ABS Light On

My ABS light has become lit for the past few days. It started off that it would come on once in a while but now is on all the time. I had the codes read for another problem and he told me it was driver side front that had an issue. Last year I had the cable changed as the same thing was happening but now if the cable is new, what else could be giving this problem? I have also read in here about the break light short problem, would this cause the ABS light to come on solid like that?

Thanks,
Robby

Check brake fluid level and make sure it is around the max level. The infamous short in the rear taillight assembly could be causing this. Check to see that all 3 (top 3rd light, either side) come on when brakes are applied. If one is out, it could just be a bulb out. Check the fuse as well. Usually with the infamous short as was the case in my 97's, your "TCS" dash light also comes on, or your cruise may not as well. Let us know and we can keep trying to solve it for you.

Thanks for the response.

I will check the status of each light and fluid in the morning. I don't have Cruise so I wont be able to use that for troubleshooting. Which fuse should I concern myself with?

My ABS light has become lit for the past few days. It started off that it would come on once in a while but now is on all the time. I had the codes read for another problem and he told me it was driver side front that had an issue. Last year I had the cable changed as the same thing was happening but now if the cable is new, what else could be giving this problem? I have also read in here about the break light short problem, would this cause the ABS light to come on solid like that?

Thanks,
Robby driver or pass side front may have a an issue ( if you reach up on thr rear side of the front brake caliper thats where the abs wire is pluged in and 9 times out of 10 one of the 2 wires will be broken) i have fixed both L & R on my olds van in the last year. it is like you have and the cold winters are not kind to that wire. i jacked up and blocked the van unlocked the wire harness and pulled it out to the front of the tire with the wheel turned i was able to skin back the hard inner wire cover and use a but splice and a shrink tube over and then wraped splice tape and scotch 88 electrical tape on last. then placed the auto plastic rap on and reinstalled it. this took me apx 1 hour per side to repair it. Last year I have the traction cont on the van and that is the first light on and 2 or so min the abs is on. at first a restart will erace the lights and a bit of driveing ad wheel turning the lights are back. good luck 463

Thanks for that ABS wire info. I checked rear break lights and there were both out so replaced that and also checked fluid level which is well above the sensor location... Perhaps its the wire that cracked as indicated. How easy was it to find where the wire was broke? Did you use a continuity meter or something?

I have the same kind of problem. ABS and TCS light comes up and disappears. Now the stay on, and I hear a weird noise coming from the drivers side when releasing the brake pedal. Any ideas. Last night my brake failed to work.

My ABS light came on when my second passenger side hub assembly was going bad. Replaced both originals with a China cheapie from Autozone. After about a year after replacement the ABS TCS light came on, a few months later the bearing on the passenger side started to make road noise, got worse and when I replaced it with a quality Timken unit, the noise and light went away. It is like new again, we will see how the drivers side holds on. I don't know if was just a bad unit or if the install went awry, since the one that went bad was the first one I replaced. Time will tell. By the way, the van has 177,000 miles on it.

Now you mention it, mine does make some road noise. I though it was a tyre thing, but it could be the bearing. Any way to test if it is the bearing.

Now you mention it, mine does make some road noise. I though it was a tyre thing, but it could be the bearing. Any way to test if it is the bearing.

Jack up just that side of the van, grab the tire at the 12 and 6 o'clock position and rock it in that orientation. There should be hardly any if no play at all. Beyond that I am told the bearing needs replacing. My PS front went at around 160k mi. Replaced both sides with the Timken brand. Only brand to use I am told. Could also be warped rotors. Does it get worse when you brake? If so, probably rotors.

Thanks for that ABS wire info. I checked rear break lights and there were both out so replaced that and also checked fluid level which is well above the sensor location... Perhaps its the wire that cracked as indicated. How easy was it to find where the wire was broke? Did you use a continuity meter or something?

Are your newly replaced rear bulbs still glowing when brakes are applied? If not, you have that short I mentioned earlier.

Thanks for that ABS wire info. I checked rear break lights and there were both out so replaced that and also checked fluid level which is well above the sensor location... Perhaps its the wire that cracked as indicated. How easy was it to find where the wire was broke? Did you use a continuity meter or something? i had the volt meter on and it was apx 5-6 volt dc i think with the key in the run pos. you will see the crack in the wire when you unplug it from the wheel and pull the loom cover off it.

Are your newly replaced rear bulbs still glowing when brakes are applied? If not, you have that short I mentioned earlier.

I haven't checked them again but I'm pretty sure that I have that short issue. When I changed them (which i have to do regularly) the socket part of the light bulb was melted at one of the contact points causing the contact to fail. I could actually wiggle the bulb and it would work but I changed them anyway.

I haven't checked them again but I'm pretty sure that I have that short issue. When I changed them (which i have to do regularly) the socket part of the light bulb was melted at one of the contact points causing the contact to fail. I could actually wiggle the bulb and it would work but I changed them anyway.

You probably have the infamous taillight short as my '97 did and fixed by the below method short of buying a new circuit card and harness for bad side(s). Your cruise control is probably out as well. Related to this same short. Since it sounds like you can tackle this repair. Here goes:

You'll have to open the tailgate and pull off your rear taillight housing that
should be held on by two star head bolts, but I am not sure of the size. If
you don't have those sockets, then sometimes a flathead screwdriver of the right size can loosen them if they are not too tight. Once off, you will see a
harness with a connector on the end that plugs into the circuit board connector.

You can see how GM designed this so that the water flows right into it. Unplug the connector that has about 5 different colored wires as part of the harness and you will see the shorted black wire in the middle of the connector. That's your problem. A shorter way than mine at this point left by another poster was to drill out the burned black wire/connector section and
screw in a 10 gauge wire in it's place and connect to the opposing harness
ground wire (black one, thicker one).

If you prefer my option which costs about $5, proceed with labeling 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 3/8ths to 1/2 inch 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 (not lit anymore), and apply weatherproof silicone to the connections so that water, etc cannot collect at the harness or connections. If you need further assistance you can email me at [email protected].

You probably have the infamous taillight short as my '97 did and fixed by the below method short of buying a new circuit card and harness for bad side(s). Your cruise control is probably out as well. Related to this same short. Since it sounds like you can tackle this repair. Here goes:

You'll have to open the tailgate and pull off your rear taillight housing that
should be held on by two star head bolts, but I am not sure of the size. If
you don't have those sockets, then sometimes a flathead screwdriver of the right size can loosen them if they are not too tight. Once off, you will see a
harness with a connector on the end that plugs into the circuit board connector.

You can see how GM designed this so that the water flows right into it. Unplug the connector that has about 5 different colored wires as part of the harness and you will see the shorted black wire in the middle of the connector. That's your problem. A shorter way than mine at this point left by another poster was to drill out the burned black wire/connector section and
screw in a 10 gauge wire in it's place and connect to the opposing harness
ground wire (black one, thicker one).

If you prefer my option which costs about $5, proceed with labeling 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 3/8ths to 1/2 inch 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 (not lit anymore), and apply weatherproof silicone to the connections so that water, etc cannot collect at the harness or connections. If you need further assistance you can email me at [email protected].

Thanks for that, hopefully that will solve my issue. I may only get to doing this in a few weeks or so as we are moving this weekend. I will let you know how it goes or if I have any questions. As for the cruise, it does not work. However that is probably because I don't have it :smile:

Take care.

My mechanic tells me it is most likely the ABS wire or sensor which are common on these vans. Are either difficult to replace, I am fairly capable of doing these types of jobs and should be ok to do this. Now with that in mind, if I replace the faulty device, would the error clear or would I have to get them to clear the codes?

I don't think you can replace just the ABS sensor, since it is built into the hub assembly.

Oh, well that's a dumb desing <Sensor dies so you have to replace the hub/bearing>. So hopefully its just the wire that connects to it. I think I will try to replace those. If i knew that the codes will self clear if the fault is gone I would be more eager to invest the $$ in new wires but i don't really want to change these if they don't clear and I have to run the scanner (40$ a pop) each time to see if they fixed the prob...

I guess what I could do is change the wires then get it scanned again, if errors come back then anticipate the sensors... : )

The ABS/TCS lights will go out on their own when you fix the problem - and rather quickly.

Most of the time it's the wiring to the front hubs. I have found corroded wires 18 inches from the plug. You really need to do some anlaysis on the wiring and hub sensor before swapping out hubs.

Yeah, well the code stated Driver side sensor. If the connection is bad it would probably give that code as well. I am going to clean the connector at the sensor and see what happens. If not I will look at the condition of the wire itself.

Thanks.

Well I found what the problem was.
There are two wires that come from the sensor in the hub covered by a white material which connects to a inch to inch and a half female connector.

One of the two wires was cut off about an inch before the connector. I soldered it back together, blacked taped the heck out of the wire and connector (to help keep moisture out). I also tape the pigtail to the bracket that hangs out of the hub which appeared to be there to hold it away from rubbing on the CV joint area. ABS light gone... finally! Hopefully it will hold for a few years : )

I haven't checked them again but I'm pretty sure that I have that short issue. When I changed them (which i have to do regularly) the socket part of the light bulb was melted at one of the contact points causing the contact to fail. I could actually wiggle the bulb and it would work but I changed them anyway.


mine was doing the same thing. i fixed it by adding a light bulb gel on the end of the bulb before i inserted it into the socket. i found that the metal connectors on the inside of the socket are kind of loose and was causing a short which was causing an arc in turn melting the plastic on the end of the bulb. by adding the gel it prevents arcing and viola the bulb has worked for over 6 months now :)

What's that bulb gel called or how do I find it?

We had this exact problem with our 97 Venture. It turned out to be the wheel bearing. Once that got changed, the light went off and has never caused another problem. Hope that helps.

Yeah it does. It's got to do with the wires coming from the bearing for the ABS sensor. I fixed it once a few weeks ago and then the repair broke. The problem is that when the wheel is turned completely to the right turn direction, the connector gets pinched between the mount that holds it and a ball joint. After a few weeks of doing that it stresses the wire so much that it breaks at the rear of the connector. If it happens again I am going to take the male/female connectors out of the picture and hardwire the wires together. Last resort so I don't have to get the bearings changed...

if its a broken wire or corroded conection on the abs sensor wire (the sensor is part of the bearing hub assembley) if you are able to splice or repair it, wich can be tight depending on the extent of the wire damage, the abs does a self check when the van is started and if connection is repaired dash lights will go out and you should be good to go. if not you may need a diagnostic check.

I'm having similar problems with my Venture. However, when the ABS & Brake lights come on, sometimes the right front passenger brake "locks up" (van will not roll when I take my foot off the accelerator) and my BF came home with the right front passenger wheel smoking & stinkin' like burning brakes. I also have no headlights. Although I do have parking and high beams. Helllppp!! :disappoin