Today at Atelier Kaz - ex-Honda R&D, F1, Indy/CART engineer

One of the reason why extra time was required on this occasion.
On arrival, the ABS fluid level was well below the MIN line so I knew there was some issues but turned out, three out of four ABS solenoids had issues.




Two of them were seized and stuck closed so no ABS at all on these corners and locking the wheels under panic brake conditions.
One solenoid was showing the famous slow leakage issue.






Because of the leakage, even after flushing the system many times, as soon as you pressurise the ssytem, 1,000s of miniature bubbles came out from the return port over night making the fluid unclear/dull.
When there was no leakage, ABS fluid should stay clear/clean and not like this photo showing whitish/dull/out-of-focus looking fluid.




After using the special know-how, managed to recover this one that was seized closed before.




However, these two solenoids were still showing the same issue as before (1 x stuck closed, 1 x leaky solenoid).




Advised the owner to frequently exercise the ABS below 15mph while the tyre is cold or the road surface is safe to do so as the wheel at one corner will lock as the solenoid was seized.
Hope the vibration with frequent exercise will free up the seized solenoid.

For the leaky one, I’m afraid the best bet is to have the ABS refurbished by replacing all of the o-rings, replace the unit with the known good used one or be prepared for the expensive ABS upgrade to the later spec, though can’t justify the cost if you don’t drive regularly.

Can’t remember how many times I drained the reservoir but for the last time, drained and cleaned it to this level.




After the test driving session, adjusted the fluid level just above the MIN line.

Normally, I prefer keeping it at MAX level but with one of the solenoid still bit leaky, I’m quite sure it will create milky fluid due to 1,000s of tiny bubbles and it will be pumped back into the accumulator together with the bubbles so no doubt, it will overflow from the reservoir if the initial fluid level was at the max.