ABS light stays on on 96 Sunfire...

[paulpop72]

It used to come and go, but now once I start the car and drive for a couple of minutes it stays on. Any idea what it could be? I have not checked brake fluid yet.

My other question is are anti-lock brakes that important as long as the brakes in the car do work? I have 120,000 miles on this SE model. I am not sure how much $$$ I'd want to pour into her. I am hoping to get at least another year out of the car.

Thanks in advance for your input! 1

Paul

[hopeless4life]

ABS brakes are important in the sense that they help you stop faster, also without ABS your wheels will lock up when you slam on the brakes. But up until 10-15 years ago few cars had ABS so its no big deal. All I can suggest is check the wiring going to the speed sensor on your wheel it sounds like you might have a short. I believe that may be common in some sunfire model years.

[sunfiregirl_96]

My light stays on all the time too, i brought it in and the mechanic found nothing...(pretty bad when even the mechanic has no clue... maybe its just a clueless soul I dont know) I think maybe and I am no expert that maybe it could just be a dirty sensor? If you find out anything...let me know

[MavrosChira]

I've encountered this same problem. It's in the owner's manual.. Something about turning off the car, pulling on the emergency/parking brake, releasing it, then starting the car again.. I can look it up to get the exact wording, but it would faster to check the owner's manual yourself.

[sunfiregirl_96]

I checked the manual like a million times. All it says is to turn the car off, and re-start after a few seconds, then the light should stay off. But with mine when I do that it comes back on after a few seconds. Like I said mechanic has no clue, possibly dirty sensor, I dont know. It's to the point now that if I dont see the light that I panic!!

[me06521]

my abs light comes on and stays on but only if i come close to 130 - 140 km/hr... any ideas???

[sunfire2.2]

Possibly if you look behind your front wheel you wil see a wire hanging down. It is very common for the abs wires to break, in fact mine have broken 3 times. The cables aren't too expensive, but are not worth it at all.

ABS breaks actually prolong your stopping time. They were created to allow you to turn in a hard braking situation. How they work? When you press the brake pedal hard, the ABS system kicks in and puts the brakes on and off in a rapid motion to allow you to steer. Before ABS brakes, some drivers would panic when in an emergency situation and hit the brakes hard and even though they crank the wheel to one side, they continue to go straight because the wheels are locked and act like skiis. However, now ABS allows you to hit the brakes hard and turn in an emergency.

Basically it is emergency braking for dummies, I have been driving my Sunfire without ABS for the last 100,000 KMS and it runs fine. I actually went under the hood and pulled the fuse for the ABS because it gets on my nerves.

If you read any GM history you will find that tests have shown ABS brakes to take longer to stop, but do allow you to turn. I prefer to just let my foot of the brake a little when i need to turn.

[sunfiregirl_96]

Ok checked behind the wheel, no broken wires, read the manual, just says to turn the car off and restart it, BUT when I do that the light comes on the first time I touch the brakes, or if it doesnt come on right away it does the first time I come to a stop....I'm seriously thinking of pulling the fuse.
There is one other problem too, if the light isnt on...and when I do brake, even if it is a stop from an extremely low speed, the brakes shudder and shake the whole car, so if I pull the fuse...will that stop the ABS from kicking in? I hate the ABS anyway cuz when I had an accident in the winter it didnt allow me to stop any faster, I actually hydro-planed..slid further and hit more than I needed to (another car and a fire hydrant...besides the pedestrian that ran out in front of me!) and as far as being able to turn the wheel....not a chance...
Thats about all the help I have for now...any ideas on whether I should pull the fuse would be awesome....
Thanks!!

[sunfire2.2]

Hi,

Pull that fuse! ABS brakes are useless as far as I am concerned. It sounds like you need new brakes and or roters. I would get a mechanic to check that out if the car continues to shake when you slow down. When your roters are warped, the car tends to shimmy because a smooth brake pad is pressing against a warped roter. But pull the fuse and see how it goes.

Hope it all workes out for you.

[paulpop72]

Thanks all. As it turned out it was an electrical situation that was easily correctible. It had something to do with a bad light bulb I bought for a rear blinker. whew lol Now if it were always that simple! What a wonderworld this would be!

Thanks again!


Paul

[sunfiregirl_96]

Thanks for the info Sunfire2.2 but its not the brakes or rotors, I just changed the brakes myself, and checked the rotors while i was under there, they are almost new looking, no scores, no warping...it's just when the abs light comes on that it thinks it needs to do all the abs bs...know what i mean..i'm just going to pull the fuse and go from there.
Trust me if it were something as easy as that..lol it would have been done by now

[Fred-Dawgg]

I just had mine checked...1995 Sunfire. ABS sensor is only crucial when reselling your vehicle. The speed sensor may be shot, $$500.00CDN to replace or sometimes the wiring within the harness may wear and sometimes goes undetected.$$30.00CDN. I would suggest the wiring first. My light has been on for eight years now. No problems.

[Sunfire98girl]

Hello, I find it safer when my ABS light is on. Then i don't have issues with my ABS being overly sensitive and kicking on during odd situations. I'm gonna paste a post that I wrote in another topic about my ABS and let you know what is going on with my ABS:
I have a 98 Sunfire SE. I've had it for about 2 years now. And have had NOTHING but problems with my ABS. Exactly what you are saying with being overly sensitive and all. Have yours ever forced your car to jump foward? Mine have. I was coming off an off ramp to get onto another road. There was an SUV in front of me, and I was stopped. That person had inched up to get ready to move into traffic, so I took my foot off the brake to inch up as well. Soon as I put my foot on the brake the ABS kicked in and forced my car foward for some reason and actually into the SUV. Now those who are aware of how steep of an angle the hood of a sunfire is, can imagine it going underneath an SUV and pushing the hood up. Luckily that was the only damage. After this I took it to the dealer. They changed my front left wheel speed sensor. After a few months it happened again. But knowing how the car was I allow myself a paranoid amount of braking time so there was no accident. Yet again, another dealer visit, and another left front wheel speed sensor. All wiring checked in fine. Now, this winter it gave me problems. Couldn't even drive it in the snow because the ABS was 100x's more sensitive. In May, had the stupid sensor changed AGAIN. Here it is 3 months later and having to take it to the dealer again. I'm calling the dealer and having them check it again. ALL OF IT. And I don't think I should have to pay for it either. It's only been 3 months. But this shouldn't be happening ABS should not be this sensitive. It has kicked in while I was reversing out of a parking spot as I put my foot on the brake to put it into gear, as I was pulling into a gravel drive way and many other inappropriate times. I am calling Pontiac yet again for the 4th time. I have like 6 case numbers for them. If I do not getting anywhere with them I will be taking it higher up because it is getting ridiculous. I have read many forums about this issue with the older model sunfires. I suggest anyone else having this problem to contact their dealers and pontiac customer assistance center (1-800-762-2737) because something needs to be done before it causes anyone else an accident. I'd really like to hear from others that are having the same problem. You can email me at tiggifer19@hotmail.com. Thanks!

Im currently dealing with the dealer in PA and pontiacs general center. Hopefully figuring out what is going on with the ABS brakes. I wish my light stayed on all the time because all that that i just posted doesn't happen when its on.

[Brandish]

I've had the same problem in my '95 Sunfire, but it's very intermittent and normally doesn't happen at all. It seemed to happen more frequently in the winter time (go figure), and I ended up pulling the fuse for a while. Anyways, when the ABS does freak out it's normally at low speeds, like while rounding a corner, and sometimes I can hear it clattering when I hit a hard bump. I haven't looked into it at all, and frankly ABS scares the shit out of me when it happens in the winter time. I'm used to pumping the brakes.

[fixiturselfer]

I've experienced this issue msyelf...
I ignored it for 6yrs and just focused on brake pads and rotor replacement.
The latest problem along with the continuous ABS light On issue was the master cylinder started to run dry on fluid. Now air is in the lines. Now I need new master cylinder.
Bottom line, the master cylinder has the ABS Modulator Assy attached to it...so bench bleeding was fun considering that I discovered that the RL port would not pump the fluid in or out. Great...the ABS Modulator Port for the MC is clogged or blocked. The other three ports are fine...was able to bleed them with no problem. The culprit for the ABS light on dash may be the ABS Valve Solenoid...which measured at 3.5 Ohms on the rear...no clicking action when 12VDC applied across the pin terminals...that's a $63 replacement.
Still working on resolving this...and I will. Will update you once completed.