I have a 1999 Subaru Forester with an ABS light on. The light is off when I start the engine, then comes on after driving for 30 ft. I think it is a wheel sensor because if it was a mian part that is always on the light would come on even before driving it. The dealer wants to replace a relay and valve at $500.00. They said they don't have too many of these kinds of problems and they didn't use an abs system tester to identify what was wrong. I am concered that their inexperiance will cost me more than needed. vin is jfisf6557xh705992. Don I think that you should get a second opinion. If they didn't diagnose by pulling codes from the ABS controller as a starting point, they are guessing as to what is wrong. You don't make assumptions unless you have all the facts when it comes to diagnosing vehicles because 80% of the time you will be wrong if you make guesses.
You can actually pull ABS trouble codes yourself. There is a diagnosis connector under the driver side dash connected to the heater outlet unit. Along with the connector there are two wires (black) with terminals on them that you plug into the connector to call up trouble codes. With the ignition off plug one of the wires into terminal 6 (White/Red) in the connector. Then turn on the ignition and the ABS warning light will flash the codes that are stored.
The first code that will show is 11. That just lets you know the system is in diagnostic mode. The stored trouble code(s) (two digit) will flash afterwards. Let us know what is stored and we can tell you what the computer has detected.
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