ABS trouble

[97SLGTW]

Hey, New to the car, and this site. This is my first vehicle with ABS as well, so im not overly familiar with the systems.

Anyway the car I bought is a 97 legacy gt wagon. The ABS light is not always on, but came on last night with some enthusiastic snow driving. Anyway i have noticed that the ABS isnt functioning, and like i said the light is on.

Where do I start? I have to get the car in for a safety, and obviously need to fix this before then.

thanks for the help!

[2.5GT]

The light shouldn't be on when you're driving. It comes on when you 1st start the car, then it should be gone a few seconds later.

I advise to check into a Subaru dealership and let them check it over.

There's alot of possibilities..

- Fluid low?
- leak from the brake hoses?
- broken ABS ring gear?(I did this to mine! :roll: )

[97SLGTW]

Yeah, I really dont see myself paying a dealer to look at the car. I only paid 1600 for it, so I would like to fix it myself. I am not new to cars, just this one.

Im going to grab a FSM somewhere, and that should help, just thought I should ask the experts if there is a known issue I could check first.

what is the possibility of a dirty connection or something stupidly simple being the issue?

thanks for the reply!

[Huffer]

Easiest thing to do would be to jack up the car, and check all the ABS sensors on each corner... if you see anything broken or messed up, that's where to start.

[Huffer]

Im going to grab a FSM somewhere, and that should help, just thought I should ask the experts if there is a known issue I could check first.

Find a post by digiphux (?) - he has the FSM for the 99 model cars hosted...

[97SLGTW]

thanks ill check for that around.

would one broken sensor or something cause the whole system to shut down? I definately have NO abs functioning whatsoever.

for anyone who might not have known and is interested in the FSM the host is d1giphux...

heres a link. (http://www.sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php ... hlight=fsm (http://www.sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?t=3822&highlight=fsm))

[AussieDan]

I have the 97 fsm, pm me for a link.

[2.5GT]

thanks ill check for that around.

would one broken sensor or something cause the whole system to shut down? I definately have NO abs functioning whatsoever.

for anyone who might not have known and is interested in the FSM the host is d1giphux...

heres a link. (http://www.sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php ... hlight=fsm (http://www.sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?t=3822&highlight=fsm))

1 broken sensor will trigger the whole system. It will go into limp mode, the light will come on..and the car should run as if there was no ABS to start with.

[Plays_with_Toys]

I'd start with the fuse since it's right next to your foot. :grin: From there yes, check the sensors. They are basically wheel speed sensors at each corner, and the ABS can act funky or not at all if you've got one broken or bad. If you got a bunch of snow packed in the wheel well yesterday there's a chance you got some moisture in the connector or just something happened in there.

[97SLGTW]

well i hadnt had time to look at it yet, and last night I went to start the car. ABS light never came on, so i took it to some ice and sure enough it works great.

Its been super warm the past few days here, and everything is melting. So im leaning towards the snow getting up there theory. Ill take some time soon to check into it further, hopefully it stays working till i get the safety at least.

thanks

[jey]

If your wheel speeds are significantly different for a extended period of time the ABS light will come on to indicate that the system is no longer working. I believe this is a safety feature so that if one of your wheel sensors goes out the ABS will shut down instead of using faulty data. However, you can induce this situation when playing in the snow/mud and the wheels are sliding around at different speeds. Every time that has happened to me, I drove around for a few more miles and the light shuts off and everything is back to normal.

There is a page in my owner's manual that explains that this behaviour is normal too IIRC.

[97SLGTW]

Ok, thanks.

Its good to know. The previous owner said it did this on him from time to time as well, but he only ever used it as a winter vehicle... so i assume thats why for him as well. Its been a few days now and have had no trouble with it, although im also not driving it yet on the road.