ABS Light stays on and other problems

AT first my Abs light would occasionally come on when I started the car. To turn it off I would simply turn off the engine and restart. Recently my ABS light started coming on and staying on while I was driving. Also, the right front blinker started acting crazy, at first it would blink slowly and then very quickly and then slowly again. Also on the Dash both blinker lights will occasionally illuminate at the same time. I also believe my right rear brake light is out. After reading this board about the bad circuit board I went to open the tailight only to find that all the screws were buggered on both tail lights and I am unable to open them. Other than the buggered screws does this sound like the circuit board or bad connection? Also, my oil pressure light has been coming on intermittently although I am not losing any oil. I do have a small leak in the rear main seal but it does not leak unless overfilled with oil. Any ideas? I purchased this 1998 venture several months ago at 100,000 miles and it has really been a pain. I am hoping that all the bugs will get worked out soon and it will be clear sailing afterward.

a front turn signal bulb blinking fast usually means that the rear bulb is blown and visa versa. the fact that it blinks fast then slow could be the tail light board issue. this can cause the ABS/traction control lights to come on as i am sure you have read abotu as well. if you can't find a way to get lights apart, then replacemet might be only option. also, give the wiring a good look at too, making sure connections aren't burned. as for the oil pressure light, from the bottom, on the front of engine is the oil pressure switch. unplug it and see if connector is covered in oil. if so, the switch has an internal leak and should be replaced.

I agree with the 16th Hippy's conclusion on the brake lights. Could be the start of the infamous shorting brake lights. Probably a short or ground issue on one or both rear circuit bds. (tailight assemblies). Make sure that your plug in harness connector hasn't shorted as well, as my 97's did. Both rear brake lights out, only third brake light on, as well as ABS and TCS idiot lights on. Cruise control not working either. You may have some or all of these symptoms, but it is probably the start of them. Pull the wire harness end off the plug to see if the middle contact (black wire of the harness) looks defective in anyway. If it looks a little burnt or its mating plug does, you have the famous short. If you buy new circuit bds (taillight assembly) only to solve your problem, goop weatherproof silicone caulk over the connection on both sides once you prove it works to prevent this shorting out from happening again. Design flaw by GM. Who would ever place any connection in the direct drain path of the rear hatch. The other option you have which costs about $5 is to label the harness wires that plug into the circuit board as to their location on the mating plug, cut the plug off the harness, attach connectors to each wire, cut down all 4 sides of the circuit bd plug about 3/8th to 1/2 in exposing the 5 pins. Be sure to clean off the shorted middle, thin prong/pin carefully. Attach the mating connector from the location markings you did earlier. Test the brakes, notice that your ABS/TCS dash lights are now out, and apply weatherproof silicone to the connections so that water, etc cannot collect at the harness or connections. The McGyver way, but my circuit has worked for over a year incident-free. email me separately at [email protected] (https://webmail.san.rr.com/do/mail/message/mailto?to=cjstew4%40san.rr.com) to discuss more. Thought my ABS or Traction Control was on the fritz, but low and behold, only after looking this up on AF did I discover the problem and fix. If you go the new circuit bd route, the circuit cards I saw on Ebay recently were $27 US each which is a good deal. However, you still need to either replace the wire harness to them or perform the strip and add connector way I describe above. Thanks, Corey

Thanks much for your replies. The connecting plug was bad, I had it repaired by a shop and they charged me a fortune. I plugged it back into the circuit board and the same problem. I just went and bought a new circuit
board, everything is fine except the right side parking light. I tried changing bulbs and still does not work. Very frustrated. I just bought this car a few months ago and it has been a pain. On the bright side it rides very nicely and gets great gas mileage.

Right side could have same short problem as left did. On mine, both sides seemed to short out and burn the plug a bit around the same time. Remember to caulk weatherproof silicone on the new circuit board plug to wire harness connector so that this design flaw does not reoccur.