ABS light, sometimes

[Ionlyhave3suubs]

I have a 96 Legacy LSi that has an ABS light come on sometimes. There is one place I can almost always get it to come on. Pulling in to the school parking lot at my kid's school there is a slight bump. It is a slow right turn with a small bump. Turns on the ABS light almost every time. It will stay on til the engine is turned off and started again. Any ideas what could be causing this and how to correct it (other than the obvious driving another route)?

[gbhrps]

Your symptoms sound like a corroded or loose wiring connection on one of your ABS sensors at one of your wheels. Pull each one of them apart and check them. If that doesn't do it, you may need to have a tech scan your codes to see if the car will identify which wheel has the sensor problem and go from there. Good Luck!

[Fairtax4me]

Yeah check the wheel sensors and wiring. Make sure there aren't any metal shavings stuck to the sensors. The wiring for the rear sensors is routed a little strange where it starts to run down the trailing arm to the hub. Check up by the body to make sure it isn't pinched/cut.

[idosubaru]

the sensors themselves can wear down too and cause the ABS light to come on. replace sensor, that's the only failure i've seen so far on an ABS personally.

 

you can read the codes, the procedures to do that are on here. just ground a wire above your gas pedal and the ABS light will flash a certain number of times telling you the code - and allowing you to track down the issue. first time i ever had to do it i found everything i needed on this site with some searching.

[Ross]

It's very likely that it's the cable to a rear wheel sensor causing your trouble. Where it comes off the suspension arm and onto the car body it bends with every bump and eventually fatigues -- seems to be a common problem with cars with over 200,000km.

 

As soon as I put people or heavy gear in my car and go over a bump, my ABS turns off for this reason -- the cable is bent and contact is momentarily broken.