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97 Achieva Brake Issue


BSAZ
11-12-2007, 06:23 PM
Dear AF experts

I own an Achieva (1997, 3.1L, 130k miles, automatic) since a few months. The car runs great, but there is one strange issue with the warning ligths: When I turn on the engine, after I drive for about 10 feets, I hear a strange "clack-clack" noise and then, some warning lights on the dashboard appear: sometimes only ETS off, sometimes ETS off and ABS, sometimes ABS and emergency brake and sometimes nothing.
I let service the brake system (brake pads and fluid), but the problem still persist. A few days ago, I went to a garage specialized in brakes and they analyzed my car for about one hour.
They reported to me the following:
Either the ECPM module is broken or some wires are defective, causing the ECPM module to fire "fault codes".
The ABS system would not work at the moment, but the normal brakes do work properly. The repair of this issue is not recommended since it would cost a lot of money and they could not guarantee that they could fix it. But again, the normal brakes are not affected by this issue.

Since I am not a car expert at all, I would like to ask you if you agree with it, resp. if it makes sense?

Thank you very much for your help.
Best regards,
BSAZ

maxwedge
11-12-2007, 06:33 PM
Welcome to AF, this can be as simple as a bad wheel speed sensor ( common), a full scan while driving with an abs function scanner will show wheel speed inputs during the event, codes can be misleading and point to the wrong issue, I have seen this many times.

BSAZ
11-12-2007, 07:18 PM
Dear maxwedge,
Thank you very much for your fast and helpful answer. I'm impressed. Next month, I will bring in my car for an oil change (very frequent in AZ), and I will encourage the garagist to check this issue, as described by you.
Again, thank you!
BSAZ

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