ABS brake let off

96 Ford Windstar had the abs and brake light on. At times while slowing to a stop the abs ? or something is letting off brake pressure in the last few feet of the stop. Only did this afew times a day I was told and only did it once for me in a 5 min test drive.

I pulled all the wheels to check the basic brake condition. I replaced the pads and shoes only because near replacement. Put it all back together and now the lights are out. maybe I filled the master cylinder with fluid by compressing the frt calipers?} but now after a 5min test drive the brake let off is nearly every stop with no abs or brake light on.

any ideas Jeff

hi
just a humble opinion here but, I am not thinking the ABS is doing it. Have you felt the ABS operate when on snow or a slick road? It pulses, as opposed to generally "letting off" pressure, and you hear it as well as feel it through the brake pedal. From your post I assume you are feeling a general loss of brake effectiveness? I would lean more toward needing to bleed the system or a master cylinder problem.

Good luck

Please let us know what you learn.

By the way, just re-read your post. On my '96 when I have had the ABS and Red brake light on, it has always been fluid level related. (i.e., my van seems very sensitive to the brake fluid being even slightly low)

Hi busboy

I test dove the van today and it does have a light bump feel sound as you come to a stop but sometimes it feels like a bad master cylinder.

I read a bunch of Posts and figured it was going to be rear wheel speed sensor related. I unhooked the rear sensors one at a time till the let off /bumping went away. It turned out to be the right rear sensor. I did not replace it yet but when I do I let you know if that really did fix it.
The connectors are behind the axle along the square box frame and you dont have to even jack up the van to unplug them.

I did pull the wheel and clean and checked the air gap as some posters had luck with this but I did not.

Thanks jeff