Hey everyone.. Problem on my 06 Escape - V6 - 38,000 - city driven

I have a blinking 4wd light AND an ABS light that stays on all the time in the gauge cluster. Local dealer wants to charge me 200+ dollars just to tell me what they mean. Have not rented an OBD-2 machine yet from local parts store. I'm toldto make sure it is a newer machine if I do rent one.Thought I would see if anyone has insight on this problem first. I brought it into the dealer and the service guy seemed surprised when I told him that both were on together. I suspect by his surprise this may not be a cheap repair.

I do believe it is more than just a malfunctioning/ghost error light. In this case, lets use the example of when I leave my underground garage. When I am making the tight almost 90 degree turn to the left out of the garage, the car seems to be in 4 wheel drive because I almost need to "muscle" the steering wheel to make the turn. It makes noises like it is struggling/forced to make the turn and does not want to. The 4wd must be engaged here for some reason. Only when I drive slower or am making turns in neighborhoods do you notice the sluggishness of the turns.Since these lights have gone on I have also noticed a "clicking" noise coming from the front end when I am turning a corner maybe 20+ mph. Never hear it when I am making a slow corner.

Any insight/direction is greatly appreciated!!

 

Might take a look at the wheel speed sensor ring on the side where you hear the 'click' coming from, could be that the ring has cracked and become loose.. Both the ABS and Traction control use the signals from each hub/strut mounted sensor to detect/matchfor slip or lock conditions..

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I just had the same problem with my '06 XLT V6. I recently just bought it used from a dealer and had a problem with it when I got it. There was a clunking noise coming from the rear everytime I turned so they wound up putting in a new differential, wheel bearings, rotors and some sensors. So when I saw these lights come on, I figured it had something to do with the reapirs mentioned above. I brought it back to the dealer and they hooked up the scanner. Apparently when the ABS lighs turns on and the 4WD light is flashing intermittently.....it is because a relay has been tripped. This one indicates that one of the wheels on the 4WD system has slipped and spun at speeds in excess of 131 km/h (sorry, I live in Canada). They reset it and sent me on my way. The only problem was that the day it happened I never had the wheel slip....especially not in excess of 131km/h. I figure it is a faulty wheel sensor or something so if it goes off again, I will go back and have them change it.