Help...

I'm a total newb at owning one of these cars; I just bought my 1992 SL three weeks ago to this date, and I've got problems with it already. These problems showed up about a week ago, and I'd appreciate any help with them:

#1: Transmission play?
I have A/T. A week ago, it began to make rhythmical and clicking bumps when the car was rolling (it doesn't do it when gas or brake is applied). At first, I believed that it was the CV halfshafts, but it doesn't <i>appear</i> to be so. I've tried throwing it into neutral when coming to a stop, but that rarely causes the bumping to stop. Another note, though, is that it bumps alot harder when taking right turns. Any ideas to what exactly's going on in my transmission, or does anyone believe that it's a transmission problem at all?

#2: ABS?
Sometimes my brake pedals stop normally, but most of the time they feel as if they're loose, and during these instances, I have to press down the brake pedal more than normally to get the brakes to function properly. My "ANTI-LOCK" warning light's on constantly, and my first idea was to check the engine-compartment fuse box. Inside, obviously, there are three spaces for ABS: a relay (fine), a 10-Amp fuse (also fine), and what appears to be a slot for a 60A box fuse next to the [BAT] and Active Aero box fuses. Oddly enough, a regular 60A box fuse won't fit in the position; the connects look a little different than the others. I fear that the ABS might not have just a fuse problem, but can anyone tell me what's up with that?

Again, any helpful replies are appreciated, and note that I don't have an owner's manual (although, oddly enough, I do have the 3S service manual packet. I'm still figuring out how to read it properly, though).

I Really doubt that in your tranny

That's definately good news, but do you have any ideas as to what it is?

I am almost positive it would be your cv axel.. how sure are you?
Jason

I looked for damage on, specifically, the CV joints, and found none, but if you're saying they need a closer inspection, I can do that.

Anyone have any ideas regarding my ABS?

Even if the ABS is malfunctioning it shouldn't affect how the brake pedal feels...

What exactly do you mean "loose"? Like it's not building up hydraulic pressure? Excessive travel?

I looked for damage on, specifically, the CV joints, and found none, but if you're saying they need a closer inspection, I can do that.

Anyone have any ideas regarding my ABS?

The CV joints have a rubber boot over them and are packed with grease. How exactly did you check for damage?

[[ I looked for grease leaking (assumingly for damaged CV boots), as well as the connections on both halfshafts to the transmission (leaking ATF, etc), none of which appeared to be present. ]]

Update, though. It appears as though you were right about it not being the transmission, jason_bet, but the problem was simply due to a slightly bent dust cover (which was easily chiseled back into position), and get this (I feel really stupid for this): loose lugnuts. When I changed the brakes, I must've used way too much anti-seize compound on them; they loosened after a while. That solved the supposedly "bad" CV halfshaft or transmission play that was originally suspected.

As for the brakes; as I said, sometimes, the pedal feels tight as it should feel (comparing it to my old Eclipse's and Nissan Altima's brakes), and other times, it feels extremely loose, and stops a lot weaker. After this happens, I've noticed that the passenger/front brake rotor (hell, even the entire alloy rim) is extremely hot compared to the other three brakes. I've been told by my friend that my driver/front brake's piston (I think) has a bad seal, and eventually is going to cause that caliper to lock up. Thanks to that, I have a small step ahead in the problem, but I still can't figure out if the ABS is related to it; again, the ANTI-LOCK warning light on the instrument panel is constantly on, and all I've known how to do so far is check the smaller fuse and the relay (which both appear to be contacting correctly and aren't busted yet), but there's still a (supposedly) box fuse slot (60A) that doesn't have a fuse in it. And again, a normal 60A box fuse won't fit in it.

Even if my brake issue isn't ABS-related, I'd still like to have a working ABS system for insurance reasons.

Thanks to all of you who've replied, though, and for having mercy on someone who's still learning. Without your help, I probably would've done something stupid like have the transmission rebuilt when it didn't need it, etc.

Well on the brake, first thing first...

I would check the brake to see if the there is actually if anything is wet with brake fluid... I have never felt a brake caliper go "soft" when it's about to seize since the increased resistance reduces the amount of petal travel (unless you car actually losing fluid, in which case I would stop driving it until you get it repaired). What I find is that with seize calipers, the brake never really releases and your car feels more "sluggish" because it drags the brake then the brake being "loose".

The last time I had "erratic" brake problems the inside of the brake line deteriorated which allowed the brake to "expand" and the rubber inside the line acted as flap that caused the brake to seize when the petal returned. (IE: loose petal and hot rotor) Given it is cheaper/easier to replace the brake line then re-build the caliper, and given the car is 15 years old, you might as well replace the brake lines since you really don't want them to fail when you are driving.

If that doesn't fix it, then I would re-build the caliper.

I don't really want to guess but most likely the ABS problem is just a sensor since the ABS module sits pretty high up an it's not really prone to failure...

Alright. I'll check the brake fluid level when I drive the car the next couple of days and see if there's a difference in it.

If I had M/T, I could downshift-brake it in case the brakes failed (I've had to do that before), but with A/T, this becomes a hell of a lot more serious. Thanks for the warning, I'll look into brake lines and whatnot if that's indeed what's going on.

As for ABS, that really sucks. @_@ Oh well. 'Guess the charger tester's going back to work. =D