Abs And Anti Skid Lights On After Being Towed

[Stu9]

On 03 mk2 focus 1.8 tdci.....while driving, glow plug came on and engine cut out, tried to start it but wouldn't then a neighbour towed me back. After some buggering about with a vacuum pump at the filter (got some air out but I know that had nothing to do with it, not while driving) it started but a lot of smoke out the back (black I think).

After a few minutes of high'ish idle it was going fine but the abs and anti skid lights stayed on..

Took it out for a few miles but they stayed on....is this related to the glow plug light coming on and it cutting out, as being towed I doubt has anything to with it

[Stu9]

Anybody

[IINexusII]

first thing to do is plug in a code scanner and read the codes, then try clearing them and going for a drive, if it comes back then the issue is still there and youll need to know what the code is then go from there

[Stu9]

Yea a mate will do it shortly.....but I just can't figure out why a glow plug light and the engine cutting out then getting towed back caused them to come on

[J87]

if you had the front wheels off the ground whilst being towed the abs light would come on because they are reading different road speeds

[mjt]

When I had an instance of the glow plug light coming on and the engine cutting out it was caused by a failing cam sensor. The issue with the ABS and ESP lights is likely a result of the towing.

[Stu9]

if you had the front wheels off the ground whilst being towed the abs light would come on because they are reading different road speeds

They weren't

[TomsFocus]

Towing can cause ABS and ESP faults. Not sure if it's the same but I needed to manually clear the ESP faults after a rolling road run, they didn't clear at the next drive, even though there were no permanent faults. As for the glowplug light, it can mean various faults so codes need reading for that.

[Stu9]

That's what's happened then...doesn't say much for Ford when you can't tow the !Removed! thing without that happening

I think I injectors now too....I'm sick of this

[mjt]

if you had the front wheels off the ground whilst being towed the abs light would come on because they are reading different road speeds

Surely it would only detect this if it was being towed with the ignition on and if the front wheels were off the ground there would be no need for this.

Conversely if it was being towed with a rope and the ignition was on to unlock steering and use indicators and brake lights there wouldn't be an unusual difference between the wheel signals.

[Stu9]

if it was being towed with a rope and the ignition was on to unlock steering and use indicators and brake lights there wouldn't be an unusual difference between the wheel signals.

That's the way it was done but still happened.....I'm not in habit being towed but anything I've been in before never did this

[TomsFocus]

That's what's happened then...doesn't say much for Ford when you can't tow the !Removed! thing without that happening

I think I injectors now too....I'm sick of this

Sorry, I misread as well, if you were towed with all 4 on the ground that shouldn't have caused the ABS/ESP lights really. Though it's possible a wheel was 'dragged' slightly on a corner while towing. Either way, get the faults read/cleared and go from there. Not sure if these would clear from just unplugging the battery for a while, I'd probably give that a go if I didn't have access to diags. Make sure you have the radio code if you try that.

As for injectors, why do you think it's them? If it's missing since the cut out and glowplug light it's probably just the cam sensor as Mike said above, seems common on the 1.8s.