TCS light after car wash

[seanlong]

Hi,

My wife took the car to a nice car wash and detailer shop, and when it came back the TCS light was on for good. While I had the car in for servicing something else, the dealer pulled the code and had nothing but bad news. He said that code could be anything from wiring to one of two modules.

Any ideas what to check to troubleshoot? I'll put the car on a lift and check every connection and harness I can find, and unplug-replug everything under the hood, but I was wondering if one of you guys might be able to help me narrow down my troubleshooting search.

The car is in TX and the dealer service tech basically said that the repair would be very expensive since all three possible faults were expensive and they'd have to just try them one at a time, and it wouldn't be worth it unless I was going to be driving in the snow, so I didn't have him do anything else...

I'm a bit bummed because the TCS saved me from 2 hideous accidents when I hit patches of ice on otherwise clear roads so if possible I'd like to get it fixed. At some point though, it might be cheaper to buy a whole new trans-am than randomly replace parts and hunt down wiring problems.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[2001NBMZ28]

My car didn't come with it, but since it happened right after a car wash I'd check to be sure the wheel sensors are plugged up tight - and nice and dry.

[seanlong]

Thx. I'll probably go over every plug I can find with electrical contact cleaner and compressed air.

I killed an ABS module racing once... Not sure how that happened but I had monster wheel hop during braking and after that the ABS didn't work anymore. I found all the modules and checked the connections, but the only thing that fixed it was replacing the module. Weird. I hope this isn't the same sort of thing.

Anyone know if junkyards let people pull out electronic modules like this? That might be a cheaper way to troubleshoot this instead of buying brand new computer modules.

[Sarge]

Go to autozone and get the code read....free....save guessing.

[seanlong]

Sarge,

The dealer service tech said the code isn't specific enough to narrow it down. It basically means "TCS not working right" or something like that, and he said that the troubleshooting tree for that code involves checking and replacing the entire TCS wiring harness, then swapping out TCS modules.

The dealer was one of those who is willing to cheerfully sell you a $70 fuel filter you don't need and add on 15 minutes labor to swap it out (he tried to do that when he replaced my fuel pump and I had to specifically tell him to not do ANYTHING but swap out the fuel pump and fuel level sensor/sender) but although he'd have made at least another $1000 on the deal, he simply didn't want to touch troubleshooting the TCS. I was suprised as heck, but he recommended just leaving it alone because of the cost and the non-specific nature of the engine code.

I'll probably get the code read since I have the repair manuals at home, but I doubt I'll get any more info from the code than the dealer did. When the dealer service shop is unwilling to troubleshoot, it's a safe bet that it's not as easy as pulling a code

[Danger731]

Mine came on after a open hood wash and it cleared itself, I wouldn't stress or spend any time or cash on it till a good dry week goes by.

[b.lee]

tcs = traction control switch?

im a newb.

[alkaydenz-28]

try taking your battery cables off for a couple of minutes to reset everything.
make sure to check your codes though for your CTD.