I need to order a CV Halfshaft for my 1997 Mercury Sable. The autozone website tells nme it needs to know whether the car has antilock brakes or not. Dumb I know, but I have no clue whether this car has antilock or not. How do I tell?
Have someone more knowledgeable than yourself check under the hood for the ABS unit… Or find some dirt road and, at 10 mph or so, brake hard. If the wheels lock, you don’t have ABS. If you feel a vibrating resistance in the brake pedal, along with a strange rumbling sound, you do have ABS.
Turn the ignition key to ON and all of the dash warning lights will light up. If one of them says ABS, then you know. If there is no ABS light you don’t have antilock brakes.
Does it have a toothed ring around the end of the half-shaft (where it goes through the wheel hub)? If so, it’s ABS - if not, it’s standard. Also, you can just buy the ABS half-shaft, it should fit without any modification in either case. It won’t do anything if you don’t have ABS, but it won’t hurt anything either.