Disabling ABS - Experiments

[ScorpioGTX1]

Anyone who knows me knows that I despise ABS. It makes you stop longer on dry pavement, wet pavement, gravel, snow, and pretty much every surface imaginable.

Sure, it has advantages over simply locking up your brakes (namely the ability to steer), but with a little bit of driving skill that isn't a problem. Go to an empty parking lot, hit the brakes, control the brake pressure, and repeat until you learn how to threshold brake. Now you can stop faster than ABS and can still steer to avoid obstacles. Congratulations, you're now a better driver for it.

I've been driving a car without ABS for the past 6 years, so I wasn't enthralled with having ABS forced upon me in the 2. At least Mazda gives you the much-needed option to turn off DSC, but that darn ABS is still crap on snow. It kicks in way too early and destroys your ability to stop fast. So I began a mission to destroy it.

Pull some fuses, they said. It will be easy, they said.

And... yeah, it pretty much is.


As you'll see in the owner's manual, there's no dedicated ABS fuse, just two DSC fuses (DSC-P [7] and DSC-V[8]). So I started pulling them out and observed the results.


DISCLAIMER: Proceed at your own risk. I will not be responsible if you kill yourself while being an idiot or destroy your car while being an idiot. Don't be an idiot and you should be fine, though. But still, proceed at your own risk.


Pulling both fuse 7 and 8:
DSC and ABS are both disabled. Steering feels normal. Dashboard is lit up like a christmas tree, though. ABS, DSC OFF, Brake System Warning Light, Power Steering Malfunction Warning Light, Malfunction Warning Light, and Check Engine are all on.

Pulling fuse 8 only:
DSC and ABS are both disabled. Power steering does not operate normally though. You can still drive the car, but the steering feels weightier (though I believe not as much as power steering being completely off). ABS, DSC OFF, and Check Engine lights are on, but strangely the Power Steering Malfunction Warning Light is not. I do not recommend driving with only fuse 8 pulled.

Pulling fuse 7 only:
This seemed to have the best results. DSC and ABS are both disabled. Power steering operates normally. Only the ABS, DSC OFF, and Check Engine lights are on.

Note: After my experimentation, I replaced all the fuses, but the check engine light remained on. After turning the car on and off a couple times though, the light went away.


All in all, the 2 brakes far better on snow without ABS. I love it.

 

[Doc_speeder]

Haha, Gawd I miss Saskatchewan! People here in Southern AB are such panzies as soon as it gets a bit cold and we get a bit of snow. It's hilarious.

 

[Sarein]

Great write up, thankyou.
Been wondering how to get rid of this.

 

[323F Rock]

not investigated the 2's system but could we not unplug all the wheel sensors?

 

[ngd298]

I don't know how the 2's system works, but on my truck I unplugged one of the wheel sensors, the ABS light was illuminated and the ABS quit working until I plugged it back up.

 

[Darkwind]

This could be exactly what I'm looking for. And your speedometer still works? As in, the wheel-speed sensor isn't connected to the ABS sensor?

 

[CorkSport]

With the wheel speed sensors the car will start cutting power from our experience. We had it happen at the runoffs when my paddock mate flipped the 2 it broke one of the front wheels sensors and we discovered the difference when he went out on the track to make sure the car was driving straight.

-Derrick

 

[XCLR8TN]

With the wheel speed sensors the car will start cutting power from our experience. We had it happen at the runoffs when my paddock mate flipped the 2 it broke one of the front wheels sensors and we discovered the difference when he went out on the track to make sure the car was driving straight.

-Derrick

Why would Mazda do that? I don't recall this happening when I attempted to override my wheel speed sensors by wiring a switch inline, and I took the car on track. I never did figure out why I couldn't get both front and rear to turn off together. Could have been as simple as a faulty switch, but I know I DEFINITELY got the rears to not have ABS. At first I thought disconnecting one sensor would do all 4 wheels (like a normal car?!) but had read somewhere on this forum that front and rear were separated.

Interesting.

 

[CorkSport]

Why would Mazda do that? I don't recall this happening when I attempted to override my wheel speed sensors by wiring a switch inline, and I took the car on track. I never did figure out why I couldn't get both front and rear to turn off together. Could have been as simple as a faulty switch, but I know I DEFINITELY got the rears to not have ABS. At first I thought disconnecting one sensor would do all 4 wheels (like a normal car?!) but had read somewhere on this forum that front and rear were separated.

Interesting.

It was the right front which was broken if that matters.