***ABS LIGHT ON / HYDRAULIC PUMP***

[BigD-a3tq]

Hi Guys

Sold my A3TQ to my little bro a few months back without any probs.
( it lasted 6months with me but i couldn't resist the !)

anyway..

The ABS light has now come on, took it to a local VW specialist who plugged it into VAGcom and he advised the Hydraulic pump is knackered.

Any idea how to fix this, brand new unit or breakers?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers. DAZ

 

[CasperS3]

You might well find the problem is the ABS control unit attached to the pump itself. Audi wanted £1450 to replace mine on a 1999 S3 as they only replace the unit and pump together.
It's a known weak point across the whole vw/Audi range.
The car will still function as usual just without ABS and will fail the MOT.
You can remove the control unit and send it off to get it fixed for around £120 but it's tough to get access to.
I paid £190 for a pump and unit from a breaker found in the Exchange and Mart. Was offered just the control unit from a TT a week earlier than this for £65 but was sold when I rang back.
Paid £70 to have the unit fitted and checked by a garage close to where I live.

 

[BigD-a3tq]

How the dealers can get away with using shi*e components and then charge four figure sums when they fail is beyond me!:sign_unfair:

From what you say then Casper, i (my bro) can get a 2nd hand one from the breakers and do a straight swop?

His is a 99(V) A3tq, are they the same across the whole range? A3/S3/TT?

 

[BigD-a3tq]

Does anyone know where this is located? and what it looks like??

 

[CasperS3]

Can't remember exactly where it was under the bonnet quite low down, but I used a mirror to read the part number and then just got a match from the breakers.
Been fine since I replaced it four years ago.
Your best bet is to do a search on 'failing abs control units audi' or a similar permutation.
There's loads of info. on the failing bosch units out there, including plenty of pictures and instructions etc.

 

[babelhoo]

Hi,

1st. sorry for not making a proper presentation post (I promise I'll do one... soon!), I've been following the forum for almost a year (since I bought my A3).

A few weeks ago I had the same problem; the ABS light came on, in my case, when I switched off the engine and back on, it went till I accelerated above 25/30 km/h (do the math!). I plugged my Ebay cheapo OBDII reader and got this error;
"01276 - ABS Hydraulic Pump (V64) Signal Outside Specifications"
Don't sure if this is the same error you get.

I googled for this error, at first all the solutions were similar; "replace ABS control unit". Not a good option, too expensive anywhere, ridiculously expensive here (in Buenos Aires).
Then I found a post in an American forum (about a Golf mk.4), this guy said he got rid of a similar problem by just reseating the ABS fuses on top of the battery.
Sounded too good (and simple and cheap! ) to be true, but I rushed to the car and found one of these to be actually a bit loose and the socket it sat on was a bit melted (I guess a bad connection resulted in short, thus in heat). I removed the 3 fuses, cleaned these and the seats with light sandpaper, slightly twisted the legs of the "offended" fuse to force good contact points. Plugged my cheap OBDII again to clear the error, and went for a quick and brutal test drive (kept the ABS working like crazy!! )
All worked perfectly! It's like this for the last 10 days or so.

Later I received the Haynes manual (I know; these stink, but I'm not aware of any better one for the 8L) and in the ABS section it mentions the systems disables itself under different conditions, one of these is low or irregular voltage, which fits the bill of a loose fuse.

I know others had a bad solder point in the ABS circuit, a common VW/Audi fault, but start checking this, leaving the entire replacement as the last resort.

Cheers
Abel

 

[BigD-a3tq]

OMG! Sounds to good/easy to be true Abel!

I will have a go when i get a spare 10 mins

Thanks for your comments!!

 

[BigD-a3tq]

Abel, my brother owes you a drink!!

Had a spare 10mins this arvo so thought id give what you said a try, i wasn't really expecting much, i took out the fuses one by one and inspected them, couldn't see any signs of corrosion or such like so put them back and gave them a firm push in.

Told my brother didn't think this was the issue and proceeded to get the part No off the ABS unit and was ready to ring round and try and find a replacement.

My brother rang me 10 mins later and said how much do i owe you...owe me for what i said... fixing the ABS!!

The light has gone off and the ABS is now working again, i cant believe it!!

If anyone ever gets this fault BE SURE TO CHECK THE 3 FUSES ON TOP OF YOUR BATTERY FIRST before thinking the worst.

 

[finesse]

Hi,

1st. sorry for not making a proper presentation post (I promise I'll do one... soon!), I've been following the forum for almost a year (since I bought my A3).

A few weeks ago I had the same problem; the ABS light came on, in my case, when I switched off the engine and back on, it went till I accelerated above 25/30 km/h (do the math!). I plugged my Ebay cheapo OBDII reader and got this error;
"01276 - ABS Hydraulic Pump (V64) Signal Outside Specifications"
Don't sure if this is the same error you get.

I googled for this error, at first all the solutions were similar; "replace ABS control unit". Not a good option, too expensive anywhere, ridiculously expensive here (in Buenos Aires).
Then I found a post in an American forum (about a Golf mk.4), this guy said he got rid of a similar problem by just reseating the ABS fuses on top of the battery.
Sounded too good (and simple and cheap! ) to be true, but I rushed to the car and found one of these to be actually a bit loose and the socket it sat on was a bit melted (I guess a bad connection resulted in short, thus in heat). I removed the 3 fuses, cleaned these and the seats with light sandpaper, slightly twisted the legs of the "offended" fuse to force good contact points. Plugged my cheap OBDII again to clear the error, and went for a quick and brutal test drive (kept the ABS working like crazy!! )
All worked perfectly! It's like this for the last 10 days or so.

Later I received the Haynes manual (I know; these stink, but I'm not aware of any better one for the 8L) and in the ABS section it mentions the systems disables itself under different conditions, one of these is low or irregular voltage, which fits the bill of a loose fuse.

I know others had a bad solder point in the ABS circuit, a common VW/Audi fault, but start checking this, leaving the entire replacement as the last resort.

Cheers
Abel

Thanks a million, just rushed out to implement this solution! Worked great thanks

Just been quoted £50 just to scan for ABS errors

 

[mike-turbo]

if your abs ecu has gone send it to a company called ecu testing they can fix them for about £200 and give you a two year warrentry.

 

[babelhoo]

Wow guys, I'm glad it helped others! I just got the notification (a bit late... as I see BigD wrote last November!) as an update, my light didn't come back and ABS is functional, sometimes it's a better idea not to rush and replace expensive parts without some investigation.

About the drink, it'll have to wait! I'm in Buenos Aires (have been in London for work a couple of times, but don't have plans for the near future).

Cheers
Abel

 

[Plunky]

Hi,

1st. sorry for not making a proper presentation post (I promise I'll do one... soon!), I've been following the forum for almost a year (since I bought my A3).

A few weeks ago I had the same problem; the ABS light came on, in my case, when I switched off the engine and back on, it went till I accelerated above 25/30 km/h (do the math!). I plugged my Ebay cheapo OBDII reader and got this error;
"01276 - ABS Hydraulic Pump (V64) Signal Outside Specifications"
Don't sure if this is the same error you get.

I googled for this error, at first all the solutions were similar; "replace ABS control unit". Not a good option, too expensive anywhere, ridiculously expensive here (in Buenos Aires).
Then I found a post in an American forum (about a Golf mk.4), this guy said he got rid of a similar problem by just reseating the ABS fuses on top of the battery.
Sounded too good (and simple and cheap! ) to be true, but I rushed to the car and found one of these to be actually a bit loose and the socket it sat on was a bit melted (I guess a bad connection resulted in short, thus in heat). I removed the 3 fuses, cleaned these and the seats with light sandpaper, slightly twisted the legs of the "offended" fuse to force good contact points. Plugged my cheap OBDII again to clear the error, and went for a quick and brutal test drive (kept the ABS working like crazy!! )
All worked perfectly! It's like this for the last 10 days or so.

Later I received the Haynes manual (I know; these stink, but I'm not aware of any better one for the 8L) and in the ABS section it mentions the systems disables itself under different conditions, one of these is low or irregular voltage, which fits the bill of a loose fuse.

I know others had a bad solder point in the ABS circuit, a common VW/Audi fault, but start checking this, leaving the entire replacement as the last resort.

Cheers
Abel

amazing! i have had this problem since i owned the car! the previous owner had replaced the abs pump but after a couple of weeks the light came back on. have just been outside and came across the 3 fuses on top of the battery. noticed that the left hand side fuse holder was a bit melted and had a leg of an old fuse in it. i removed the bit of old fuse, gave all the fuses a good clean and replaced, and hey presto! no more abs light and now working abs! least to say i am very pleased with this!