ABS and Trac light on

[herd17]

The ABS light is on and says need to have traction control serviced. Any thoughts to where I need to start on this problem? This is a 2001 Montana.

[GTP Dad]

Welcome to AF!!

Take the car to a shop that has an ABS capable scanner. They will be able to diagnose the system to see what is wrong and indicate how to repair it.

[Toolman38]

The wonderful world of Montanas. Our '99 almost stranded us last summer down in LA, but we made it back home to northern Alberta Canada before we got the tranny done at only 125,000 km.

Our Abs/Traction light has been giving us trouble for almost a year now. Last June had it to the dealership 3 times. Each time showing up as the front right. They repaired the connector, no change. they changed the harness, no change. then we went off to LA, spent our money on the tranny job then, so now we are revisiting it. Had it in the shop again. Shows the front right. They checked it over, checked resistance in the sensors and everything shows ok, they are unsure of where to go from here as it is tempermental, and never seems to act up when they have it. When i was at the dealership on friday, another guy with a 2005 is having the same problem. They even changed the hub/sensor on his under warranty and no diff. I saw the post on spraying WD40 in the connector, but last June they repaired the connector and then changed the harness, and it still sporadically came on. Any ideas??

Thanks

[GregA]

herd17 - Get it scanned (as GTP Dad suggested) as a starting point. Could just be a loose or bad connection.

Originally Posted by Toolman38

...Each time showing up as the front right. They repaired the connector, no change. they changed the harness, no change. ... They checked it over, checked resistance in the sensors and everything shows ok, they are unsure of where to go from here as it is tempermental, and never seems to act up when they have it. When i was at the dealership on friday, another guy with a 2005 is having the same problem. They even changed the hub/sensor on his under warranty and no diff. I saw the post on spraying WD40 in the connector, but last June they repaired the connector and then changed the harness, and it still sporadically came on. Any ideas?? Thanks

Toolman38 - From the service manual I have, I can see at least two connectors between the wheel sensor and the EBCM (Electronic Brake Control Module).

So if they changed out only one harness (I assume the one closest to the wheel - probably a foot or so long), then there is still another one to look at. Plus, there are the connector pins at the control module to consider.

Basically summary - if one end seems to be OK, start looking at the other end.

Take Care,

[richtazz]

Get the vehicle scanned with an ABS capable sensor like GTP and Greg suggested, this will eliminate a lot of guesswork, and will pinpoint what wheel is the problem. One problem that affects these vans, not related to the wheel speed sensors, is brake dust build up in the rear drums. The dust causes the rear brakes to get grabby and will trip an ABS/trac off light. The traction control switches off because the ABS computer is not getting an accurate wheel speed sensor signal, and cannot accurately determine if traction control intervention is necessary.

[bigredone]

I had both ABS & Traction lites coming on. Brake bulbs were burning out often. When I applied the brake pedal the turn signal indicators would both lite dimly. I found the problem to be a burned plug on the right rear brake lite assembly. I cut of a small piece of a soda can pull tab and jammed it into the female plug and everything works 100% and no more burned out bulbs or ABS / Traction lites coming on.