service vehicle & ABS inop light....need opinions

[jiveass]

recently, my service vehicle and abs inop light has come on and stayed on until i turn the car off....it doesnt do it all the time but enough to make me wonder....here are some known issues that i am thinking may cause this...please tell me if these can cause this..

front passenger turn signal bulb is busted..
couple of ground wires disconnected behind engine..
computer grounded to battery instead of engine/chassis
service engine light removed from instrument panel..
alt gauge reads in shaded area indicating low voltage, although my built in volt meter on my radar detector reads 13.7-13.9v...

any opinions.

[SMWS6TA]

front passenger turn signal bulb is busted..

the bulb or the harness? Either one is very common. Replace

couple of ground wires disconnected behind engine..

You should really ground those out. It spreads the grounding points through out the motor instead of it going to just one point. It was explained to me that it's kinda a redundant system in case one grounding strap is broke off the motor is still grounded.

computer grounded to battery instead of engine/chassis

Not a good choice IMHO. If the battery takes a short it could fry the PCM.

service engine light removed from instrument panel..

- as annoying as they can be. I'm in the crowd that thinks it's better to have it lit and know there's a problem then not lit and not knowing if there is one.

alt gauge reads in shaded area indicating low voltage, although my built in volt meter on my radar detector reads 13.7-13.9v...
any opinions.

Use a multimeter - to check. Stock 99< gauges are mere indicators and not as accurate as the 98's are. Do you have any dimming of the lights? That would be the first noticeable thing.

[1MileCrash]

Id go down to autozone and have them check for engine codes and see if there are any abs codes present. They should have a new handheld that will pull abs codes by inputing the year make model and engine. Also have them check you alternator with their handheld tester. That will at least give you an idea of the condition of the battery and alternator. Thatd be how id start.

[jiveass]

i removed the engine light because although my car is registered in non emissons county, they will still fail it if the light is on.....
i tried and tried to get the grounds connected at the back but i couldnt get it...is it possible to create new grounds?
i will remove the computer ground and connect it to chassis, but i will retain the self-installed wire for it.
for some reason the bulb harness disconnected from the housing and the bulb itself was busted when i noticed it.

as far as autozone, i read somewhere that they need a "tech 2" scanner to read the abs and service vehicle codes..i was told they didnt have one.

[SMWS6TA]

Yes you can create new grounds as long as they are connected to the body.

ABS Light - you should check the sensor that is located on the rear axle. I believe it is on the drivers side. Make sure it is connected, harness isn't messed up, wires aren't cut. It could just be that the sensor has gone bad.



I go to Advance auto to get my codes read also because they will let me clear them

[jiveass]

the thing about the abs light is that it doesnt come on all the time...it only comes on once in a while when the service vehicle light comes on..and even then it doesnt come on every time...

[1MileCrash]

our autozone store used the new actron handheld scanner model that is abs capable. it works on most domestic vehicles from 1996 - 2006...give or take. it's the one with the large square blue button in the middle of it. if they are using that scanner they will be able to retrieve your abs codes. you'll just have to go online and input the code...for whatever reason the autozone computers don't have abs codes in their database.

[cammed goat]

Just my opinion, but I would check all the grounds first. This all sounds like a ground issue to me.

[jiveass]

yea im gonna start on the ground problem this weekend....as well as a permanent solution to the dumb ass parking lights...

[jiveass]

update: so i regrounded my pcm ....i used a 10gauge amp power wire i had laying around....added some terminals to it and grounded it to chassis...no more issues and car actually seems to run better...guess my origional ground was too small...also, alt gauge reads correctly now....moral of the story is: grounding your system is more important than you think.

[cammed goat]

Having a correct ground and a larger wire allows for current to flow with the least resistance possible. So, basically, your car is charging itself and the computer is running more efficiently.