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Old Jun 2, 2008 | 04:21 AM
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Default Strange happenings

I'm cruising down interstate the other day and all the sudden my ABS INOP light and my E-brake light turn on. Now, nothing happened when the lights turned on at all, it just made me wonder what was up. I had my TCS turned off at the time so I curiously tried to turn it back on and was unable to do so.

Now, when I get in the car to go somewhere, neither of the lights turn on until I am about 10 minutes into the ride. Still, nothing seems to affect drivability in any way but I am very curious why they both turn on at all.

Anyone else had this problem before?
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Old Jun 2, 2008 | 11:58 AM
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Try having someone pull the codes to see why the light is coming on. Otherwise you're shooting in the dark.
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Old Jun 2, 2008 | 12:17 PM
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Check the ground for that stuff. It is the one on the driver side under the stickers. If you are looking into the hood it will be the ground right above the fuse blacoks on the driver side.
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Old Jun 2, 2008 | 12:18 PM
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Those systems are all connected, its probably a bad sensor. Or if you have changed to a different size tire those lights will come on after driving for about 10 minutes at HIGHWAY speeds. Then they will reste after the engine is shut down and they won't come on during slower city driving and the systems will operate fine when the lights are off.
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Old Jun 2, 2008 | 02:36 PM
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Well, I tried to check codes last week and nothing came up. I have been running a 285 tire on an 18" rim for over a year now and this is the first time I have ever had this happen. I guess now i'm leaning towards a fuse or sensor problem. I was just wondering if anyone else has had the same issue.
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Old Jun 2, 2008 | 08:13 PM
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Originally Posted by 2K1WS6TA
Well, I tried to check codes last week and nothing came up. I have been running a 285 tire on an 18" rim for over a year now and this is the first time I have ever had this happen. I guess now i'm leaning towards a fuse or sensor problem. I was just wondering if anyone else has had the same issue.
Were you checking EBCM codes or just PCM? Because these codes won't show up with the emissions stuff...if you have lights coming on, even for a short time, something should at least be stored as history...
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Old Jun 2, 2008 | 08:48 PM
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The same thing just happened to me on Saturday. I thought maybe it was because my pads and rotors are so bad (real bad). When braking after a 1/4 mile run, the brake pedal kicks back like the abs is being activated. Its happened quite a few times but Saturday was the first time the inop and brake light ever came on. New rotors and pads are comin Wed. Hopefully it fixes the problem.
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Old Jun 2, 2008 | 09:47 PM
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Its not rotors or pads. Both of the two are less than 9 months old on my car and only have 3000 miles on them.

Yes, I was checking PCM codes. There was no SES light so that is probably why the history was blank. I'm going to my tuner this week to see if HP tuners will shed any light on whats going on.
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Old Jun 2, 2008 | 10:17 PM
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Originally Posted by 2K1WS6TA
I have been running a 285 tire on an 18" rim for over a year now and this is the first time I have ever had this happen. I guess now i'm leaning towards a fuse or sensor problem. I was just wondering if anyone else has had the same issue.
This is most likely your problem than. When I put different sized tires on my systems didn't start doing what yours is now doing until about 8 months later.

If your ABS, TCS and E-Brake lights are off during city driving and work fine, then the sensors and fuses are all fine. If the lights all come on after you've been driving at cruise speeds on the highway, its the tires.

Also, my ABS, TCS and E-Brake lights won't light up as long as I keep it under 70 mph, but if I do more than that for a 10 minute period they come on until the engine is shut off.

THe PCM's in our cars act differently from car to car, they are not all the same. I don't get any codes when my 02 sensors fail, or when my crank shaft position sensor failed twice. My other friends did get codes. I also didn't get a code when my throttle position sensor failed or my MAF.....but we're supposed to get SES codes.

So....
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Old Jun 3, 2008 | 04:14 AM
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I still find it hard to believe that it could be different sized tires seeing as how I have had them on my car for well over a year and I have done plenty of hwy driving since they have been on. I will have to try the city driving part for 10-15 minutes and see if they stay off during slower driving.
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Old Jun 6, 2008 | 06:33 AM
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Your problem is probably from a dirty wheel speed sensor.You need to have a scan tool hooked up to it and see what is going on.Often they can be cleaned up by a fine grit sandpaper.Often times the sensors get dirty and rusty from road grime and do not operate efficiently.They can be checked by unplugging them,and using the (AC) voltage setting on your multimeter measure the voltage output as you spin the brake rotor.They are (active sensors)so they generate their own voltage.You should have a DTC stored in your ECM under history on your scan tool.

Last edited by lovescamaros28; Jun 6, 2008 at 06:52 AM.
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Old Jun 6, 2008 | 11:10 AM
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Originally Posted by 2K1WS6TA
I still find it hard to believe that it could be different sized tires seeing as how I have had them on my car for well over a year and I have done plenty of hwy driving since they have been on. I will have to try the city driving part for 10-15 minutes and see if they stay off during slower driving.
You changed the diameter of your tire, that is the EXACT reason these lights are coming on, period. Just because they haven't for a long time means nothing. As I said, mine were fine for almost a year until the sensors started wigging out ONLY after driving on the highway for a little while.

Its pretty simple, if the sensors are dirty or bad the lights will come on no matter what kind of driving you do and they will come on immediately.

Tire diameter is what matters with those systems.

Also, my car has been scanned many times and NEVER has a sensor from those systems ever showed up. But all of my lights come on, EVERY single time I drive on the highway and go faster than about 70mph. Its normal.

****Just let the lights come on when on the highway, who really cares. As soon as you leave the highway and are not driving at highway speeds, the lights won't come on and those systems will function perfectly. The systems wig out from SPEED and the WRONG sized tires.****
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Old Jun 6, 2008 | 03:55 PM
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Originally Posted by needadvice
The systems wig out from SPEED and the WRONG sized tires.****
How is it the "wrong" sized tires? All of the parameters for tire heigth, rim size, and final drive ratio were changed with HP tuners.

There are 5 other guys in our car club that are riding on 18" rims and haven't had any lights come on due to a different size tire.


Are you sure of what you are saying, or are you telling me what you think is the problem?
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Old Jun 6, 2008 | 04:21 PM
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Originally Posted by 2K1WS6TA
How is it the "wrong" sized tires? All of the parameters for tire heigth, rim size, and final drive ratio were changed with HP tuners.

There are 5 other guys in our car club that are riding on 18" rims and haven't had any lights come on due to a different size tire.


Are you sure of what you are saying, or are you telling me what you think is the problem?

Well, I can tell you this. I went from a 275/40/17 to a 315/35/17 in the rear. Kept the stock size 275/40/17 up front. You think the diameter of the rear tires is ths same as my stock tires? I did. But theres something that the sensors are detecting ONLY after highway speeds for about 10 minutes, IF that speed is over about 72 mph or so.

My sensors are all perfectly fine, they've been checked. I have no codes. The only thing anyone has ever said when I was inquiring why my lights started coming on was because of the non-stock sized tires in the rear. My ABS, TCS and E-Brake work perfectly during city driving or anythime those lights are off.

Check your sensors, if theyre fine its because you have 18" tires. Also, are you sure the diameter is exactly that of the 275/40/17's that came stock on the car? I don't think HP tuners can fool those sensors 100% of the time.

And one last thing.....all of our PCM's are not created equally. Some PCM's do things that other PCM's will not do and vise versa. My PCM does not show bad 02 sensor codes, bad Crank Shaft Position sensor codes and doesn't show misfire codes...go figure. Makes it a bitch to figure out whats wrong sometimes. So when your friends cars don't have symptoms that you have, it means nothing.

If the lights only come on during highway driving and they are OFF during city driving....you should just let it go because city driving is really when you would ever need ABS or TCS. So its no big deal not to have it on the highway.

Last edited by needadvice; Jun 6, 2008 at 04:43 PM.
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Old Jun 6, 2008 | 06:35 PM
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your abs system is linked off of the wheel speed sensors, check those out, they might be dirty and corroded. clean em up and see what happens.
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Old Jun 6, 2008 | 08:30 PM
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I'll try the 20 minutes or so of city driving at slower speeds and see what happens. All of my rims are 18"/9 so I am running the same size wheels all around. It just seems so strange that if it is what you are saying it is, how come this issue would arise after a year of driving on these rims?
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Old Jun 6, 2008 | 08:37 PM
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i dont think its the rims in your case. if i am not mistaking there is a sensor on each wheel, plus another sensor on the differntial pumpkin and i think another on the transmission. these are all for speed and traction control system. check them all for cut or damaged wires or melted and maybe u can clean the sensors too
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Old Jun 6, 2008 | 11:30 PM
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Originally Posted by ae13291
i dont think its the rims in your case. if i am not mistaking there is a sensor on each wheel, plus another sensor on the differntial pumpkin and i think another on the transmission. these are all for speed and traction control system. check them all for cut or damaged wires or melted and maybe u can clean the sensors too
Yes....it could very well be a bad sensor...but if it was it would throw codes and act up ALL THE TIME.

WTF is so hard to understand about that??????
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Old Sep 27, 2008 | 02:29 PM
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Originally Posted by 2K1WS6TA
How is it the "wrong" sized tires? All of the parameters for tire heigth, rim size, and final drive ratio were changed with HP tuners.

There are 5 other guys in our car club that are riding on 18" rims and haven't had any lights come on due to a different size tire.


Are you sure of what you are saying, or are you telling me what you think is the problem?
I have this same problem and i have 16in rims and 245 width, which is stock.. anytime i go over a bumb or something my dash lights up like a Christmas tree
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Old Feb 5, 2010 | 12:42 AM
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same issue. ABSINOP light is on and so is BRAKE light on my '00 WS6
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