ABS and Traction Control lights on?

I bought my father-in-laws 2003 Impala, it has 82K miles on it and he took good care of it. Both the ABS and Traction Control lights came are on. My first thought was maybe it needs new brake pads, they look like they should be replaced ( just a visual without removing them). Could brake pads that are worn out cause these two lights to come on? Forgot to mention that when you first start the car you can drive five or six miles before both lights come on.

Thanks,
Bobg

Something is wrong with the abs, it neeeds to be scanned with an abs function scanner for a proper diagnosis.

Low brake fluid will cause both those lights to come on. As the pads wear, the fluid level in the reservoir drops, eventually it is low enough to trip the sensor.

Another common cause is a bad hub or broken wire to the hub. A scanner can tell you which hub. Check the connector at each hub (there is only one set of wires going to the hub, you can't miss it) for corrosion or evidence of a broken wire or water getting in.

Iflylow has got the right ideas. I had ABS & Traction lights going nuts, and suspected that it was the ABS sensor in the hub bearings. Didn't solve the problem. Turned out it was the wiring that goes to the sensor. Had nothing to do with the plug connectors. Apparently, the wiring can go bad on the Impalas. I had a garage put a wiring replacement kit in on both sides, and problem was finally gone for good. Dealers apparently recommend replacing the entire wiring loam, but that shouldn't be necessary (the price will make you faint).

Low brake fluid will cause both those lights to come on. As the pads wear, the fluid level in the reservoir drops, eventually it is low enough to trip the sensor.

Another common cause is a bad hub or broken wire to the hub. A scanner can tell you which hub. Check the connector at each hub (there is only one set of wires going to the hub, you can't miss it) for corrosion or evidence of a broken wire or water getting in.

Iflylow has got the right ideas. I had ABS & Traction lights going nuts, and suspected that it was the ABS sensor in the hub bearings. Didn't solve the problem. Turned out it was the wiring that goes to the sensor. Had nothing to do with the plug connectors. Apparently, the wiring can go bad on the Impalas. I had a garage put a wiring replacement kit in on both sides, and problem was finally gone for good. Dealers apparently recommend replacing the entire wiring loam, but that shouldn't be necessary (the price will make you faint).


I have been trying to figure this out of the longest. The ABS on my impala acts up sometimes. Somebody finally told me it was the wires and I found the correct wire loom for it online but never got around to making the repair. I think after I followed the wire and saw that it ran to a very inaccessible area under the hood I gave up.
josephk300 do you know exactly what portion of the wire was replaced? If the fix requires a small portion of the wire replaced instead of the whole wire loom than I would be willing to fix it this weekend. I also guess it wont hurt for me to take another inspection at it either, maybe I missed a bad portion of the wire when I first looked into this.

Its not a specific portion of wire, yours could be split in a completely different spot. I'd check the ABS wheel speed sensor harnesses going to each front wheel down near the ball joint as it flexes there a lot. If the wiring looks good, you could have a bearing issue also.

gordon_gjs - I believe the shop did the limited replacement of my wiring harness with the harness kit by using the procedure in the attached PDF of the tech bulletin. Source for this PDF:

http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/mcvgreg/2009-08-03_005857_2003-Regal-ABS-TSB.pdf

Good luck, and I hope this helps solve your problem.

Its not a specific portion of wire, yours could be split in a completely different spot. I'd check the ABS wheel speed sensor harnesses going to each front wheel down near the ball joint as it flexes there a lot. If the wiring looks good, you could have a bearing issue also.


Yea, that could be an issue. The wheel bearings have 170,000 on them.
Mine only seem to go crazy when I pull out of my driveway and all it seems to do is just trigger the abs pumps for a second or so.

gordon_gjs - I believe the shop did the limited replacement of my wiring harness with the harness kit by using the procedure in the attached PDF of the tech bulletin. Source for this PDF:

http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/mcvgreg/2009-08-03_005857_2003-Regal-ABS-TSB.pdf

Good luck, and I hope this helps solve your problem.


This is great, I will be checking this out... Thanks