The ABS warning light on the dash of my girlfriend's 'M' plate manual
2WD Mitsubishi Galant GLSi is continuously illuminated. The handbook just says, "take it to a Mitsubishi mechanic." Can anyone tell me what the continuous illumination of this light may mean, in both mechanical and financial terms?
Haynes only seem to do a Galant manual for the colonies (America, that is) - they note that they're very similar, but not identical to UK vehicles. Can anyone who owns one comment? What else is available - are we limited to the official Mitsu service manual, which will probably cost an arm and a leg?
... personally, I'm not willing to start poking about with the ABS system of a car I don't know without consulting some paperwork first.
TIA.
PJ.
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A
Adrian
PJ ( snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
It means that your ABS isn't working.
The brakes will work exactly as per normal - except if the ABS would be kicking in, in which case they'll lock - just like brakes used to.
It's an MOT fail, though.
My money's on a front wheel sensor.
R
reg
as Adrian says more then likely a wheel sensor, try checking the multi-plugs that go to each sensor, un-plug them and re-connect, could be something simple like a dirty connection, if that fails then im afraid it needs to go onto a diagnostic machine.
P
PJ
Hmm. Okay. The light has come on very occasionally - maybe four times in the last six months, and never for more than thirty seconds or so...
Bugger. We're broke and the MOT only has a couple of months to run. I shall hope for duff wiring...
Ta.
PJ.
F
fishman
Not necessarily so.
ABS sensors are magnetic, and the signal can be corrupted by swarf from the brake discs, and general debris. Your first course of action should be to thoroughly clean around the sensors. They are black plasticky things with wires coming from them, mounted at the rear of the hub, near the CV joint. Clean each one and see if the problem goes away.
If that doesn't work, then you've probably got a dodgy sensor, in which case you can perform your own diagnostics by doing this:
On many of the systems I've encountered, it's simply a 2 wire lead that goes to each sensor, with a whitish coloured connector (that looks like one of those inline fuse holders you sometimes get on car stereo leads).
The connectors are usually situated around the front wings/suspension turrets under the bonnet for the front wheel sensors, and near the rear turrets or under the rear seats for the rear wheel sensors.
Locate the connectors and Use a multimeter (couple of quid from maplin if you don't already have one) across the two contacts on the sensor side (usually female in my experience) of the connector. With the car stationary and the ignition off, the reading should be pretty much stable and the reading for each sensor should be pretty much identical.
If you find a sensor that has a reading that fluctuates a lot, or is signinificantly different to the other sensors, you've found your bad sensor. I don't know what system the Galant has, but if it's a Bosch system, a new sensor from a Bosch dealer will cost you a lot less (usually half) what it will cost you to get one from a Mitsubishi dealer. Go to
formatting link
and click "dealer locator". You might be brave enough to fit one yourself, but it's often very very difficult to remove old sensors, so you might want to pay the money you saved by doing your own diagnostics and by going to Bosch instead of Mitsubishi on getting a mechanic to do it. Should only take an hour's labour.
Good luck and hope this helps.
F
fishman
I should've mentioned that the reading of your multimeter should be set to resistance, measured in Ohms. Sorry about that oversight!
P
PJ
[snip]
Fluke. Very nice... :)
I used to work as a mechanic, but on AC Cobras, which aren't known for their ABS systems... :)
Thanks for your help... :)
PJ.
M
Mark W
FWIW
I just picked up a CD copy of a Workshop Manual on EBay for 99p (+150P&P) eg ...
formatting link
Just waiting for a quiet morning at work now to print it out :O)
P
Pete Smith
Are you 100% sure about that?
I could be very wrong (but this has been "proved" in the real world), but I thought that it was the *light* that had to work properly.
I have a friend whose Rover had an ABS failure, *but* the light went out.
If the light stayed on, then it isn't a fail, because the behaviour is correct, but because there was a failure, with the light off, this was classed as an MOT fail.
Pete.
R
reg
the light must go out, if it stays on then it indicates an ABS fault.we don't test the actual ABS function, all we are interested in is the correct sequence the ABS light come's on & goes off. for example landrovers you have to drive about 5 mph for the light to go out & escorts come on with the ignition extinguish after approx 3 seconds when the engine runs, older style escorts ( mechanical-belt driven, horrendous if you've ever had the misfortune to try it )ABS function light works off the handbrake.
reason for rejection. a.the warning light does not illuminate. b.the warning lamp does not follow the correct sequence of operation c.the warning light indicates an ABS fault.
W
werd
Disconnect the light. no mot fail.
R
reg
ABS fitted, no light, no ticket ! if ABS is fitted you have to have an ABS function light which must follow a set sequence. end off !
P
PC Paul
Is the ABS not expected to come on during the braking force tests then?
Or is the actual functioning ignored?
R
reg
depending on the what ABS system is fitted you do sometimes get it kick in on the brake rollers but not all the time,bearing in mind these are brake rollers & not to be confused with a rolling road, the brake rollers only roll at about 5 miles an hour, not normaly fast enough for the ABS to kick in, but the actual function is ignored regarding the ABS, we are only interested in the ABS function light.
P
PJ
Interesting. Thanks.
PJ.
A
Adrian
Pete Smith (pete snipped-for-privacy@lethe.org.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
Yes.
You are.
It is, because the light doesn't follow the "normal" pattern - ignition on, self-test, light off.
It stays on, indicating a fault.
It's daft, because if the light's on, you have the same brakes as a car without ABS - the time ABS faults are dangerous is when they're intermittent, and the light DOES go out - then the sensor throws it's toys causing false triggering as you go sailing merrily onwards instead of stopping. DAMHIK,IJDOK?
A
Adrian
PJ ( snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
Indeed. You lucky bastard.
P
PJ
Hehe. :)
... only a very basic one, but nice none-the-less. My father bought it for me a few years ago - he was a PSO at what was RAE Farborough and said they were standard issue to all the electronics bods, who swore by them, so if they were good enough for them...
... one of the best things I ever bought for it were a set of plug in crocodile clips to replace the standard probes - damn useful gadgets that free up your hands when you're doing a lot of testing jobs.
Fluke do a load of add-on modules - ISTR they did a non-contact thermometer which I'd rather like (useful for pinning down misfires etc). An exhaust gas wotsit would be nice too... :)
PJ.
T
Tim S Kemp
How do you do roller testes in vehicles with stability control? Surely rolling two of the wheels really upsets them.
R
reg
anything perculiar on the drive train, that cant be tested using the brake roller , we use a decelerometer.
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