99 Grand AM GT ABS/Trac Off, LOW Trac

I just bought a used 9 GT. After about 2 weeks of driving this car, I got the ABS light appearing. It would go away when I turn off the car and start it back up, and about 10 mins later it reappeared. From what I know, it seemed like a sensor problem since we had alot of snow the week prior. Then, the Trac Off light started coming on at the same time as the ABS light came on. Still, looked like a sensor. Now, there is a slight grinding in the front driver side when I slow down...at about 25 KM/hr is where it starts. I don't hear the grinding at any other time and there is no vibration in the wheel. On Sunday, I had a moron pull out in front of me so I had to slam on the brakes. The ABS did not work, and the brakes were not function nearly as well as they should have. It was a very close call, but the brakes on the car are brand new. Last night, on my drive home, the ABS/Trac Off lights were on as usual, and I had the cruise control engaged. The Low Trac light came on and off briefly and at the same time, the cruise control clicked off and there was a slight bump in the engine of some sort. It wasn't a bump that I heard, but I felt it jump or something. very strange for sure. Just wondering if anyone had any advice before I take it to my garage to get raped.

Thanks,

Dave

Well Dave does sound like the hub/bearing assembly is going out. This would cause the two lights(abs trac off) to illuminate on your dash cluster.
Getting the codes read should tell you whats wrong too. It is commen for them to go out, I hav replaced mine and others several times.

One key thing when replacing them, well two things.
First replace both, and Dont use an air impact to tighten things back up, it'll cause premature failure.
I had dealer warrnty work done once, and they used the impact and they went out again after 3months.

And Welcome to Automotuve Forums!

[quote=xeroinfinity]Well Dave does sound like the hub/bearing assembly is going out. This would cause the two lights(abs trac off) to illuminate on your dash cluster.
Getting the codes read should tell you whats wrong too. It is commen for them to go out, I hav replaced mine and others several times.

How difficult is something like this to install? How much would a quote be at a garage? Any ideas?

Thanks,

Dave

not to difficult at all.
You will need a special puller to pull the Hub asemblys out, and a manual for all the torque specs. And of coarse a large torque wrench.

But basicly everything has to come off the spindle. The rim, calipers, rotors, and then the hub assembly's.

Depends on where you liv really on costs, but the parts are around $110 each.
Expect to pay for a couple hours on each side, so 5 maybe 6hours, depending on whom is doing the repairs.
So if laybors $80hr, around $450-600 for the job.

If you hav an extended warrnty it should be coverd under that, jsut pay the deductible.

Ok. so an update on the situation. I bought the car about 1 month ago. Of course, it came with a 30 day warranty or 1500 kms. So I am over the kms for sure. but I thought I would bring it back to them anyway. They haven't questioned me so far, but we will see.
The mechanic called me and said that it was a faulty ABS wire causing the problems. Sounds strange to me that a wire would cause so much havoc...any thoughts out there?

Thats one thing I over looked was a bad wire/connection. They do get frail and break from time to time.

I would certainly hav them fix it, unless they think they need $80 to do it, if that fixes it that would be great, save you same $$$ !

Hope this curses your blues, let us know how it goes.

That's exactly what was wrong with my wife's 2001 GA.Dealer wanted $410 just to fix the hub assembly,and I did it myself and put on new brakes for $139! Took a little time to get the old one off,as you need a special 1/2 inch socket to loosen up the 3 back bolts,and they didn't want to loosen up,but it was well worth saving almost $300 !! And it solved a bad grinding and vibration I had whenever The car turned left as you used the brake.Now if I could just get the power window and drivers side power seat to work.....

So more news on this little problem. I took it back to the dealer to have a look. I was within the 30 day warranty so I thought I would give it a go. THey had their mechanic look at it and he determined that it was a frayed ABS wire. He replaced it and away I went. For a week, the lights did not come on. However, 2 days ago, the lights started to come back on again. Sporadically at first, but now, after 10 mins of driving, they come on again. Is this probably just a sensor? Should I even bother fixing this myself? Will it cause any other problems with the car? Like braking and such?

herringtond, yes you traction control and Abs will not function properly if the ABS and Trac light are on.

I just bought a 99 gt and I'm having the same troubles kinda. My lights come on and go off :banghead: Maybe today I'll take a look at mine and see whats up.
The hub bearings run about $110 each, should replace them in pairs.
To change them you need a special tool to pull the hubs off.

Good Luck!

dieselfan, what Ga do you hav?
Because $140 wont buy the bearings/hub assemblies, maybe 1.
I dont think I could even do brakes for that.. :dunno:

I am having the same problems with my 2002 GA (all 3 lights are coming on but not everytime). We went to the dealer as we saw this post trying to get the hub bearings parts and they charged us $280 a piece. Where did you get the piece for $110?

I have a 4 Cylinder, 1999 Grand Am, with 80,000 miles! I'm having the same problem from as you are describing. I really do not want to take it to the dealer for repair - for fear of being charged out the ying yang!

Here is a similar description of the problems that I'm experiencing:

During low speeds (turning, backing up, driving straight, etc), I hardly feel any noticable vibration. HOWEVER, when I pick up my speed to about 55-80mph, I feel strong vibration coming from the front of my car, which then echos the vibration throughout my entire car (steering wheel, floor, hands, body, etc.). It's a horrible feeling, sometimes I feel like my wheels are going to break off.

Additionally, when I take my foot off the gas going between 55-80mph, the car has even worse vibration. . . . and if I start to accelerat again, it seems to smooth out a little when I hit the gas (but not significantly).

I spoke to a NAPA auto representative, and he says that an off balance tire can cause this. Hmmmm? I wouldn't think it would cause so much vibration that it shakes the entire steering wheel (very annoying by the way). :banghead:


On another note, I also have "TRAC OFF" and the "ABS" warning indicators light up on my speedometer (this probably relates the vibration). I tried to press the TRAC button to turn the TRAC back on, but it fails to work. I also disconnected my battery cable from the car to clear the ABS light, but once I started the car up and move it a little/pressed on break, the light came right back on.

Also note that after 30,000 miles on my car, I've had to replace my rotors several times because they don't seem to last... The rotors WARP about every six months. That seems to be really quick wear for a rotor (Note: I don't break hard!). But I'm no mechanic, I haven't a clue. The breaks are in good shape from what the techs tell me.

If you are right on the HUB Assembly being bad, what kind of tool do I need to remove the HUB? You said it was a special tool - can you buy those anywhere?

Any help or comments on this would be great!

GT1Grand,

On SHOP.com, they have the bearing assembly for 130
-> http://www.shop.com/op/aprod-p35570475?sourceid=13

prices are subject to where you live in the US.
I bought my hub assemblies from Napa @ $110 each, but I order 100's of parts from them every month, so I might be getting a little price break.

OK!
Excessive vibrations can be caused by several things.

Tires out of balance is one, the worst vibrations come from busted belts in the tires making them unstable at higher speeds.
CV joints that are bad, or going bad, wll also cause some vibrations, probley not what you are describing though.

All that shaking could be why your ABS is screwed up, been driving it with excessive vibrations for a long time?

If both the trac off and Abs lights are illuminated, I'd say you hub/bearing assemblies are bad and needing replaced.

BUT,!!
Hav you takin it some where to get the codes read?
If not, Do So. Go somewhere that can read codes for the Abs systems. autoZones scanners dont read all codes, ususally not ABS anyway.
Or take it to a dealershit, and just pay them to diagnose the trouble codes and you could do the repairs.

WARPED, this is common too. It is usually because the lug nuts are improperly torqued, being to tight will crap them out in a hurry, even brand new rotors.
Bad breaking skills, like riding the break etc., can also cause the rotors to go bad quick.
Not having the calipers return after breaking, will fawl them up. This being caused by the sliders the calipers ride on not being greased properly, or bad clips in the top of the calipers.

Maintenance, Maintenance, Maintenance! Cant say it enough :)

Good Hunting guys!

PS. disconecting the battery wont clear trouble codes, need a scanner Tool.

I balanced my front tires only this time round. I found that one was .75 pounds off on one side and the other was 2.5 pounds off at one side (this tire also seemed to be worn more on the edges than the others). I haven't tested it to see if it resolved the vibration problem but my friend said that 2.5lbs is quite a bit off for one tire. So, maybe that caused my serious vibration in the front... if not, I'll have to look towards more "exotic" problems. - hopefully not....I'll keep ya posted. If this works, the next thing I got to figure out why the "ABS" and "TRAC OFF" light indicators are on. I know my brother messed w/ some wires under the dash (in an attempt to hook up remote start), but I'm not sure if that would have caused it... I'm going to borrow a CODE device to plug into the car to see what codes pop up - maybe that'll help.... Investigation will continue this afternoon along w/ a case of beer (sucks to work on Saturday)!

Ohh, one more thing - I talked to the pontiac tech. regarding the pontiac grand am 1999 and he said that disconnecting the battery from the car will clear the codes out. Obviously there's two different views on this. So, if disconnecting the battery from the car doesn't clear the codes, I'll try to find a scanner to do so. To be continued...

2.5# is a bit much. If the tires wearing on the outsides you may hav other issues, tie rods, ball joints, etc.
Or its over inflated....

I know for a Fact disconnecting the battery will not clear codes!
Maybe a service vehicl soon (SVS),, but Not the service engine soon(SES) or ABS/trac off codes.

If someone tried hoooking up an electrical device and didnt disconect the battery can toast other componits in your cars electrical system.............

Good Luck!

I balanced my front tires (one tire in front was off by 2.5lbs). I took my car out the other day and the VIBRATION is FIXED! Thanks - I thought it was something else since all my lights were on in the Dash.

Anyway, the ABS and Trac Off lights still exist though (never went out), so I borrowed a scanner tool from my friend and I received one code back:

-> PO335 Crankshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Malfunction

Would this relate to the ABS/Trac Off light?

I re-ran the scan a second time and the error code doesn't come back up - I'm guessing the scanner cleared it out - I dunno.... Any thoughts?

~
mojo

Anyway, the ABS and Trac Off lights still exist though (never went out), so I borrowed a scanner tool from my friend and I received one code back:

-> PO335 Crankshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Malfunction

Would this relate to the ABS/Trac Off light?

I re-ran the scan a second time and the error code doesn't come back up - I'm guessing the scanner cleared it out - I dunno.... Any thoughts?

~
mojo


Glad you got it fixed !
That P0335 is NOT related to the ABS/Trac lights.

Ya the scanner probley did clear it. Though if the CSP sensor is bad, the car usually wont start.
Your 4cylinder has one, its a 7X its located on the radiator side of your engine block close to the oil filter I think, but yours is probley fine for now.

Though the crankshaft position sensor would be related to misfires.

Glad you got it fixed !
That P0335 is NOT related to the ABS/Trac lights.

Ya the scanner probley did clear it. Though if the CSP sensor is bad, the car usually wont start.
Your 4cylinder has one, its a 7X its located on the radiator side of your engine block close to the oil filter I think, but yours is probley fine for now.

Though the crankshaft position sensor would be related to misfires.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not sure if I was clear on my last post... Although the scanner did clear the "P0335" error code, it didn't clear out my ABS and Trac Off indicator lights in the dash. I thought it would clear it - no luck.... maybe my scanner needs to be a more advanced one..hmmm... any thoughts?

not all scanners will read ABS or clear them, but If you do hav a bad hub assemblies, it wont clear till they are fixed.

So you might want to get it scanned somewhere that can scan those abs codes. You're probley looking at replacing the hub/bearing assemblys.