94 Camaro fault lights - (Brakes)

I'm new to the forums for the Camaro, but have had some excellent help with the 96' Impala that I own. My girlfriend absolutely wanted a 94' Camaro (w/V6 3.4 engine - automatic). It looks like a great car, but there are a few bugs to work out. If anyone has any feedback, please share as I would rather fix the car myself then get ripped off by a mechanic. Ok lets see if I can explain it right...

The Low Trac, Brake, and ABS INOP light on the dash seems to be popping off and on at the same time intermittently. It appears to happen when coming to a full stop, if the car is put into park, or if you repeatedly press the brake pedal while in park. I just had the rotors and drums cut, put new pads and shoes, and put all new brake hardware on, but the problem persists. (A key point to note is that you can hear a clicking noise at the time the lights come on, and you can notice a slight flicker in the lights when the driving lights are on.) Are there sensors, or a control unit under the hood that I can do some checks on?

Also, does anyone know of an off the shelf product that can be used to plug into the cars computer (under the dask board) to get read outs on fault codes? A frind of mine had a lab top with a software program that had a direct hook up to the computer to get stats on the car and stuff, but I'd rather not go out and spend all of that money on a lab top and software.

Well, thanks in advance for any help. I look forward to anything that might point me in the right direction!

about the reading codes with a computer, you can't on a 94. It is not a OBD2, you can read them with a paper clip.

Thanks for the quick response. The funny thing is I was just ckecking out a site http://actron.com./index.php and apparently there is a portable unit that has the ability to read fault codes prior to 96' according to what I was reading. I don't know how detailed the information is, but I'm sure it would by helpful. It looks like the product sells for under $400. Still a bit steep, but when I could use it on all of the families vehicles it might be worth the investment.

Check to make your your wheel speed sensors behind your wheel hubs are properly connected and free of dirt. This may be the place to start trouble shooting.

Good Luck

yeah, sonds like sensors since they all go on at the same time..but also check to make sure you have enough brake fluids in both resivours.. im not sure if the 94 has it, but on my 97..i have two brake resivours...and it says if one goes bad, the other one will stop your car..BUT itll pop up crazy problem lights..

Thanks for the pointers...the brake fluid resivours look ok as they were taken care of during the brake job. I am going to have to look into the spped sensors behind the wheel hubs. I never really paid any attention to anything like that before, but it is worth a look.

We had a chance to get some diagnostics done and the car seems to be pulling up "93 - Pressure control solenoid Circuit current error", and it had "75 - EGR solenoid #1 error" on it at one point. Does anyone know which is the EGR solenoid #1 (apparnetly there are three), and where shuold I go about looking for the fix on fault code 93? Will a Chilton manual point me in the right direction. I'm a little more used to tinkering around in cars from the 60's to early 70's without all the computer and vaccum stuff clogging the engine compartment.

Thanks again!

EGR= exhaust gas recirculator valve. On the 3.4l V6 looking at the engine bay it is on the left hand side (passenger) of the intake manifold over the exhaust manifold.

Autozone has them for $189.99 (prt. number EGR173) and a discription of where to locate it.

While I dont think the EGR problem has any thing to do with your ABS INOP light, please let me know how your repair goes. I have the same car as you and we can help each other out.

Good Luck!!

Jack

Thanks for the pointers...the brake fluid resivours look ok as they were taken care of during the brake job. I am going to have to look into the spped sensors behind the wheel hubs. I never really paid any attention to anything like that before, but it is worth a look.

We had a chance to get some diagnostics done and the car seems to be pulling up "93 - Pressure control solenoid Circuit current error", and it had "75 - EGR solenoid #1 error" on it at one point. Does anyone know which is the EGR solenoid #1 (apparnetly there are three), and where shuold I go about looking for the fix on fault code 93? Will a Chilton manual point me in the right direction. I'm a little more used to tinkering around in cars from the 60's to early 70's without all the computer and vaccum stuff clogging the engine compartment.

Thanks again!

The EGR... I wouldn't even worry about unless seeing the SES light drives ya nuts. My light has been going off for months now because of that fudgin egr, normally on decceleration. It's not going to hurt anything or cause any problems. So just get to it whenever you can. I've heard of people disassembling their egr, cleaning it thoroughly and still getting that code. Normally the only way to get the light to stop coming on is by either replacing the EGR, or replacing the ECM, but I would recommend cleaning it thoroughly first. I'm just giving the the most common circumstances.

As for code 93.. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the pressure control solenoid in the 4L60-E transmission you have. Wish I could help you out with that one, but I'm really not all that great with my ways around tranny's.

Well heres some more infomation to add to the confusion of this problem. Just for the hell of it, we took the car to a repair shop I have used int he past. (They've always been right on the money when it comes to troubleshooting and fixes).

They hooked up to the car and found some pretty interesting stuff. Pep-boys pulled a 93 fault code, and the place I took it o pulled 23,26,71,73,76, and 136. I have no idea what 136 is, but the conclusion to the diagnostic was, "take the car back where you got it from, or go to a Chevy repair place". The faults couldn't be traced and confirmed to a specific part, and we were told that there could be a short in a wiring harness or module that they didn't have to cacpability to find. Also - we were told that the car "thinks" that it is running at 49 miles per hour all of the time. I think who ever had the car before hand really F'ed something up. I want to dump the car, my girlfriend wants to get it fixed. Any opinions now?

maybe a new ECM? It wont take care of any short in the wiring harness, but maybe with a fresh "brain" it would be easier to locate any other problems. Also, I seem to recall that there may be a way to reprogram the ECM you have... I dont know where to get a new one or how much it would cost, but it seems to me, after all the work you've already done, that it would be cheaper to replace the ECM then to dump the car. Any way you decide to go, good luck!

Well here's there deal. My girlfriend worked for a guy that has a friend that is a kick-ass mechanic for a Chevy dealership. He's got a computer set-up at home so he ran a diagnostic on the car. He used some program that he's only had to use twice and was able to pin point the problem to the Electronic Brake Control Module. It's a pretty expensive part, but he's hooking us up with his discount and doing the work out of his garage.

He also wants to run the car through a full diagnostic again once the (EBCM) is installed to be sure that it was the only problem . It helps to have friends who have friends who have friends. You've got to love networking! Thanks for the pointers...I'll follow up when the car gets worked on next week.