Bad wheel bearings can cause so many problems to your vehicles. Bad wheel
bearing can make your steering wheel vibrate even at a slow speed and will give you a hard time controlling your vehicle properly.
Also, a bad wheel bearing can cause unnecessary friction to your tire which can cause heating issues as well as you will not be able to turn your vehicle smoothly.
As we can see bad wheel bearing causes so many problems to your vehicle. Therefore, in this article, we are going to discuss whether a bad wheel bearing causes abs light to come on or not.
Can a bad wheel bearing cause ABS light to come on?
Though a bad wheel bearing is not part of the abs system a malfunctioning wheel bearing can transfer the abs system into error mode. Thus, the abs light will come on as well as sometimes the light won’t come on as the faulty wheel bearing deactivates the abs system.
A bad wheel bearing can cause too many problems to your vehicle starting from axle damage to tire wearing.
The axle issue is one of the important problems that can damage other parts of your vehicle too. In addition, turning the abs light on or off directly depends on the damage to the axle.
As the bad bearing can cause the axle and the ring to wobble and it will eventually turn on the abs light. Faulty wheel bearings can wear furrow on the axle shaft which will later make your vehicle fail dangerously.
When it comes to tires wearing a faulty wheel bearing can wobble a tire which can wear the tire quickly. Also, the bad wheel bearings can cause vibration to your steering wheel. It can let you lose the controlling power of your vehicle.
A vibrating steering wheel can make the situation worse for your vehicle and also the controlling mechanism of your vehicle can fail catastrophically.
A faulty wheel bearing can deactivate the whole abs system as the bad bearing can cause the axle and the ring to wobble which will eventually cause the speed sensor to show no signal of warning light.
Therefore, sometimes the abs light won’t come on despite the problem being caused by faulty wheel bearings. However, most times the wobble axle sends a signal to the abs system and thus the abs light comes on.
Therefore, you should always check the wheel bearings of your vehicle before going into the road as the faulty bearings not only turn the abs light on but also it can cause other catastrophic problems.
Will a bad wheel bearing affect ABS?
Yes, on most modern cars a faulty wheel bearing can affect the ABS. As a faulty wheel bearing can wobble the axle of your vehicle and eventually it can wear a channel on the axle shaft of your vehicle.
Sometimes the damaged axle can come in contact with the speed sensor which can damage the abs system totally.
The tone rings are placed on the axle shaft on the front wheels. Therefore, when a bad bearing damages the axle shaft then it also causes the rings to wobble.
The wobble rings will create barriers for the speed sensor that is mounted on the vehicle’s hub and therefore, the speed sensor will fail to do its job.
Thus, the abs light will come on due to the damaged axle shaft. Sometimes the axle shaft can come in contact with the speed sensor which can damage the sensor permanently.
How does a bad wheel bearing affect abs?
A bad wheel bearing can affect the abs system systemically. First of all, a faulty wheel bearing can cause damage to the ring of the axle of the vehicle. The tone rings are mounted on the axle shaft on the front wheel of the vehicle.
However, there is another component that is mounted on the front part of the vehicle but it is mounted keeping a significant distance from the axle shaft. The name of the component is the abs speed sensor.
The abs speed sensor actually determines the pulse rate in order to determine the speed of the wheel. Depending on the speed of the wheel, the abs speed sensor determines whether the abs braking system will do its job or not.
So when the faulty wheel bearing damages the rings of the axle shaft, it can create a barrier to the speed sensor calculating the pulse rate of the wheel.
Thus, the speed sensor will make the abs light turn on. In addition, sometimes the damaged axle can come in contact with the speed sensor and it can damage the sensor permanently.
2 reasons why a bad wheel bearing causes abs light to come on:
Well, there are not many reasons behind why a bad wheel bearing causes abs light to come on. The wheel bearing damages the other parts of the vehicle which causes the abs light to turn on.
The reasons behind why the wheel bearing causes abs light to come on are given below:
Wheel bearing damages the rings:
The tone rings that are mounted on the front wheel of the vehicle get damaged due to the faulty wheel bearing.
Thus, the wobble rings create a barrier for the speed sensor to do its job. Thus the abs light turns on.
The axle shaft damages the speed sensor:
The abs speed sensor actually calculates the rate of the pulse of the wheel. Thus, by calculating the rate of the pulse, it calculates the speed of the wheel.
So when the damaged and wobbling axle shaft comes in contact with the speed sensor it also damages the abs speed sensor permanently. Thus, the abs mechanism is completely destroyed by the axle shaft.
How do I check for a bad wheel bearing?
There are many malfunctioning signs that you will notice when you have a faulty wheel bearing in your vehicle. The signs are described down below:
Whistling sound:
You will notice that there is a whistling sound coming from your faulty wheel bearings. The sound can also come from other problems like faulty tires or from the cv joint.
Intense noise:
You will hear intense growling noise coming from your wheel bearings whenever you increase the speed of your car.
Sometimes the noise can come from other problems but you should examine the noise as this type of noise mostly comes from faulty wheel bearings.
The sound of the wheel:
Mechanics may inspect potential wheel wobbling by raising the car and personally inspecting the wheels.
Usually, shaking the wheels and tire would be impractical. If the problem is not resolved, the tires might actually blow apart from the car at any moment.
ABS issue:
If you have a bad wheel bearing then the abs light might turn on. As the faulty wheel bearing can damage the axle shaft which will later create a barrier for the speed sensor to calculate the wheel speed.
Thus, the abs system will not work and the abs light will turn on.
Vibrating steer wheel:
Faulty bearings can cause the steering wheel to vibrate. Well, whenever the speed of the car increases the faulty bearing makes the steering wheel vibrate even more.
Thus, you will have a very hard time controlling your vehicle due to the vibrating steering wheel.
Why is my ABS light on after replacing the wheel bearing?
There are many reasons behind the ABS light being turned on despite replacing the wheel bearing. The reasons are explained below:
Damaged sensor:
One of the main reasons why your abs light is still turned on is due to the damage of the speed sensor. When you have replaced the tone rings it might have come in touch with the speed sensor.
Thus, replacing the tone rings might have damaged the speed sensor of your vehicle. Therefore, your abs light is still on despite replacing the wheel bearing.
Magnets issue:
While replacing the ball bearing make sure you keep the magnetic encoders away from strong magnets.
Because the strong magnets can damage the ring of the encoder. If the encoder ring is damaged, then the abs light will be on despite changing the ball bearings.
Wobbling shaft:
If you forget to replace the axle shaft after replacing the bearings then it will still create barriers for the speed sensor to calculate pulse rate.
Thus, the abs light will be on. Therefore, make sure you have changed the axle shaft of your car after changing the ball bearings.
Final Thoughts
A faulty wheel bearing can cause the abs light to come on because the faulty ball bearing can damage the tone rings of the axle shaft. Thus, the damaged tone rings will not let the speed sensor do its job and, therefore, the abs light will be on due to the damage caused by ball bearings.
I am an automotive enthusiast and have been interested in cars since I was a little kid. I have worked in the automotive industry for many years and have extensive knowledge of vehicles and their engines. I am a father of two and I love spending time with my family.
Read more about the author here.