ABS Idiot light

[pdfbjf]

My ABS idiot light was coming on intermittently, and only in the wet, which made sense to me. Now it's on all the time. The ABS still works, but there seems to be some grinding from the front occasionally. Is it possible the pads aren' pulling back from the rotors all the time?

I just had new rotors and pads about 12,000 miles ago.

[mjwilliams3434]

What year is your van? I have the same problem with my 99 with the ABS light coming on and off, and also had the pads and rotors repalced about 15,000 miles ago. Can anyone offer any help?

[94 Jimmy]

We had some transmission work done which required removing much of the suspension. When they put the van back together(almost) they left the brake line and ABS cable hanging instead of reattaching them to the A-Frame. Over the next few days the ABS Cable rubbed on the wheel and slowly ground through the outer jacket and insulation intermittently shorting the Wheel Speed Sensor to ground.
My wife said that she had seen a Low Traction light and that there was a rattle in the front of the van. I took the it out for a drive and sure enough it rattled like there was something loose in the engine compartment, I also received a Low Traction and ABS Light. On a hunch I turned the TSC switch off and the problem went away, on, problem back.
I checked behind the wheel and found the shorted wire which I repaired, problem fixed.
A year or so earlier we had hit a bag of garbage on the freeway and received the ABS Light. I found that the plug to one of the rear wheel speed sensors had been knocked loose.
Well there's something for you to do next weekend.
Have fun, let us know what you find.
94

[pdfbjf]

Originally Posted by mjwilliams3434

What year is your van? I have the same problem with my 99 with the ABS light coming on and off, and also had the pads and rotors repalced about 15,000 miles ago. Can anyone offer any help?

Mine's a 2000. The post about the broken wire sounds feasible to me.

pdfbjf

[pdfbjf]

Originally Posted by 94 Jimmy

We had some transmission work done which required removing much of the suspension. When they put the van back together(almost) they left the brake line and ABS cable hanging instead of reattaching them to the A-Frame. Over the next few days the ABS Cable rubbed on the wheel and slowly ground through the outer jacket and insulation intermittently shorting the Wheel Speed Sensor to ground.
My wife said that she had seen a Low Traction light and that there was a rattle in the front of the van. I took the it out for a drive and sure enough it rattled like there was something loose in the engine compartment, I also received a Low Traction and ABS Light. On a hunch I turned the TSC switch off and the problem went away, on, problem back.
I checked behind the wheel and found the shorted wire which I repaired, problem fixed.
A year or so earlier we had hit a bag of garbage on the freeway and received the ABS Light. I found that the plug to one of the rear wheel speed sensors had been knocked loose.
Well there's something for you to do next weekend.
Have fun, let us know what you find.
94

Well, this sounds promising. We just had a new tranny put in about 3,000 miles ago.

Thanks,

pdfbjf

[am1971]

I also had the same problem. I agree with the other posts. Go under the vehicle and check the wires where the attach to the back of the wheel spindle. They are notorious for breaking off. You can re-solder them and that should clear up the problem. If this isn't the case, it may be that the pick-up coil has gone bad in the spindle which would require replacement of the spindle.

[pdfbjf]

Originally Posted by am1971

I also had the same problem. I agree with the other posts. Go under the vehicle and check the wires where the attach to the back of the wheel spindle. They are notorious for breaking off. You can re-solder them and that should clear up the problem. If this isn't the case, it may be that the pick-up coil has gone bad in the spindle which would require replacement of the spindle.

It was, in fact, a broken wire. All fixed now, and I probably saved $250.00 not putting myself at some dealer's mercy. Thanks to allwho responded.