Black oxidation?

[tomocr]

I am currently working through an ABS/ASC fault on an E39 BMW 528i M-Sport 1999. I have replaced all 4 ABS sensors and had the ABS module refurbished. The lights on the dash came on last year which is the reason I changed all 4 and had the module refurbed. The fault cleared for about 3 months, now the lights are back on. I was out this afternoon and found a small nik in one of the wires on the NSF ABS loom. I trimmed some wire back and noticed it was black, so I trimmed back some more, it seems the wire is black all the way through. I'm a bit nervous about trimming back too much as the loom is short enough as it is. I have never seen a wire turn black before, only green oxidation. Can this cause a high resistance in the circuit? I have tried to solder the blackend wire to a fresh one but the solder will not take to the blackened wire at all. Any tips or ideas?

 

[KiwiME]

Where I've seen black strands it's where moisture has been getting in. Unless it got into the connector crimping it shouldn't necessarily be a problem although it's not good either.
How about the connectors themselves? Clean and bright? I would suggest a light coating of silicone dielectric grease on all connectors and crimps wherever possible.
Are there not codes stored in this system that will point you closer to the problem?

 

[tomocr]

Yes there are error codes. I'm just about to restore my laptop back to XP so I can use my diagnostics software again, this will tell me at least which sensor is not giving a signal to the abs unit. There are no connectors as such, they are all enclosed. Will have another fault finding session tomorrow.

 

[KiwiME]

Re: the XP, with Vista/W7 did you try installing your SW as "run by administrator"? And then change the compatibility mode to XP SP2. Just a thought.

 

[tomocr]

Yep tried all that. Software installs fine on Windows 7 but the car cannot communicate with the interface. Seems to work only on XP.