i have a car with ABS, the ABS light stays on. i know it lights up on start up as a self test or to tell you it's working. i've not drove the car yet, actually not saw it yet, but i'm suspose to look at it tonite. any one have experience with ABS or give me a few hints as to what to look at. i'm not going to get to far into the system, if it requires it i'll let a real mechanic have it.

 

What kinda car?

The ABS light will stay on any time ANYTHING is wrong in ANY part of the ABS system. this totaly shuts the system down to make sure the solenoids dont get stuck in the closed position resulting in zero braking pressure, or the system just not working properly to stop the car on a dime.

i usually see the light come on for wheel speed sensors. they get road debris and the elements tearin away at them....

see if the ABS module is connected securly...ive seen water get past the connector seal and all it took was some shop air to solve the problem.

it would be helpful to know what make/model/year it is so you might be able to manually pull some codes out to pin point your problem. if you can get you hands on a scan tool it usually leads you right to the prob.

also ...but very unlikely... there might be a sort in the lights wire which could keep it on...

 

My wife's Caddy used to do that, turns out it needed a relay... same relay as a fan or MAF or lots of others....

But like cdog says, wheel sensors are prime candidates, they're in a rather adverse environment. You can get codes from the ABS computer like you can from the engine one, it will actually confess what it's PO'd about.

 

ok thanks, it's a grand am, 95 or 96. i never got to look at it, took longer to finish something else than i thought.

 

Mine needed fluid ('90 SSE).

I'm 1500 miles from home, today wife tells me daughter was driving '92 Lumina and brake pedal goes down, car doesn't slow down. Doesn't hit anything, crawls to her destination, comes out 1/2 hour later and everything's fine. Don't know yet if brake light came on.

Gotta love company travel...

 

If it's an early '90's GM then you ground ALDL pins A and H and the ABS light will flash a code just like the ECM will.

This is how it works on my '92 Astro, maybe you want to double check which ALDL pin is for the ABS on you car tho.

 

Hes got the OBDII system which im not sure you can pull the codes manually like the older comp. im gonna check that out though

 

Nope, you cannot jump any pins with the OBDII DLC connector. Gotta have a scan tool.

ede, visually check for all the things previously stated. If you cant see anything visually wrong, see if u can borrow a scan tool, or go buy one of those cheap code pullers from pepboys, i think they're like $20-30, wont do much but give you a code. you ve got to find the rest out yourself.

 

oh. He didn't specify, so I thought I'd throw that out there just in case.

Bummer...

 

Yeah , i was thinking of that too until he gave the year. :lala:

 

ok it's a 95 and has an ALDL, obdI, but the only pins are A, B, and M. the light was out and i couldn't get it to stay on no matter how many times i restarted the car. locked it up on my drive way and it seems the ABS works just fine. i guess all i had to do was pull it in the garage to fix it. pulled the wheels and didn't see anything real noticable so i'm done till it acts up again.

 

sounds like the abs module connecter might not be on tight....or it has some moisture in it. I would claen the terminals and put it back on tightly.