ABS Light (Traction Control?)

[Typhoon-22]

Hey there friends, 

I have been working to get my Baja ready to pass inspection in Maryland (Safety inspection being the focus for this topic) so I can fully register it, but one thing has eluded me so far. I was told at the dealership that the traction control was undone so it could be off-roaded and that is why the ABS light is on (For all intensive purposes, having traction control off doesn't bother me, but the light will fail my safety inspection). I was not given details on it, and was wondering where I should look on an 03' Baja to hook it back up. This is my first Subaru and I'm already loving it, but I gotta adhere to Maryland's safety laws-at least for now, ha ha. Originally the car was purchased in Delaware.

 

Edited December 25, 2018 by Typhoon-22

[jonathan909]

If what you mean by "traction control" is a transmission function, you're looking in the wrong place.  The ABS light is connected directly to the ABS unit and performs a couple of functions.  First (as you're seeing now), it's letting you know there's something wrong with the ABS.  But that includes the ABS unit being disconnected altogether - the ABS connector has an integral switch that turns on the light if it's unplugged.  You didn't say whether the ABS is working at all (which would be helpful).  So you should first check to see that it's plugged in, then look to the fuse box and make sure they're all there (there are a couple that serve the ABS), as the easiest way for someone to disable the ABS would be to yank the fuse.  Then, if all that looks sound, connect the diagnostic pin under the dash (there's another thread here a few days old that'll give you further info) and see whether there are any codes to read out via the ABS light blinkety-blink.

 

[Typhoon-22]

Understood. The subject unfortunately was discussed only very briefly while I was at the dealership, and things weren't very specific. It doesn't feel like the ABS unit is inactive to me, nor are there any other symptoms relating to it. I believe all fuses are in place last I checked, but I'll give it a second look (I may have missed it, I wouldn't put it past me). And unfortunately my multimeter doesn't do  an ABS diagnosis for Subarus. I do not know why this is one of the brands it doesn't include, but it doesn't which has made this a little more difficult.

[jonathan909]

18 minutes ago, Typhoon-22 said:

It doesn't feel like the ABS unit is inactive to me, nor are there any other symptoms relating to it.

I'm not sure what you mean.  I don't know whether there's snow/ice on the ground in Maryland at the moment, but if there is, if you get moving on a slippery road and hit the brakes and lock the wheels, do you feel the ABS buzz in the pedal?  If so, it's "mostly" working and there's probably a specific fault (like one wheel sensor not feeding the ABS controller) to be debugged vs. a systemic failure that would indicate it had been somehow disabled.

18 minutes ago, Typhoon-22 said:

I believe all fuses are in place last I checked, but I'll give it a second look (I may have missed it, I wouldn't put it past me). And unfortunately my multimeter doesn't do  an ABS diagnosis for Subarus. I do not know why this is one of the brands it doesn't include, but it doesn't which has made this a little more difficult.

To me, "multimeter" means volts, ohms, and (milli)amps, so I'm assuming you're talking about some kind of ODBII (yeah, I know it's supposed to be OBD, but I like the Wu Tang reference) device.  No matter; the way to diagnose the fault is with the diagnostic pin and blinkenlicht method mentioned above.

[Typhoon-22]

Just to close the discussion up, I was given some misinformation unfortunately. Guy at the dealership said the "traction control" was shut off, so I made the assumption he knew what he was talking about with regards to it. Turns out, what I was thinking of with traction control or at least what I was told, was not offered much until 2008.  No worries, after reaching out, turns out I had a bad speed sensor in my left rear wheel. Took care of it this morning. Thanks for the help, though!