abs light on

[bigpants baby 0]

hi chaps the future of this c vr6 is in your hands,im having trouble with this abs light which when you pull away hard goes out & when your pottering around comes back on.of course it neads to work for mot,other wise ill break the kin shi.All ready changed the heater matric(which i know is no is nothing to do with this prob) :cry:

[Henny 0]

Ok, so what are the exact symptoms? 8)

 

Turn on ignition, what does the light do?

Start the car, what does the light do?

Pull away normally, what does the light do?

Pull away fast, what does the light do?

At roughly what speed does the light turn on if it's not at stationary?

When the light is on, and you turn the ignition off, (when stationary! :roll: :lol: ) then on again, what does the light do?

Have you had any brake or suspension work done recently?

 

Give us some details, and we'll see what we can dream think up... :wink: 8)

[dr_mat 0]

The bizarre thing here is the suggestion that the ABS light goes OFF at some point. It NEVER GOES OFF, except when you turn the ignition off.

If it *does* for you, then something ain't wired right!!!

[vr6storm 0]

The bizarre thing here is the suggestion that the ABS light goes OFF at some point. It NEVER GOES OFF, except when you turn the ignition off.

If it *does* for you, then something ain't wired right!!!

 

 

 

ahh the joys of sarcasm :wink: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[bigpants baby 0]

right when you turn the ign the abs light comes on,when you drive it steady the light stays on,when you "boot the car" the light goes out for bout 3 miles then the light comes back on.The car has vented front discs & a sus change,but not altered ride height.

[dr_mat 0]

That's all wrong!!

Once the light has come ON (indicating a fault) it should never go off, unless you turn the ignition off and restart the car. The fact that yours DOES go off while the engine is running means something is VERY wrong.

I'd suggest you get the thing hooked up to some ABS diags software PDQ, cos I'd suspect some joker has hotwired your ABS light to some other circuit.

Does the ABS actually *work*? I mean, if you hit the brakes on a gravel car park can you feel and hear it operating?

[Henny 0]

That's all wrong!!

Once the light has come ON (indicating a fault) it should never go off, unless you turn the ignition off and restart the car. The fact that yours DOES go off while the engine is running means something is VERY wrong.

I'd suggest you get the thing hooked up to some ABS diags software PDQ, cos I'd suspect some joker has hotwired your ABS light to some other circuit.

Does the ABS actually *work*? I mean, if you hit the brakes on a gravel car park can you feel and hear it operating?

 

Yup, you just beat me to that answer, dr_mat! :D

 

Bigpants? Get it checked out as a matter of priority, the one thing you don't want to fail on you is your brakes! :shock:

[bigpants baby 0]

would the light come on if it was something as simple as an abs sensor?

[Joe M 0]

Do you have any water leaks in your C, if the water is coming in through the heater vent area it can get into the abs controller and cause all sorts of strange problems.

[Henny 0]

would the light come on if it was something as simple as an abs sensor?

 

Yup, I have no idea why it would go out when you boot it though... The front sensors are normally the weak link in the C's ABS system 'cos they have to put up with lots of heat, water, road muck etc etc etc...

 

If your light is always on, then it's either a totally dead sensor, broken wire, or a dead pump :?

 

To check the sensors, use a multimeter set to resistance reading, and on top of the front strut mounts in the engine bay, there's a connector with a black cable. Check the plug to the front of this for resistance on both sides of the car. If one's dead, then it'll give a stupidly high resistance reading (in the Mega Ohms range!). If both read the same, then it could be a rear sensor, or, again, wiring or pump...

 

IIRC there's the same sort of connectors under the rear seat for the rear sensor, but I've never looked for these, do I couldn't swear to it. Again, if they're there, you should be able to test the resistance of the rear sensors to see if one is dead there too.

 

Good luck...

[bigpants baby 0]

Anyone want a c vr6?

[dr_mat 0]

Anyone want a c vr6?

 

Give ya £50 for it... and I'm cutting my own throat there... ;)

 

Don't worry too much about it - the big expensive parts of the ABS system almost never break - I'd put money on it being some electrical bodgery causing the light to come on when it shouldn't. Maybe it's been messed up when someone fitted some ICE?

[dazG60 0]

i didnt know there was abs sensors in the back as well, mines been going on & off aswell (not quite the same as above)but more when i go over bumps (just put it down to a doddgy wire) but just last week we had a cold night -20 actually & i left the hand brake on ooops! well 1 of the rear pads stuck & got hottttt! ive looked at the b/pads & 1 seams lower than the other ,now the light seams 2 be on most of the time,does this mean i need new rear pads ? if so ,what sort of price am i looking at ?

[Henny 0]

i didnt know there was abs sensors in the back as well, mines been going on & off aswell (not quite the same as above)but more when i go over bumps (just put it down to a doddgy wire) but just last week we had a cold night -20 actually & i left the hand brake on ooops! well 1 of the rear pads stuck & got hottttt! ive looked at the b/pads & 1 seams lower than the other ,now the light seams 2 be on most of the time,does this mean i need new rear pads ? if so ,what sort of price am i looking at ?

 

There's an electrical sensor for each wheel else the ABS wouldn't know when your rear wheels were locked up. As well as the electrical sensor, there's a mechanical part that turns past the sensor. On the front there's a flat ring (like a coin with a hole in the middle) that has a series of holes around the outside of it. This is attached to the back of the hub where the brake disk attaches to. On the rear, there's a mesh cage (for want of a better description) that sits on the back of the disk. If one of your rear disks has gotten very hot, then the odds are that this cage has expanded with the heat and fallen off. It won't actually come off unless you take the disk off, but it'll stop spinning at the same speed as the disk meaning that you get the fault light... It'll pass the ignition switch on test and go out but then come on when you get over around 6mph, or hit a lot of bumps. If it never goes out after you turn on the ignition then you've definately got either a dead sensor, wiring fault or dodgy pump... It can't be a ring or cage fault as these cannot be tested by the ABS brain when stationary.

 

If you've overheated a pad, you'll need to bleed the fluid on both rears to ensure safety. If you're in any doubt as to your rear brakes, get 'em checked out professionally. A set of rear pads over here is about £20 top. Takes about 30 mins to change both sides if you've got a good mechanic, anything over an hour and they're taking the piddle... :roll:

[2cc 0]

This does sound like dodgy electrical connections to me. From your symptoms I would be tempted to make sure the plug on the abs brain hasn't worked loose for some reason (it shouldn't because there's a spring clip securing it but you never know). It's mounted behind the plastic shield in the left side footwell. Oh, yes, the rear sensor connectons are under the rear seats, so if all connections and resistance readings look ok then I'd get it vagcom'd. Don't own it myself so can't be certain, but the fault memory may be able to identify what's wrong. By the by, abs not working will not affect your ability to brake - it just means if you lock em up they stay that way till you relax the pressure (just like any car without abs).

[dazG60 0]

ok cheers 4 the info & advice