kaptain howdie

hey everyone...first post.

just for the info most of my family drive gm vehicles including myself. this question is about my mom`s 98 cavalier.
about a month or so ago my mom noticed that her cav didn`t have the stopping power that it used to. i pulled the fron brakes apart and changed the pads. i went to have a look at the rears, but i had trouble getting the back wheel off (live on a dirt road, got a bit corroded) so i tried to stop the car just with the parking break and it seemed to be ok, so i left it.

now last week the abs light and parking brake light are always on. i checked the fluid level and its ok but i`m perplexed as to what the problem could be. today i bought new drums and shoes so i`m gonna give that a try, but i`m worried that it might be something more like the abs computer or wheel sensor.

anyone else have this problem? oh yeah i borrowed my friends obdII code reader and erased the memory. the light went off for a while and now its back on again (kinda figured it would).

any help greatly appreciated.

beckeruti

could you read any codes with that scanner

kaptain howdie

i t didn`t pick up any codes. but it was capable of erasing the computers memory, but after awhile the lights came back on. i imagine that it needs to be hooked up to an abs diagnostic scanner to determain or extract the code fault numbers. (just hate spending the money if its something i can fix)

kaptain howdie

anybody?

BamaBelle

this happened on my '95 yesterday. we just had the brakes done about 4 months ago. i hadn't driven her in awhile, so the battery went dead. we replaced the battery, and everything seemed fine. yesterday, i started her up and backed out of my parking spot. when i put her in drive, the lights came on. during the day, they would go back off after i drove for a couple of minutes, but last night, they stayed on after i shifted into drive. haven't had it officially checked out yet--i think it's something electrical. any ideas?

kaptain howdie

if your having the same problem (abs light and parking brake light on at the same time) as my 98, i did a little investigating. i was talking to a brake guy at midas (i couldn`t get my drums off, corroded to the hub) and he said that the problem could be realted to the wheel speed sensor. to determain exactly, they would have to do an abs diagnostic and if it was one of the rear sensors that they are not replacable like the fronts, and that the entire hub would have to be replaced. i confirmed this with haynes repair manual.

now is it worth it to spend the 400 bucks cdn to have the abs back on line?

not sure yet.[&o]

blues

Hello you all!! Here's my story. I bought a cavalier 1998 coupe about 3 months ago. When I bought it, it did have the same problem you guys are having with the ABS lights and Parking lights on all the time. So, I took it to the shop until they figure it out. The problem is related to the ABS pump and ABS motors. So, what I did was to purchase the ABS pump (the whole piece where the ABS motors, pump and the brake fluid is) on ebay for about 40 dlls including shipping charges. Anyhow, at the end it was a 30 minute job to replace that ABS pump and re-flush the brake fluid. Now the cavalier is running strong and braking just fine. Problem solved!! Hope this helps!

Have a nice day,

Blues

kaptain howdie

abs pump? didn`t know that it had an abs pump. did you mean booster pump? i`ll check the haynes manual for verification. thanks for the info.

kaptain howdie

as far the the manual states there is an abs module just above the master cylinder and the booster pump is close by the firewall. if that is what you mean i figure the booster pump is fubared since braking power is much less the normal.

thanks for the valuable info...............

Deric1979

My grandmother died and left me her 98 chevy cavalier and it is doing the same thing. I was wondering if you happened to get that fixed and do you remember what the cause was? greatly appreciated if you would respond, any one of you fine people.