Will Hydraulic Brake System Work if I Remove ABS Wires

[1993-VG30E-GXE]

Does anyone know if the brake pump (ABS Actuator) will still function for normal braking if I remove the ABS wires and connector thing to the knuckle?

Is the ECU so sophisticated that it won't allow me to run the car if the ABS chain is removed?

[CapedCadaver]

yes, but only if you upgrade the radiator to cope with the added heat

[1993-VG30E-GXE]

So Caped, I want to remove it for good. I can just go and snip the wires in the front wheel well, as the knuckles are off right now anyways.

[CapedCadaver]

now that i have THAT out of the way.....

first off, the ECU does not control ABS. there is a TOTALLY separate control unit for that. The ECU could care less.

Now think about this. If some part of your ABS system fails without you tampering with anything, what happens? Does the car become totally undrivable or does it just illuminate the ABS light and disable ABS until you fix it? The latter, of course. ABS is not a necessary system (neither of my Nissans have it), so the car can still do just fine without it... it'll just funciton as if it never had ABS, except that now there's a yellow light on your cluster. The ABS actuator box is a pass-thru design until it is activated. So if something is amiss, it simply just won't step in, but your brakes will function identically to those of a non-ABS 3rd gen.

So if for whatever reason you need to disconnect/remove certain components of the ABS system, the only thing you have to worry about is being more alert and avoiding hard stops.

[James92SE]

Why not just de-activate it rather than clipping/removing wires?

[1993-VG30E-GXE]

Is it possible to remove the ABS Actuator from the chain and just have the brakes routed to the master cylinder....had I re-done the piping.

A simpler system.

[1993-VG30E-GXE]

Originally Posted by James92SE

Why not just de-activate it rather than clipping/removing wires?

Because I know i'll never need it again, and I'm putting my knuckles on in a minute and can save time finding the tiny screws, plus one of the sensors on the other side needs to have the rust ground off it with a wire wheel and it's going to add more time.

I take it i'll have to disconnect the rears if I cut the front wires out.

[CapedCadaver]

if you want to remove EVERYTHING and reroute to the master cylinder directly you will need all new hardlines, AND a non-ABS spec master cylinder. ABS has 2 outputs, non-abs has 4.

(btw i was just kidding about the radiator thing you're never gonna live that one down)

[1993-VG30E-GXE]

No, I know your kidding guy.

But it's feezing outside and i'm working quickly now, I don't want to get caught in the cold. I did the deed, I went and snipped the wires from the inside of the engine bay. I notice there were little connectors, but I would have had to cut it anyway to pull it out.

Gotta remember to do the rears too. Yes, I remember now, there's something I forgot to ask you. In the VG, all those harness connectors around the engine. Do you remember if they are all keyed differently, so I can't by accidently plug one into the wrong female connector?

Worse comes to worse I can trace it back, but it would be a lot quicker if I just try and mate them up.

All the tranny ones are connected OK.

[CapedCadaver]

Originally Posted by 1993-VG30E-GXE

No, I know your kidding guy.

But it's feezing outside and i'm working quickly now, I don't want to get caught in the cold. I did the deed, I went and snipped the wires from the inside of the engine bay. I notice there were little connectors, but I would have had to cut it anyway to pull it out.

Gotta remember to do the rears too. Yes, I remember now, there's something I forgot to ask you. In the VG, all those harness connectors around the engine. Do you remember if they are all keyed differently, so I can't by accidently plug one into the wrong female connector?

Worse comes to worse I can trace it back, but it would be a lot quicker if I just try and mate them up.

All the tranny ones are connected OK.

on the tranny you can (which will plug into the iacv and injector subharness). just make sure that each wire lines up to another wire... i think one of them has 6 and one 5 (iacv and inhibitor switch), and the way they are bundled SHOULD prevent any cross-wiring. for reference, the harness with yellow/black, yellow/brown, red/black, green/black, green, and yellow/blue belongs on the tranny, as does the 2x2 plug next to it (iirc black, green, green/black, brown). can't remember the wire colors for the iacv and injectors, but if you put the aforementioned ones where they belong, the others will only have 1 place they can go.

[CapedCadaver]

but i still personally would've just unplugged the ABS unit and let that be that. Never say Never, after all.

[bvtran]

rust ate my rear driver side abs wheel speed sensor so I threw it away and unplugged the cables from the octopus looking abs pump. It has been working fine for two+ years. I rather have no abs than a faulty sensor keeping abs flipping on/off intermittently. If you were referring to the cables going into the octopus looking thingy then yes you should be fine. Go for it. But as far as removing the entire abs controlling unit, I wouldn't do it man. You're not going to gain anything from doing it.

[1993-VG30E-GXE]

OK thanks guys.

And yes BVtran it's seems like a big headache, although I will say that when my previous ABS Actuator failed I lost brake control, so if I did re-route and replace the master cylinder as caped said is possible, it could improve safety as one less thing in the chain.

For now I can't do it though, the engine bay is full again, and I just replaced the lines to the stock master cylinder, no way I will do it again. The brake line and fuel line job was a major pain in the ***. Probably worse than anything i've done before, trying to bend those fuel lines properly.