to vehicles....
Heck it's about $200 to change oil and service the diesel pickup.

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## kyratshooter

It appears that this is a common problem with the Escape and there are several U-tube videos on the repair.  There are also lots of complaints that Ford should recall this item, but it is not failing until several years down the road and does not really seem to be a "faulty original part" or dangerous engineering. 

My Escape is a 2007 model and living where I do we get plenty of corrosion from road salt.  Apparently the rings do not rust, the half-shaft rusts and causes expansion which cracks the ring.  Then expansion from the heat allows the ring to slip around the half shaft causing the sensor to alert.  In almost every case the problem presents itself on a hot summer day.

At 8 years age on the vehicle I am just considering this a normal maintenance thing and will be alert for the other three to fail.  I have been driving this rig for 9 months and this is my first general repair.  I can't really complain, especially after the lemon I had prior to this Ford.

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## Lamewolf

Hey Kyratshooter, what part of KY do you live in ?  I work in Ashland, KY

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## kyratshooter

I am in the fringe of the bluegrass region about 50 miles south of Cincinnati.  

Ashland is a bout 2 hours drive because I can not get there from here.  I have to go either north or south for 45 minutes before I can go east!

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## kyratshooter

Wild day today.

Got to the mechanic at the crack of dawn and they put the Escape on the rack.  Before removing the tire the mechanic found that I had a worn out tie rod.  The wheel was flopping.  Then there was the broken ring, which was going to require a new axle shaft.

I must say that the shop got me in and had the work done and I was gone in 3 1/2 hours.

Also cost me 3 1/2 hundred dollars!

I am not even complaining.  I'm TDO to be crawling around under a car these days.  That seemed like a fair price and it is the first money I have had to spend on the Escape.

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## hunter63

Doesn't sound bad to me either, I would have done the same.........and most everything required special tools to even work on stuff.....

I'll be in the waiting area, having free coffee....

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## Rick

Having free coffee with me. I'll be thumbing through that six month old copy of Lady Man Caves or Off Roading for Geezers. When they started putting radar on cars I figured they needed some kid fresh out of the military to work on it. I'm afraid the only thing I'd be able to do was set off the anti-missile flares. I haven't found them yet but I know they are on there. I have no business poking around on anything that does 4 systems checks every 60 seconds. $350 sounds like a bargain to me.

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## kyratshooter

Nope, my mechanic is not only a trained tech, he has discovered TV!

The shop is right across the street from a breakfast buffet, so I spent the first hour stuffing my face, then the following two watching reruns of rednecks fighting with alligators on the History channel.  I don't know why they call it the History Channel since there is absolutely nothing historical on there.

I did talk to him about a tune up to solve my sporadic gas mileage problems.  Does it involve points and plugs, a timing light, turning the distributor or adjusting the carb?  If course not!  My car does not even have half those things any more.

I asked about replacing the "chips" and he looked at me like I was from Mars.  My can does not even have computer chips!  Imagine that, the technology that replaced what I used to know is now obsolete!

A tune up now features a reset of the computer back to factory specs since over the years the program "degrades".  He told me he has a special lap top designated to that use.

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## Rick

Breakfast buffet across from the mechanic? Location, location, location. I might have to start driving to Kaintuck to get my vehicle worked on. Sausage and egg stuffing while someone does the work sounds like a REAL deal.

Oh, on the history channel, think about it. You watched it yesterday so......

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## Wise Old Owl

Hey guys I own a 2006 Ford Escape.. the ring issue never happened. The pop up Monkey Wrench? What the hell? Every 50 miles it would glow... After lots of reading there appears to be a small insignificant air filter on the left side of the trunk behind a piece of plastic to vent the large battery.. keep it clean! 

Back to the ring. I drive several late model Ford Focus. It turns out many places that do fleet work give changing tires to newbies who just got hired. They frequently break the tire sensor. Also if you run flat even for a short period to get off the road the sensors are toast.

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## Wise Old Owl

> Having free coffee with me. I'll be thumbing through that six month old copy of Lady Man Caves or Off Roading for Geezers. When they started putting radar on cars I figured they needed some kid fresh out of the military to work on it. I'm afraid the only thing I'd be able to do was set off the anti-missile flares. I haven't found them yet but I know they are on there. I have no business poking around on anything that does 4 systems checks every 60 seconds. $350 sounds like a bargain to me.



I was about to give you the big thumbs up and then I got to the Off Road for G.... Never mind...Rick you have a just a few quirks.

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## hunter63

Off Road For Geezers..... discusses how to handle ripple strips and speed bumps in retirement Manufactured Housing gated communities.....While headed for Micky D's for coffee and BS....in your Escalade.
"To engage or not to engage".....4 wheel drive, that is.....

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## Wise Old Owl

Never say Never - I ain't going there. Its unobtainium.

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## Rick

There is an art to ripple strips with coffee in the cup holder. Hitting a speed bump with a DQ M&M blizzard in the cup holder makes it look like a volcanic mud pot. Old dogs can still learn new tricks.

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## Wolfhound

Just pull the ABS fuse if you are comfortable driving without it.  We have removed the ABS on all of our vehicles.  It is no substitute for the human brain and gets in the way more than it helps.

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## hunter63

> Just pull the ABS fuse if you are comfortable driving without it.  We have removed the ABS on all of our vehicles.  It is no substitute for the human brain and gets in the way more than it helps.


Some times is difficult to tell which one of the 180+ fuses in two fuse boxes is the correct one......
Later model trucks and cars do not provide a legend and wiring diagram.

Then add to the situation that the "brain box" reads the voltage in a circuit, and may shut down something else.

Had to get a OEM printout on my 2008 Ford truck.....nothing in the book after I shorted a trailer light left side tail light circuit....(BYW fuse 145)

Old day was easy......not no more.

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## natertot

Wolfhound, that is not sound advice. First, ABS is often tied into other systems such as engine management (And the Ford Escape is one of them) which can cause other issues. Second, if there is an accident and it is discovered that something is disabled then you can be held criminally and civilly liable for it and insurance may not cover the incident either. Finally, many states have vehicle inspection/standard requirements and disabling safety devices and/or systems can prevent the ability for the car to be legally driven.

I understand your logic, but for a few hundred dollars it is just better to get it fixed. Which Kyrat already did.

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## kyratshooter

Fact is, I fixed the rings on both sides.  Two new half shafts and replacement of the tie rod ends at the same time.  The little car drives like new.

I also learned that I have low air pressure indicators that I was not aware of.  How did I find that out?  
Another light started glowing.  Freekin' dashboard looks like a Christmas tree!  I was not but 5 pounds down from the spec pressure and the light came on.

As for disconnecting the ABS, that ain't going to happen.  On several occasions the presence of the ABS has saved my bacon.  On at least one occasion it probably saved my life.  I topped a hill at 60 to face stalled traffic.  I had about 2 seconds to stand on the brake and the ABS kicked in.  It slowed me from 60 down to about 30, in what seemed a little better than 50 feet, before I plowed into the line of cars.  I totaled a good Ford PU and the last two cars in the line, but I walked away without a scratch thanks to ABS, air bags and seat belts.

The ABS stays!

BTW, the only injury in that crash was the girl in the third car forward.  She smacked herself in the head with her cell phone and had to be treated for a concussion.  The responders got a real kick out of that.

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## hunter63

Gotta love the "Low tire pressure" indicator......

Blasting down the highway, 3:00 A.M. heading out for duck season opener......truck with hunting partner, dog, ...boat on the back on a trailer.....
Bing...Light on...WTH?.....Stopped, checked out the tires...all seemed to be up?....
Factory pressure is 65 PSI.....

Nothing open, and the closed gas station "free air", now $1 buck....won't pump that high....lost some more pressure....
To heck with it for now....

Dropped the boat in....parked, and went hunting till dark.
Expected a flat tire when we were getting off the lake.

No, tire still up.....find a truck stop that had a real compressor....pumped it back up....light went out.

Got to thinking about the last service at the dealer....dug out receipt...was noted that they had "adjusted the tire pressure, had been too high'.....???

When I got home stopped at the dealer and asked him why they messed with the tires....Guy said the tech had set it to exactly 65 PSI pounds....low tire pressure indicator goes off around 63 PSI.
65 PSI, on hot day, vs cold morning=63 PSI...Bing, Bing, Bing...light on......and much un-needed anguish.     

Said thank you very much....but leave it be next time...

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## Rick

> won't pump that high....lost some more pressure....


[URL="http://Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.[/URL]


No, seriously.....

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

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## natertot

The TPI (Tire Pressure Indicator) is a pain in the @$$ thing that the Federal DOT mandated in either '07 or '08 for safety and fuel economy purposes. Factory recommended PSI +/- 3PSI is the standard. I had one of those sensors actually go out. $239+tax at the dealer, $189 +tax at local shop. Stupid sensor costs more than the tire!

It's unnecessary crap like this that drives the costs of cars up. That is why it is nearly impossible to find a used car under $10k with less than 100k miles. So stupid......

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## NightSG

Geez, and people wonder why I'm in no hurry to get rid of my 1997 Saturn.

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## hunter63

I hear ya...the 1999 Ford PU crew cab 4 x4 is at 125K and is still a daily driver.....
Bought new, and mostly kept in the garage while I drove service trucks.

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## Wise Old Owl

wow and the tread held and nobody mentioned "Federal Regulations...." whew!  Close call Natertot!

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## natertot

> wow and the tread held and nobody mentioned "Federal Regulations...." whew!  Close call Natertot!


Lol! No matter what you call it, it is a suck factor implemented by gov't. Plain and simple......

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