lt1aggie

newb here so please dont get mad if this has already been posted..i did a search before hand and didn't find much. i have a 97 z28 auto with about 65k on it. whenever i brake, as soon as the speedo hits 10mph, the 'low traction' light comes on and the abs seems to turn on. this happens nine times out of ten. it doesn't matter if it is raining or it's the middle of the afternoon on a sunny day. it also doesn't really matter if i brake hardly or softly. i dont really care if the light comes on or whatever but the thing that is really making me mad is that the abs comes (i guess) and it takes some of the pressure off the brakes (i know it is supposed to do this). the problem is, that the brakes stay off for so long that if i dont start baking early enough, i will just roll through the stop light/sign, whatever. after a couple of seconds, then the brakes come back on and the car stops. the low traction light stays on for a few seconds after i have stopped, and then turns off. any explanations or suggestion? thanks in advance
-cb

TobyZ28

Sounds like a bad or dirty wheel speed sensor. I had this exact same problem... I cleaned my rear wheelspeed sensors and the slipping thing went away. But now my front ABS sensors are throwing a code Oh well. now what happens is i get the ABS inop light on until i restart the car. Doesnt happen all the time, just kinda annoying.

llafro

Yeah, this sounds like a bad sensor. Basically, one of the sensors is telling the computer that the wheel is locking up. That engages the ABS. The computer then releases brake pressure to try to get the wheel spinning again. Usually, a bad sensor will cause the ABS system to go into limp home mode (i.e. no ABS).

For the time being, you can (I think ??) pull the ABS fuse under the hood. This should disable the ABS system and return you to normal braking. You won't have ABS, but you will have normal braking like a car not equipped with ABS. It will be possible to lock up the wheels, so don't do any really hard stops, or you'll flat spot the tires.

As soon as you can, either check the system or have someone check it. Unless you have normal brakes, don't drive the car again.

My advice is worth what you paid for it...

BRAD

anasazi

same EXACT problem that I had

take some sandpaper and a wire brush and sand down all the grounds in the engine compartment, mainly the shock tower one on the passenger side and the one on the front of the engine next to the coil.

then disconnect all the ABS stuff, blow on the connectors to get rid of any dirt, then put them back together. do this at the ABS itself and on each front wheel.

then put it all back together and take it for a test drive. fixed my problem.

otherwise go get it scanned if the ABS INOP light is on.

lt1aggie

ok, thanks for the info so far guys..really appreciate it. first, how would i go about finding the abs fuse so i can temporarily fix the problem? and second, is there a diagram or pic of where the abs sensors are (sorry, i'm pretty new to the car). also, the 'abs inop' light has never come on, only the low traction. thanks again everyone!

Atilla_95_Z28

Before you go to all that trouble, go to a car wash and use the hose there to spray off your wheels. My 95 does that every so often and cleaning that sensor helps.

Brettinator

anyone know exactly where this sensor is located on the calipers, etc? Mine started doing that recently when i'd come to a stop. Figured my rotors were worn, which they are lol..but that's a different topic.

kyzer soze

Glad to see im not the only one with this problem. I was about to make a new thread thank goodness i did a search.

atljar

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...hreadid=145418

MentalCaseOne

Basically this were my two problems

1) Bad contact at the Left Front wheel speed sensor conector

2) Dirty Rear speed sensor (located ontop of the Diff Case.


When I backed up the ABS light would come on randomly and when slow braking it would actuate the ABS and sometimes with the low traction light followed with the ABS light going on steady from there on.


Most of the time I was able to fix the slow braking/low traction problem by removing and re-conecting the front wheel sensor but I dindt know about the rear one up until some time ago. Out of the blue I decided to clean the rear sensor... and that fixed the ABS light coming on while backing up problem, also it seemed to have cleared-up the front problem too... its been a while and I havent had any more issues with the ABS so far.

I havent had replaced any sensors yet and the ABS is working fine for now.


Marvin