Hey all...

I'm from NJ but am living in LA this month in West Hollywood...I drove out here with my friend in his 2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue (3.5L V6, 74K miles)...the car made the trip flawlessly..however, the last 2 days an 'electrical gremlin' seems to have gotten hold of the car..

While driving...(from a stop) the 'anti-lock' light came on and the upon accelerating, the car felt extremely sluggish...almost as if you were stepping on both the gas and the brake simultaneously...it felt like this to about 25-30 mph before it felt ok...but the minute you guy under that speed *and also form a stop) the same symptons occur again...this is turn, was causing the temp gauge to rise as well..had to pull over after awhile to let it cool down..(checked radiator, all hoses and coolant tank - no cracks/leaks anywhere I can see). Removed cables from battery for 10 min to see if it 'tripped' anything, but that didn't work either. The strange part is...this has happened the last 2 days straight, but after about 30-40 min of driving, the car starts performing perfectly again...accelerating properly, no hesitation, no overheating issues...

the 'Traction off' light is also coming on randomly along with the 'airbag' light...

Since I am out of my home base..I need some help... can anyone tell me what they think this might be? I did some research and found some info that pointed to a faulty 'wheel speed sensor'. Does this sound right? Or is it an ABS sensor of some kind?

any help is grealty appreciated...need to find out what this is so we can get it fixed and not get ripped off when we take it to the shop.

 

It sounds like you have a short behind the dash with the lights coming on and off. Although the "Traction" and "ABS" lights might be related to the same problem. It sounds like you have a fault with one of the wheel sensors for either system(although the same sensors are probably used to feed info to both systems). This in turn is causing one or more of your calipers to bind with the pads against the rotors, or you might have a binding caliper and that is causing the lights to come on because the traction control and ABS systems are not able to control the caliper. If your one(or more) of the calipers is binding/sticking when you press the pedal, the car will feel sluggish as it overcomes the drag created by the brake pads on the rotor. Once the brake pads have wore down enough the feeling will go away until you use the brakes again and the caliper(s) bind again.

If you can jack the car up safely, drive the car for a bit, then park it and hold the brakes on for as long as you would at a normal stoplight. Jack the car up and check each wheel to see if you can spin it freely(make sure its in neutral when checking the drive wheels). Whichever one(s) is(are) hard to turn is(are) the one(s) with the problem. Put a rebuilt caliper on it and some new guide pins and you should be fine.

P.S. - Sorry for the novel!

 

Did you check for a fuse? There should be a fuse for the traction and/or abs brakes system.