NewfoundlandBurban

Hey guys, Just bought myself a "New" Suburban. It's a 1993 to be exact and boy am I exited about it. A little history before I ask my first question.

At the dealership I work for we had a 2002 Safari AWD traded in which I bought for a steal. Seemed good for our family with a baby on the way and a big giant 180 pound St Bernard. Both me and wife loved the van dearly. Fast forward 2 months and turning into my work parking lot and I was rear ended. But, not by just anyone. By our house contractors son! What are the odds. So the van was a total write off the rear frame was buckled, and the insurance company was not willing to fork out the $9800 quoted to fix it. So after haggling back and forth the gave me a nice sum of $6200 for my van. Word of advice. Never take the first 2 offers.

So just last week I seen this Suburban for sale. It immediately caught my eye and I just had to go look at it. Wow! The thing was immaculate garage stored most of its life and undercoated every year. Only 218000km on the odo and he had just done quite a bit of work on it. So I bought it that night. The only issue I personally can see with the truck is the left side manifold has a tick and the ABS/Brake warning light is on.

I'm only 30 years old so my OBD1 knowledge is limited. But I jumped the (what I will call the data link) pins to flash the ABS code and got code 86. Which from my digging it shows: Code 86: shorted anti-lock indicator lamp
*Code 87: shorted brake warning lamp. I think I also have code 87 because the brake warning lamp is on. So I blew the dust off the old mitchell books in the back room of the shop and found the procedure for checking this code which is to check if the circuit has shorted to battery. I havent had a chance to look at the truck yet as we are busy with tires and there is a 5 week old baby at our inlaws, and we are building a home .. busy busy.

Is that all there is to this is the wire simply shorted to battery? Is this a known issue. Im kinda leaning towards the cluster being bad but honestly I'm not too sure. Normally I wouldnt care about ABS but I need the light off to pass safety here in Quebec.

Thanks for any help you guys can give. Sorry about the word sandwich here. Figured id give a proper intro. Also here is a picture of her!

mountainmanjoe

check the electrical schematics in your books, but it sounds like the ABS lamp ground circuit is shorted to chassis somewhere between the lamp and the module that controls it.

Rednucleus

Welcome fellow '93 Sub owner! Purchased ours in "95 and has 350k miles now, original motor, 2nd transmission. ABS light has been on for years, so no ABS function, but "regular brakes" are fine. Our light is off at start up and comes on once you get underway. If I remember it needs a new module; never followed up after mechanic checked it. Does the ABS work despite the light?

NewfoundlandBurban

No it does not work. I think having the light on disables all ABS. At least it does in newer cars. Unless it takes quite a bit to engage it. Went for a good skid Monday morning in some slushy snow with no snow tires on and it never engaged.

Thanks for the welcome!

Cusser

I'd "guess" that for most folks the ABS actually actuates once a year or less, only really designed to electronically pulse the brakes in a panic stop situation better than a human can do.

I currently have 3 vehicles which never had ABS as they pre-date, and they don't have air bags or 3rd brake lights either (1988 Mazda truck, 1970 and 1971 Volkswagens). Are they more dangerous than our '98 Frontier, 2004 Frontier, and 2005 Yukon which have those items ???? Yes. But even more dangerous than those would be a motorcycle, scooter, bicycle riding on the street, trying to walk across a busy highway, standing on a ladder, etc.

NewfoundlandBurban

Okay so I did some testing today. I definetly have a short to B+ in my 4wal module. I have multiple actually. On my Anti lock indicator 4wd indicator Vehicle speed input ALDL and brake warning indicator.

I made sure of this my disconecting all power to the 4wal unit. I'm not to sure about it being all these systems shorted to B+. Could the 4wal unit itself be defective or the actual cluster itself?

Also I found more codes. I forgot it flashes more codes after the first... oops. Code 12, 62 and 66.