ABS Light

[mnorton]

now that winter is upon is (in VA w/ 15degree weather), ive been runnin into a problem. while ON and also in drive, my ABS light is now on. it does go off at times, but now i try to not even look at it. so im wonderin if anyone has had any issues w/ this?

I just spent quite a lot of time investigating an ABS light problem and I would like to share my findings.

There seem to be a number of misunderstandings about reading CEL/ABS codes, capability of OBD scanners, the “pin trick” and even the numbering standard of the 16 terminal OBD port. Here is what I can confirm from my first-hand experiences with my 98 Accord EX – 5 speed.

1. OBD Port Numbering - There are two numbering conventions floating around for the 16 terminal OBD port. The first one I found at http://www.v6performance.net/forums/6g-technical-discussion/41989-check-engine-light-codes-resetting.html is incorrect; at least it is on my car. On my ODB port, the corner terminals are labeled with very small numbers. The numbers on my OBD port are the same as the information found on this website http://hondatuning.org/how-to-read-diagnostic-trouble-codes-dtcs-without-an-obdii-scan-tool/ . I can see how there is confusion for my own Haynes manual has the OBD port labeled the same as the first website and talks about jumping terminals 8 and 13 to read the codes. The good news is that terminals 8 and 13 in this version are the same as terminals 4 and 9 as stated on the second website.

Important – the purpose of saying all of this is if someone were to read that you jump terminals 8 and 13 without looking at the shape of the diagram and then counted the terminals on his/her own OBD port (based on the numbers in the corners) you will be jumping the wrong terminals. I’m not sure if any damage would occur in doing so however I (and I'm sure others) don’t want to find out the hard way.

2. Reading ABS Codes – I can confirm that using a thin/small paper clip to jump terminals 4 and 9 will yield flashing lights (codes) on both the CEL (check engine light) light and the ABS light, provided both lights are on. I have determined that the ABS light will flash its codes only four times and it does so using long and short flashes whereas the CEL light will flash its coded continuously (until you turn the key off) and also uses long and short flashes. If you have both lights on, I would read the ABS code(s) first because it takes a few tries to read it accurately. I used this website (towards the bottom) http://honda-tech.com/showpost.php?p=11330084&postcount=1 for the ABS codes. The owner of this post states “There's NO long flashes, it's all short flashes with short & long pauses in between” however as I stated above, my car displays long and short flashes. I used this site http://hondatuning.org/diagnostic-trouble-codes-dtc/ for a complete list of 2 digit CEL codes. I found that many sites have shorter versions; this seems to be the most complete and is the same list as in my Haynes manual with the exception of the three digit codes at the bottom of the list which my manual doesn’t have.

A thanks also to hackmiester1337 for his Youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpG3Sazz3GA&feature=mh_lolz&list=WL5F62C2D9F4608139 Yet another piece to this puzzle.

3. CSC (Check Service Connector) - I have confirmed that the 6G Accord does have a CSC Connector as described by Totalimmortal in his post http://www.6thgenaccord.com/forums/showpost.php?p=24473&postcount=1 . The only reason I have highlighted this post is that it seems that some older Hondas (as per the many posts I found during my Google searches) use the CSC port for other things such as diagnosing CEL and ABS codes. A person could be easily confused by this; at least I was until I was able to confirm the functionality of the “pin trick”. From the information in this post, the main purpose of jumping the CSC is to remove the SRS light.

I hope someone finds this helpful.

 

[JediYuhdigg]

ya'll have abs? luckyyy

 

[Madelinot169]

I have this problem too, my abs light is on and when i slam the brakes abs doesn't kick in. Sometimes they do but i hear a really weird noise, like some kind of pump starts going and i can feel the abs pumping on the brake pedal, when this happens the abs light turns off but it comes back on within minutes.

 

[NotNice]

Abs is a peice eof ****

 

[beberle]

I just diagnosed and fixed an ABS problem on my daughter's 2000 Accord Coupe. I spent hours searching the web for this information and couldn't find it, so here's my Web contribution!

- 1st, I literally removed EVERY piece of trim in the front cabin and could NOT locate the blue 2-pin ABS service connector mentioned by 4th & 5th gen Hondas. The yellow SRS 2-pin connector is on the driver's side just above your left knee, but that didn't help me.
- I finally took the plunge and just jumpered the OBDII ports 4&9. This DOES give you the ABS codes as well as CEL codes if you have any. My code was 15; ie One long flash and Five short flashes. The codes would not repeat for me, I had to turn the ignition off and back on to get them to repeat. Took me about 5 tries to make absolutely sure that it was reading 15.
- 15 is the right-rear wheel speed sensor. For whatever reason, that seems to be a very common sensor to fail. Now get this... there is NO way that I was going to remove this sensor to clean it. I took me 2 hours and pulling it out in pieces to get it out of the wheel hub! Our 2000 Accord has 145k miles on it, and no way was it budging. I tried rotating it in the hub socket w/ a socket extension and ball peen hammer for 30 minutes; again, it wouldn't budge a millimeter! I tried heating the hub w/ a torch w/ no luck! Finally pried the entire top off, leaving the plastic shaft in the hub. This leaves a 15-foot long trail of copper coil that you need to pull out. I then just started digging and removed the magnet and pieces of the plastic side wall. Actually tried melting the remaining pieces out, but this plastic is high-temp resistant...no luck. Eventually, the remaining pieces of the sensor came out towards me between the brake disc and dust shield. Gently bend the shield back and pull out the pieces.
- I sanded the sensor mounting hole for 20minutes w/ 220grit, and the new sensor does NOT just slide into place, even w/ liberal amounts of anti-sieze. I unbolted the brake line holder just behind the sensor to give me room to use a socket extension and ball-peen to tap the new sensor into place. The sensor hole wasn't round, but more of a star shape. Make sure you have the new sensor mounting tab lined up w/ the bolt hole before hammering the sensor into place, because it's NOT going to rotate once it's flush!
- Reassembly took 5 minutes; 2 bolts for the wire mounts and I used some spark plug boot silicon on the plastic plug to keep water out. As soon as the car was on the road, the ABS light immediately went out.
No idea why they have the sensor hole set up this way; it should have been a 20-minute job.

Luck!

 

[intel0116]

in regards to finding the codes, why not just take it to autozone and get the codes read for free in less than 2mins ? thats what i did when my check engine light came on, and a new oxygen sensor later problem was fixed.....

 

[nsjames]

in regards to finding the codes, why not just take it to autozone and get the codes read for free in less than 2mins ? thats what i did when my check engine light came on, and a new oxygen sensor later problem was fixed.....

your autozone has a scanner capable of reading anything other than powertrain?

cause if so, that's a first.

 

[beberle]

ABS codes do NOT show up on a standard scanner; I own two scanners.They only read CEL codes. The only way you can get ABS diagnosed is to take it to the dealer and pay $65 for 1minute of work... Or jump the pins and read the lights.