blaze309

So I drove to work and my car was fine. I leave work and I'm slowing down and around 5-10 mph my low traction light shoots on and the brakes gets kind of spongy. I can't really explain it well. It feels like i'm on the brakes and then I suddenly get off the brakes and then back on them again so my car kind of lerks forward for a second and then the brakes will come back to normal and I can stop. This only happens when i'm coming to a complete stop and once I got into my neighborhood my Abs Inop light came on and it didnt do it anymore. So what could be causing this. Sucks how everything tends to go wrong all at once on my car.

phinger23

at least this problem is easy, and is free to take care of, less stress for you

disconnect the ABS motor under the hood. ABS light will remain on, and car will stop better, and low trac light will not show up.
my 95 started doing the exact same thing your is doing.. i unplugged it...brakes never felt better.

Birdman7389

GHETTO! I hardly believe that you can stop the car better than a properly functioning ABS can.

phinger23

believe it. ABS sucks. GHETTO...yes...WORKS? YES

HBHRacing

Do what you will to your own car. DO NOT recomend such a thing to other people, especialy when there is no problem. All the light means is that the ABS is fighting an issue and winning. If there was an actual problem the ABS inop would light up.


To actualy fix the problem find the code that set teh ABS light on. Could be anything from health of the breaking system to a wheel speed sensor.

phinger23

if it wasnt a problem, it wouldnt happen to begin with.
all disconnecting the wires does is disable the motor that controlls the pulsation of the brakes that prevents brake lock up under severe braking conditions...what you think people did pre-ABS...crash everytime they stopped...i think not.
if the ABS is causing these problems, then you are more at risk than disconnecting the wires. mine did it on dry ground, hard or normal braking, and right before i stopped too like the original posted stated.
eiher get the motor replaced, or disconnect it.

Injuneer

To get back to the topic, and away from ghetto repairs , what you are seeing is your ABS kicking on. That's what you feel in the pedal. One of your wheel speed sensors is producing a weak signal. As the car slows down, the signal gets so weak the ABS computer can't see it, and assumes the wheel has locked up and pulses the brakes.

Check the connections on all the sensors as a starter. If you have traction control, there are sensors on all 4 wheels. If you don't have traction control, there are sensors on the front wheels, and one on the differential housing. Pull the one out of the diff housing and see if it is coated with metal particles. If you can't find the problem, it might be necessary to have the system scanned.

Or you can defeat your ABS system and increase the risk of an accident.

respectirocz

i've had frequent arguements with my friends about abs
i personally do not like it
but a car with abs will stop in a shorter distance than a car without abs
my friends argue that the only thing abs does is allow you to steer

while it is true that abs allows you to steer
it also allows maximum friction between the tire and the asphalt which is important for stopping

a skidding tire does not have the same force of friction as a rolling tire
abs will help you stop sooner

phinger23

i never liked ABS brakes. i have avoided plenty of accidents in other POS cars i have owned that did not have ABS.

also, i did not notice my stopping distance to be any more or less after the disconnect, and have not had the brakes lock up once...ive had the car for almost a year now. just my 2 cents tho.

lt1aggie

what he said...
i had this exact problem. i took all the wheel speed sensors off and cleaned them out with electrical contact cleaner and compressed air. it fixed the problem.

more info:
http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=378746

CamaroSS30thAnn

would a melted abs harness do this to? the wires are in contact and so are the prongs in the harness but the harness itself melted when it touched the header

also its done it on and off, i guess cleaning the speed sensors wouldnt be a problem

is it just the wheel speed sensors to clean or can the abs also?

94Z28LS1toLT1

Hey man my car is doing the exact same thing as yours was doing,but mine only does it when im leaving my work i leave slow in the parking lot,but in the morning i leave slow n no low trac light comes on. And the abs light would randomly turn on n if i shut it off n start it it would be off. My brakes work awesome,but when the low trac comes on i heard a weird noise on my drivers side like if my air dam got stuck in place at a parking lot.thabk u guys

new2chevy

Hey guys. I have a reluctor ring gear thing on each axle with an electrical plug on each backplate as well, and I am wondering if this is traction control stuff or ABS stuff.

There is no sensor plug on the diff housing, either.

Thanks for anyone who can answer this.

Skedaddle

If you have ABS + TCS both systems are controlled in part based on the input from the wheel speed sensors on the ends of the axles. That is called a 4-channel system. If you only have ABS, you would have the single sensor on top of the diff housing. That would be a 3-channel system.

If you only have ABS, but have the reluctor/sensors on the end of each axle, someone has swapped the wrong rear axle assembly into your car.

Kevin Blown 95 TA

The problem with ABS in our cars is that it fails UNSAFE.