Escape 2000 to 2008 ABS Tone Ring Failure

Had a simple one come into the shop today, 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid 56,000 Miles. The ABS tone ring on the passenger side front Half-shaft cracked and became loose. This ring is what the ABS wheel speed sensor picks its signal up from to allow the ABS computer to determine if the wheel is having a traction issue. This is a very common problem for the Escape and causes the ABS and traction control system to go crazy. What happens is that corrosion forms underneath the ring building tension until it just cracks and pops it self free. I thought I would share this just incase there are any Escape owners on here and their dealer is telling them that the half-shaft needs to be replaced. That is not true; the part is replaceable and is a relatively simple straight forward procedure.

ABS System DTC's set from ring failure:
C1142 - Wheel Speed Sensor Right Front Tone Ring Tooth Missing Fault
C1234 - Wheel Speed Right Front Input Signal Missing
U2023 - Fault Recived From External Node




The Ford part number for this ring is 7L8Z-2C182-B cost was $35.51 plus tax. I don't know for sure if this one is specific for the 07 Hybrid so check with your local dealership parts department.

Here is the broken ring.


This is the replacement seems to be alittle heavier than the original on the car.


I will post the pictures of the repair later for anyone who might need them.

Special tools Required for this job:
Torque wrench
9mm Hex Key
2 Jaw gear puller


Start off by stripping the assembly down to this point. Brake caliper & bracket removed, tie rod disconnected, axle nut removed, and brake rotor removed.





Loosen 8mm bolt holding in ABS sensor and remove the sensor from knuckle. Also loosen and remove the two 18mm bolts holding the strut to the knuckle, pry the knuckle free of the strut.


If the axle will not slide out of the hub easy, you can use a two jaw gear puller to push out the axle. You do not need to unbolt the lower ball joint inorder to remove the axle completely from the hub.


Now that you have removed the axle from the hub, begin to use sand paper of a die grinder to remove the scale and corosion from the ring seat.


After you have cleaned up the ring seat, heat up the ring with a torch. Make sure you do not get this ring too hot, a few hundred degrees is all that is needed if your turning it red that is too hot.


Once heated the ring should slip right on, allow to cool. If it doesnt slip on easy the seat still has corosion that needs removed.


This step is very important, never use "never seize" or grease when installing this ring. After you have it in place and have allowed it to cool take regular super glue and apply it to the gap between the ring and the seat, it will soak in like a wick. Add glue until the entire diameter of the ring is wet with the glue. Not only does this step prevent the ring from slipping off, it seals out moisture from getting under the ring.


After you have allowed the glue to dry begin to reassemble. Torque the ABS sensor bolt to 80in-lbs.


Torque Strut bolts to 85ft-lbs, tie rod end nut to 41ft-lbs and axle nut to 221ft-lbs.


The two 18mm bolts for the caliper bracket must be torqued to 129ft-lbs.


Reinstall caliper and pads.


Install caliper retaining clip


Torque 9mm hex caliper guide bolts to 33ft-lbs


Broken Ring


Torque Lug nuts to 100ft-lbs

Thanks!

Do the wheel speed sensors just read for ABS and traction control, or do they also read wheel speeds for speedo too? or is there still a tone ring in the rear diff on these...or just one in the trans? Just curious.

Brakes and traction control.

I'm sorry that B&G has to use a Genisys. Yuck!

Ranger44 said:

Do the wheel speed sensors just read for ABS and traction control, or do they also read wheel speeds for speedo too? or is there still a tone ring in the rear diff on these...or just one in the trans? Just curious.

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ABS and traction control systems are dependant upon the data recived from the wheels speed sensors and the VSS tone ring in the transmission. The spedometer uses the VSS from transmission.

kemo said:

I'm sorry that B&G has to use a Genisys. Yuck!

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Why don't you like it? I love my Genisys has never given me problem one would take it over a crap on solus pro any day. Would love to own a Ford VCM with IDS though.

used one when I was in college, we hated that thing with a passion. the embedded OS is slower than death. At my first shop, it had Windows embedded... that was slower than death. I stayed with the brick and solus.

Heh, again, when I was in college, one of the parts dealers tried selling us "their" platform that was just a rebadged Genisys. I think it was Mac, but dang were those things slow. You left them on because they took forever to boot up. Microsoft slows everything down when their software is installed. A cnc machine was fast until the CNC machinist department wanted a new system installed with newer software. Unfortunately that software used an updated Windows CE operating system. Those guys miss the old system lol.

kemo said:

used one when I was in college, we hated that thing with a passion. the embedded OS is slower than death. At my first shop, it had Windows embeded... that was slower than death. I stayed with the brick and solus.

Heh, again, when I was in college, one of the parts dealers tried selling us "their" platform that was just a rebadged Genisys. I think it was Mac, but dang were those things slow. You left them on because they took forever to boot up. Microsoft slows everything down when their software is installed. A cnc machine was fast until the CNC machinist department wanted a new system installed with newer software. Unfortunately that software used an updated Windows CE operating system. Those guys miss the old system lol.

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Hmm thats odd, you guys must of had a different Genisys then the one I own and others that I have used. As they are not windows based and boot right up in a few seconds. The firm ware for the Genisys is developed by Lynx Real Time Systems Inc. and is Linux based. I remeber the older Version 1 OS Genisys being alittle on the slow side but the newer Ver. 2.0 and higher are lightning fast. You must be thinking of the Snap On Verus as its Windows XP based and slow as dog chit. Another reason I stick to my Genisys is because out of all the scan tools I have used it has been the most compatible, user friendly and most versitale one. I have encountered numerous times using a Solus pro where certain diagnostic options were not availible but were on my Genisys same goes for the very expensive "top of the line" Verus. But dont get me wrong Snap on scanners are not junk, just not my first choice.

it definitely didn't have XP... and it definitely wasn't a verus. it was the genisys, and it had one of the tool "manufacturer" names on it. There is no way that the hardware in the genisys chassis could ever run XP, or even XP embedded

Solus worked like a charm, then again, most of the times when I was using it was when I was wrenching on squad cars.

kemo said:

it definitely didn't have XP... and it definitely wasn't a verus. it was the genisys, and it had one of the tool "manufacturer" names on it. There is no way that the hardware in the genisys chassis could ever run XP, or even XP embedded

Solus worked like a charm, then again, most of the times when I was using it was when I was wrenching on squad cars.

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No way it was the OTC Genisys as it is and always has been linux based. I have never used a rebranded Genisys copy so I am unsure of what software they use. But I can tell you from personal experiance the OTC version kicks ass.

I totally just broke the tone ring and abs sensor on my ranger so right now its a lil jank to drive...

Bennybooster said:

I totally just broke the tone ring and abs sensor on my ranger so right now its a lil jank to drive...

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Unplug the wheel speed sensor thats broken or in question. Or remove your ABS fuse. This will disable the system so you can drive your truck normally until you get a time to repair it.

Tone Ring B&G Automotive

Dear Mr. B&G Automotive,

I just changed a tone ring on a 2005 Ford Escape and let me tell you that without your very descriptive picture step-by-step procedure, it would not have gone as smoothly. I want to thank you very much for your instructions. They were amazing and so accurate. WELL DONE.

You saved me around $400. Plus since I had to change the brakes at the same time it also saved me another $500.

Thank you.

Nice write up. I hadn't seen this before, but I've done most of this job before when replacing the CV Axle and bearing. I just gave the CV a hard tap with the a rubber mallet and it came right out. Not too hard of a job overall. I did have to take it to the dealer to have them press in the bearing, because I broke the first one on my buddies press. Not bad though.

A new CV axle is only 30 bucks now, so maybe that's an alternative to doing a tone ring and saving time. Might be more cost effective?

This is a good write up, but you go a bit too far on the tear down.

I pop the tie rod, unplug the ABS sensor, take out the two little bolts that hold the wiring to the body and strut, then undo the axle shaft (it can be popped from the hub with a pointed punch and a hammer fairly easily, no need for a bearing puller) and then take out the two 18mm nut/bolt combos that hold the top of the knuckle to the strut. The whole thing will flop over and allow the installation of the new ring as described here without putting any undue stress on the brake hose.

adsm08 said:

This is a good write up, but you go a bit too far on the tear down.

I pop the tie rod, unplug the ABS sensor, take out the two little bolts that hold the wiring to the body and strut, then undo the axle shaft (it can be popped from the hub with a pointed punch and a hammer fairly easily, no need for a bearing puller) and then take out the two 18mm nut/bolt combos that hold the top of the knuckle to the strut. The whole thing will flop over and allow the installation of the new ring as described here without putting any undue stress on the brake hose.

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The corner you're cutting (from how I did it) is not removing the caliper/disc. I never thought of that, but I can see how that would save some time. I didn't think the brake hose had enough slack in it to allow for that.

I've done this twice, once for just the CV axle, the second time for the bearing and CV axle.