FAQ: Anti-Lock Brakes and/or Traction Control Light/Lamp On

I am not sure if my ABS works as I do not hear any sound when I try to lock the brakes up in the snow. Every other car I know of makes a noise when the ABS engages but my riv does not which leads me to believe it is not functioning right. The ABS light is not on. I do get what feels like feedback when I lock the brakes up in the snow. I get feedback in the brake pedal. Anyone know what could be wrong?

ok so my traction hasnt worked even befor my boy got the car so for 4 years been off and the abs light comes on alittle after. When i brake it sometimes doesnt want to and then i hear like a click click click and then the car then stops like real real quick. Im thinking maybe its the Ecmb? (sp) Any way to tell if it is that or maybe just one of the wheel hubs without paying the 150 to have a dealer look at it?

sounds like a sensor to me. you can either toss a coin or take it to have someone with the proper scanner tell you which hub it is.

My Traction Control light is on, before i take it in and spend mucho bucks, are there any simple solutions or areas i should look into? Thanks.

One simple solution some have found is to inspect and clean the wheel sensor plug contacts on each wheel that tell the PCM how fast the car is moving. If these sensors, or the wiring, should become shorted or broken, the PCM will display the TC light. If a sensor itself is broken, the entire hub/bearing assembly will need replaced, which is about $120 per side for the parts. Not impossible to do by yourself.

You may want to have someone look at it to see if any codes are thrown that you cannot see. They shouldn't charge for that. Might be able to test the wheel sensors, too.

If it turns out to truly be the ABS unit, it's an expensive fix. Since they don't fail often, I would be tempted to look for a used replacement from Ed Morad or a nearby salvage yard.

Best of luck getting this taken care of. I know how hard these problems can be to diagnose.

allright it's been like this for awhile now and it's really starting to annoy me. so heres the problem when ever turn on my car and right away for about 30 seconds i will be able to turn the traction control light on and off and it will be able to switch and show whether it is on or off. but any longer than that the light will just show traction off and if i hit the button it wont go away it just stays the same. Now do u guys think it still works even though it keeps showing it's off or is there some kind of wire problem. i just want make sure it works befor winter comes. ive already checked out the traction control thing in the engine bay but everything looks ok. any ideas?

ABS light on? yes----> faulty Wheel speed sensor (most likely)
check out the thread in the welcome sub-section

why is this in the audio section?

no the abs light never comes on. but i thought this was for audio and electroncs kind of stuff. where should i put it

Don't know where it should go, but it probably doesn't much exposure here. Today was the 1st time I've looked in this sub-section!

I recommend having your car scanned for DTCs.

Any other lights? SVS? brake light?
I'd have to check my manual, but I think a faulty traction control box (the one you said you checked) should trigger a SVS light.

thats where the "dash" comes in handy you can see new topics no mater where they get posted.
Aaron will probably move this to the series I FAQ section once he sees it.
one way to test the trac is to spin the tires. when the light is ON (indicating trac is OFF) hit the gas from a stop. if they spin a bunch, then its probably not working.
Jason is right tho, faulty wheel speed sensors in the hub can cause the trac off light to come on. but so can a misreading
CKP sensor.
scan it to see if there are any pending codes. or take it to a shop with the proper scan tool and they can tell you exactly why it is disabled. (right down to which wheel sensor is bad, provided that's your problem

allright guys thanks ill probaly have it scanned. but yah i did spin the tires on a rainy day on my driveway completley covered in leaves and it dosen't seem to be limiting the power on the wheels.

if u replace a bad speed sensor how do u reset to get the light off??

If you mean the WSS in the hub, it should reset by itself. Have it scanned to see if your other side isn't biting the dust.

After swapping out the faulty driver's side in my girlfriend's 98 GS, I was horrified to see that the light still came back on. It turns out that the other side went bad between the time I scanned it and the time I got around to doing it (ok so it was 4 months...)

I had the same issue with one of the rear sensors in my '96, had a mechanic hook it up to the scan tool and found out I need to replace the rear wiring harness for the ABS sensors - good chance the sensor I replaced was never bad.

I bought my '98 Riv several weeks ago. I tested in the snow, and as I suspected neither the TC or the ABS is functional. Neither shows a light on the dash (ever). Any ideas?

...in reading another post it sounds like maybe someone pulled the ABS fuse since neither work and no light??

I'm not sure on the light thing since I'm not schooled on the Riv's yet.

However experience on the rest of the systems would be either the abs pump module or a wheel speed sensor would usually be a cause.

I just think it is odd that both dont work and there is neither a tc light or an abs light.....not sure.

I went out at lunch and looked for the fuse but dont see it.

there is a fuse panel under the hood near the windshield washer bottle, and another under the backseat near the battery.

Albertj[/b]

And another one in the side of the dash, where the driver door closes.

The ABS fuse is there so it isnt that.....of course not. That would be too simple.

Pull the side cover off the drivers side fuse panel but be carefull not to break the tabs. Look at removing the stock radio thread. After you get this off look to see if the previous owner removed the bulb for the traction control light. I took mine out because I was sick of looking at it.

Sometimes my Traction Control off light will come on for no reason even though I didn't do anything. Usually when it does this, I can't turn it off/on by pushing the button. The light usually goes out the next time I start the car but sometimes it goes out before I'm done driving. Anyone have this problem or know what this is?

My 95 does it from time to time, I don't know why though, usually stops after 5 minutes.