Trac Off Light Always Stays On - PLEASE HELP!

[3Slats]

We have a 1999 Alero. We bought this car in January of this year, and shortly after we brought it home, the Trac Off Light came on. It NEVER goes off. It constantly stays on the entire time the car is on. We have tried to push the button to turn it back on, and the light off, but nothing happens when we push or hold it. I read up on other posts, and others were talking about their Service Engine Soon Light staying on along with the Trac Off Light, and they usually come on, and go back out. I haven't found anyone saying that only the Trac Off Light stays on, or it comes on by itself. I really would hate to take it to the Dealership, and have them charge me $80 just to put it on the diagnosis machine (yes, that's what they want to charge me) and then charge me more for parts and labor, so hopefully, I can find some kind of answer here. PLEASE help if you can. Thanks so much!

[JTrujillo86]

Well, $80 is cheaper than the $92 dealerships here in Denver charge. Anyway, I was thinking you may have an issue with a wheel bearing, but that is usually accompanied by the Service Vehicle Soon and Low Trac lights...so that leads me to think that you have problem with the traction control system. Try taking it to an independent shop to see what they think. You could also just call and ask the dealership service advisor what they think may be causing the problem.

Jeremy

[vamc]

I think it could be a sencer. but like JTrujillo86 stated, it could be more then what i have to say about it.

[mhlandry]

I've had that problem. Only my Trac Off would stay on for maybe 2-3 days at a time. And every few weeks the Service Engine Soon light would come on and stay on for a day or two. I've also noticed that it starts and runs rough during the first trip of the day.

I had it in the shop 4 times last summer and nobody could fix it. Nobody here really had any ideas either so I think I just resigned myself to driving it till its dead (which is terrible because I've only got 60k miles on it). But what else can I do?

[pp270]

Take it to Autozone and have them scan it for free. This will tell you if it is the wheel bearing sensor, but unfortunitly it won't tell you which of the four is bad.

[vamc]

With it being an obd2 it should tell you which one, i could be wrong though.

[iZZOYD]

Hey, im new here, so i think this is how this works?

but my "trac off" light used to always be off until one day when it would start coming on every time i started the car, and no matter how many times i would press the button it would stay on. what i did was pull the e-brake, have the ignition turned to "ON" (the car shouldnt be on), then shift the car into first (i am assuming you have an auto). pull out the little staple on the front of the shift knob (its located near the bottom of the handle) and then remove the handle. After doing these things the center piece that surrounds the shifter should just be able to be pulled up. what my problem was was that the wires from the ETS button were rubbing up against the metal on the e-brake and was causing either the light to stay on or the system to be turned off, either way, make sure that the wires are no where near any sort of metal and then put the center piece and shifting knob back into place DO NOT FORGET THE STAPLE!!! (that can cause problems down the road, such as the car not shifting out of gear or park (personal experience)), then put the car in park and start engine. "trac off" light should not be on any longer. it worked for me

[iZZOYD]

If that doesnt work, do what they said