Lincoln MKZ anti-lock brakes.......HELP

My wife drives a 2008 Lincoln MKZ with approximately 62,000
miles on it. This car is basically the same as the Ford fusion
or a Mercury Milan. A little while ago I was driving it and had
to do a panic stop because of turkeys crossing the road, I
thought the brake pedal was a little spongy afterwords but
didn't mention it. My wife has started commenting on it and
she wanted me to get it serviced so I took it to a local garage
that had the appropriate scan tool to cycle the ABS brakes.
He said that without a doubt the hydraulic end of the ABS
control module needs replaced, it is not a take apart and
repair item it as a whole unit.

His description of what happened goes like this. When you
use the brakes in an emergency situation and a wheel locks
up the computer tells this valve within the ABS module to open
up and release pressure. This valve opens and closes
repeatedly creating the ABS feeling in the pedal and allows the
locked up wheel to turn. If you have not use the ABS function
in a while the Valve can get sticky and tear the seal that it goes
through. This prevents the valve from returning to it's closed
position and now gives you The spongy break feeling we are
noticing.

If you give it time the valve seems to close and you regain
brake pedal feeling again and everything is normal until the
next ABS situation panic stop.

The hydraulic control module that I need cost about $1000 and
an additional couple hundred dollars for the labor. The
problem is the part is on national backorder and they don't
know when it will become available. We are getting into snow
and Ice soon, I fear that the part is not going to become
available when she needs the ABS brakes to be working.

Do you guys have any suggestions on the situation?
Could I pull the ABS fuse from the car so that the abs control
valve never opens but she no longer has any ABS function at
all?
Should this be some type of warranty work the Ford garage
said there was no recalls or statements issued that it should
be.

Thanks guys

The ABS on my 2001 Chevy K3500 malfunctioned and basically caused the brakes to function poorly at speeds below about 5 mph. There was a factory recall on on other GM vehicles, but the trucks were not included and I would have to pay to get it fixed. Since I don't like ABS in the first place, I pulled the fuse, put some black tape on the dash lights that lit up, and went happily on my way. That was about 10 years ago. Truck works just fine without ABS.

That's why I drive Toyotas. My friend is so mad at their Taurus that they are shopping for something else. I advised him to check Toyota if they want less trouble.

Check out a guy on youtube that's a ford dealer technician. He's always listing common problems and solutions.
Because I drive Fords, I look at his post.
It's listed as "Fordtechmakuloc"
Good luck.

You can pull the fuse on the ABS and the brakes will function just like older cars that did not have ABS. Only bad part is they will lock up in a panic stop if you don't think and let off the pedal a little to gain traction back and reapply pressure. Other than that they will function normally while you are waiting on your parts to come in.

Greg

(quoted from post at 11:00:23 10/24/14) That's why I drive Toyotas. My friend is so mad at their Taurus that they are shopping for something else. I advised him to check Toyota if they want less trouble.

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That's funny, you couldn't give me a new Toyota. I've never heard anything good about the closest dealer who is like the others 25 miles away. Next is 90 miles. Ford, GM and Fiat (Chrysler) is 35. Just too far to go for a problem.

Rick

what does the fluid look like ? is it off color , greenish tint ? Should be clear . if it is off color may be contaminated with moisture etc causing some internal corrosion or sticking in a dump valve . If you are very lucky flushing the brake fluid and using a scan tool to activate the ABS service bleed function several times may free it up.

I've been driving cars for 70 years, including new company cars. Been driving Toyota's since 1990 and they are the most reliable, trouble free vehicles that I've ever had.

The only time I go to the dealer is to buy the vehicle and if there is a warranty recall. I do all the routine maintenance myself so I know that it's done to my satisfaction.

But if you like trouble, the Big Three will keep you real busy. I bought hundreds of Big Three vehicles for the fleet - and they sure kept our shops busy. All we ever got from the manufacturers was a lot of double talk when we had serious problems. The worst of them were dumped at auction.

I have ordered a number of parts from Parts Train they sell OEM in no name packaging for way less than dealers. That module is also available from many places on ebay. Since your mechanic has the ability to check it you have no safety concerns.

In the last twenty four years the quality of domestic cars have generally caught up with or passed the imports again. Try a new one, you might just like it.

I was never too impressed with imported trucks or domestic motorcycles.

When the power steering pump goes bad on a duramax, you have no brakes once it drops converter lock-up. And it turns left equalizing the pressure on both sides of the piston in the steering box. And you roll right by your intersection at 15mph because the boss just says "that's what the transmission downshifting is for".