I've got a '96 Outback Legacy and the ABS light just came on. I shut the car off and continued to hear a hissing, whirring sound from the engine compartment. I opened the hood and the sound was apparently coming from the hydraulic control unit (apparently just the hydraulic control unit, not the control "module," which according to Haynes is located in the dash in this car). This is located in the front passenger side corner of the engine compartment. It sounded like a pump going on and on, even though the car was off and the key was out of the ignition. I had to disconnect the wiring connector to the unit to get it to stop. What is likely going on, and what are my next steps?

 

Thanks for helping.

I think that there was a factory recall for that happening in 96. I don't know what the fix would be, though.

Its a stuck relay. Unplug the relay and get one from a junkyard. You can get them from a dealer but $$$ bucks.

 

nipper

yeah this is a known issue that happens sometimes. with some searching you can read all about it and fixing it.

 

might even be some suggestions on replacing the relay...like finding a cheaper source or different part (since the originals are prone to fail).

 

if a later model is the same, i'd try to get one of those.

See: http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/ABSInsiderEWFall05.pdf