ABS light - Maintenance and Repair Forum

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ABS light
Saturday, May 15, 2010 9:42 AM
every time i break traction, on purpose or not, my ABS light comes on, and just to check yesterday i slammed on the brakes and my ABS didnt kick in. i have an 01 2.2 5 speed.




z yaaaa wrote:other than the nasty hood dent, steelies, 4X4 ride heidt, crooked front license plate, body color b pillar covers, 2200, lack of tint, and overall boringness of the car id say she's perfect!


Re: ABS light
Saturday, May 15, 2010 12:54 PM
It sounds like it is the ABS pump or controller is not functioning, try to find a scrapped car and get one cheap,,, but if you had to go to GM and buy one you might pay more than you did for the car.
I had a 94 Sunbird back in 2000 with the same problem so I just took the ABS light out of the instrument panel and was done with it, personally I hate ABS.(Good drivers should know when their wheels are locking and learn to correct it, instead of just mashing on the brake) I think it can be very dangerous to drivers that are unfamiliar with the ABS system taking over..People should practice skidding out and locking the wheels for sure, especially up here in Canadian winters.
Re: ABS light
Saturday, May 15, 2010 2:56 PM
yeah i dont need ABS, it just bothers me when the light comes on. i can control the car when it slides. i mean, we've all done e brake turns




z yaaaa wrote:other than the nasty hood dent, steelies, 4X4 ride heidt, crooked front license plate, body color b pillar covers, 2200, lack of tint, and overall boringness of the car id say she's perfect!

Re: ABS light
Saturday, May 15, 2010 3:58 PM
Lewis wrote:It sounds like it is the ABS pump or controller is not functioning, try to find a scrapped car and get one cheap,,, but if you had to go to GM and buy one you might pay more than you did for the car.
I had a 94 Sunbird back in 2000 with the same problem so I just took the ABS light out of the instrument panel and was done with it, personally I hate ABS.(Good drivers should know when their wheels are locking and learn to correct it, instead of just mashing on the brake) I think it can be very dangerous to drivers that are unfamiliar with the ABS system taking over..People should practice skidding out and locking the wheels for sure, especially up here in Canadian winters.


Yeah, tell him to start tossing parts at it, thats real helpful.

How about getting the computer scanned for whatever ABS code it has


- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new



Re: ABS light
Monday, May 17, 2010 2:47 PM
Take the bulb out, Easy way to turn it off!


Fireboy153
Brady Fire Co. - Station 150
Long Live The Sunflower! (yea its not so "cool")
Re: ABS light
Saturday, May 22, 2010 10:29 PM
def with you on this one rob, if your gonna come on the maintenence forum dont tell people who are asking for help to throw parts at it. especially expensive ones

The problem could be an ebcm, bpmv, a wheel speed sensor problem or maybe an issue in the wiring (anything can happen) so a code would really help in diagnosis

Or you can just listen to everyone else.... excluding rob....and put an ebcm/bpmv (abs unit), and wheel speed sensors in it. It would cost a pretty penny and take a good amount of time but hey ull probably fix it, unless of course its an electrical issue lol
Re: ABS light
Sunday, May 23, 2010 8:07 AM
correct me if I am wrong, but I thought I was telling him the cheapest way out by trying to buy second hand unit cheap if he wanted to try and fix it or take the bulb out,and i think he understood me.
where I am from most people would just give him the parts he needed if we had a scrapped car, these cars are a dime a dozen.
You are basically telling him the same thing I told him....Except using terms he would have to take an Auto Tech. course to understand.lol

Some people use this forum to hear alternate ideas from people who actually had the same problems , not always the same "get it scanned b'y " everyone knows about scan tools but not everyone has one, so by getting it scanned you will have to bring it to a shop....how cheap is that method

If it where a wheel sensor and not the pump or controller, wouldn't the ABS light stay on or come on intermittently when driving, not only when the wheels are locked. You shouldn't need a scan tool to know roughly where the problem is.
Re: ABS light
Sunday, May 23, 2010 9:06 AM
Lewis wrote:correct me if I am wrong, but I thought I was telling him the cheapest way out by trying to buy second hand unit cheap if he wanted to try and fix it or take the bulb out,and i think he understood me.
where I am from most people would just give him the parts he needed if we had a scrapped car, these cars are a dime a dozen.
You are basically telling him the same thing I told him....Except using terms he would have to take an Auto Tech. course to understand.lol

Some people use this forum to hear alternate ideas from people who actually had the same problems , not always the same "get it scanned b'y " everyone knows about scan tools but not everyone has one, so by getting it scanned you will have to bring it to a shop....how cheap is that method

If it where a wheel sensor and not the pump or controller, wouldn't the ABS light stay on or come on intermittently when driving, not only when the wheels are locked. You shouldn't need a scan tool to know roughly where the problem is.


I understand where your coming from but where i come from we diagnose the problem before we put a part on. Your probably right about it being a bad abs unit but how do you actually know.

And ive had wheel speed sensors only act up with hard motions like a wheel lockup, thousands of coils of copper wire can do wutever they want lol

Also if you dont understand the terms u shouldnt be working on your car lol. I use them cuz its the correct term. idk any others. i can sit there and explain everything but then my post would end up being a book.

All i really know from his abs light being on is that there is an issue in the abs system. So if it is a wheel speed sensor, which is probably unlikely but possible, then when he hits the brakes and there is a wheel lockup condition and the wheel speed sensor drops out it will set a current (which means its failiing right now) code and turn the abs light on and disable the abs system b/c it doesnt know the speed of that one wheel, it could be moving or it could be not moving, and the Electronic Brake Control Module (which is the computer of the abs system) cant calculate how much brake fluid to push to that wheel. Pretty much when the computer sees the wheel speeds go from moving to 0 than it sends a signal to the Brake Pressure Modulator Valve and tells it to start pulsating , the BPMV is what pulsates the brakes by allowing brake fluid to pulsate through opening and closing valves. <--This why i just use my acronyms and leave it at that.

You dont always need a scan tool to diagnose a problem but something like this requires it

He shouldnt mess with the ebcm/bpmv <--together as one unit, b/c when you take the brake lines off u create huge air bubbles at the top of the brake fluid system and its a #%$^* to get them out without special equipment. So he could finish it up and think he got all the air bubbles out and them still be trapped at the top of the system and when he goes to hit his brakes they make there way down to his calipers and wheel cylinders and suddenly he has no brakes

Your suggestion was good but if he did go the route of going and buying the part from the dealership and spent the i think 1500 for the unit and put it on and it didnt fix it then he just wasted his money for a suggestion
Re: ABS light
Sunday, May 23, 2010 1:55 PM
I totally understand what you are saying too, a scan tool is the only way to really pin point a problem like this and would save you a head ache in fixing it.
I still would just unplug that bulb from the instrument panel and be done with it, if this happened to me again but now I am driving a 89 gt so not too soon.
Different minds solve problems best, it is nice to see people that don't need to be ignorant to make their points
Re: ABS light
Tuesday, June 01, 2010 8:15 PM
Mine was a wheel sensore, right rear, so its the whole hub. A very easy fix. For ABS, i would scan it to find out.


Fireboy153
Brady Fire Co. - Station 150
Long Live The Sunflower! (yea its not so "cool")
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