My 2000 Dodge Durango has been wonderful! It has over 114,000 miles and still runs great. However, the other day I was pulling out of a parking lot and it suddenly started making a strange sound. It was like a pretty loud humming noise, coming from the area of the engine. I instantly turned off the engine, but the humming sound persisted. I started it up again and drove directly to an auto repair shop maybe 1-1/2 miles away. It drove perfectly, but my ABS and brake lights were on. They opened the hood, and took the cover off of the fuse box? I guess, behind the battery and started checking the different fuse connections (my interpretation). He pulled one of the plastic green square tops off of one and the sound stopped! But the lights stayed on. He said the diagnostic thing said the motor was bad to my ABS brakes. But that it would take some time to get into it to know exactly what was going on. He said that it thought that my ABS brakes were on and that I could drive it as is, but I just didn’t have any ABS brakes. I have been driving it for about 3 or 4 days as is, and am wondering if it is going to cost an arm and a leg to fix? Is it a sensor or a motor or something else and is it difficult and time consuming to determine it and are the parts costly?
It sounds like the high pressure pump that pressurizes the ABS system was running continuously. The pump normally runs briefly at start-up, and then shuts off.
If the pump was running, as I suspect, then the pump itself may be alright and the sensor that controls it, or some other component, may be bad.
Right now you have standard brakes, which will continue to work, but the ABS function is deactivated.
Only testing of individual components of the ABS system will tell where the problem lies. There’s no way to estimate cost without knowing what’s wrong, but we’re talking about the BRAKES, which are pretty important.
I’d say you have to spend whatever it takes to fix it if you want the ABS to work.