porcupine73 Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Any common causes of ABS code 52 for 2000 Outback? I noticed the ABS light came on this morning. Just went out at lunch and read code 52. The manual says "DTC 52 - Abnormal Motor and/or Motor Relay" Faulty motor, Faulty motor relay, and/or Faulty harness connector I tried wiggling the connector and tapping the motor a little bit and then reset the codes to see if it comes back. I see it also says "Trouble Symptom - ABS does not operate." Actually maybe that is better. I heard others say the system is fairly sensitive. Last week I was making a fairly sharp right turn while braking and hit a medium sized pothole. The ABS kicked and phew that was not good. I was not expecting it and it reduced my slowing down for a second at a critical moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 ABS kicking in when hitting a pothole is it doing what it is supposed to be doing. It will also sometimes kick in on a manhole cover. Faulty relay can be just that, a faulty relay. The ABS ssytem doesnt have many oddball failure modes, they are rather black and white. See if you can find some used relays someplace (as they are expensive) to solve the issue. Sometimes just removing and replacing the connector.relays wil clean the terminals. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted September 4, 2007 Author Share Posted September 4, 2007 Ok, thanks nipper. I'll remove the connector and see if it's corroded or anything and check some things the procedure says like power and ground but if that's all good I'll see what parts I can find used. I saw this section about noting any sounds the unit is making. I'm not hearing any sounds yet, so I'll check the 'does not produce' box for now. I can live with a buzz or maybe a knock but if I hear the gong gong buzz I'm going to be upset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 there's some good endwrench stuff out there for Subaru ABS info. i believe there were certain year/models with relay issues and possibly an updated relay, with a new part number? that's from memory and a little weak though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 These are from the August 2002 issue of End Wrench: http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/IdentifyInfo.pdf http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/ABS.pdf There's more ABS info in that issue, so check the site. ABS relay sticking: http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/ABSInsiderEWFall05.pdf ABS system check: http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/ABSSystemInfo.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted September 4, 2007 Author Share Posted September 4, 2007 Thanks for the help guys. The endwrench articles are very interesting. I think it's fixed now. It was the ground connection. I was following to service manual troubleshooting procedure. It said check some resistances between the connector on the hydraulic unit controller thing there and chassis ground, saying they should be 0.5 ohms or less. I was getting about 7 ohms. I looked for nearby ground connections and there was one at the base of the bracket for the power steering reservoir. I took out the bolt and yep it was the correct ground. The bolt was pretty rusty and the connector dirty, so I cleaned it all up, put in a new bolt, coated the whole deal with kopr-shield. Then the resistance was like 0.2 ohms. I think the bolt hole might be stripped, so maybe this was a problem before. I don't remember messing with this connection in the past but maybe I did as the bolt had the copper stuff on it that I usually use. Then I did the test sequence mode and I could hear all sorts of grring and whirring (no dong dong or gong gong or anything like that - maybe it's the translation from Japanese). I cleared the codes and went for a test drive and the light stayed off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Thanks for the help guys. The endwrench articles are very interesting. I think it's fixed now. It was the ground connection. Congrats. [...]I looked for nearby ground connections and there was one at the base of the bracket for the power steering reservoir. I took out the bolt and yep it was the correct ground. The bolt was pretty rusty and the connector dirty, so I cleaned it all up, put in a new bolt, coated the whole deal with kopr-shield. Then the resistance was like 0.2 ohms.[...] Ah, the joys of living in a "rust-belt" (road-salt) state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 (edited) porc - along time ago i know but how did you test for resistance? pull the ABS connector out and just check between that pin and the ground on the vehicle? can you check between there and any ground or it has to be a certain ground? my closest ground wire on this 1999 seems to be on the passengers side frame rail right next to the ABS pump, the strap goes from there to the ABS harness wiring...so i guess i should use that one. oh yeah - the 2000 models are a little different and moved the power steering reservoir and stuff. i already cleaned the connection and ground and no dice...i should test it next. Edited July 10, 2013 by grossgary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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