Thread: Trac and ABS dont work!?!?

yesterday morning i had to jump my Legend due to the cold weather and a dead bettery. i went to move the GP, and it must be said, it is VERY slick and snowy out. when i went to pull forward i could feel the wheels slipping and the spedo went up a little. i waited for the trac to kick in and pull me forward, but it didnt come on. finally got moving and when i went to stop. there was no feedback from the brake pedal, and the wheels locked up and the car started to slide sideways. i was only going maybe 5mph when i hit the brakes, but the ABS still should have kicked in! after starting the Legend, i went to move the GP back and the trac came on this time, also when i went to pull around the side of the building, the ABS came on.. also there where no warning lights, and the TRAC OFF light was not on. so what could this have been? it wasnt all that cold, maybe 20º... so what could cause this?? any help?

Originally Posted by 99gpse

yesterday morning i had to jump my Legend due to the cold weather and a dead bettery. i went to move the GP, and it must be said, it is VERY slick and snowy out. when i went to pull forward i could feel the wheels slipping and the spedo went up a little. i waited for the trac to kick in and pull me forward, but it didnt come on. finally got moving and when i went to stop. there was no feedback from the brake pedal, and the wheels locked up and the car started to slide sideways. i was only going maybe 5mph when i hit the brakes, but the ABS still should have kicked in! after starting the Legend, i went to move the GP back and the trac came on this time, also when i went to pull around the side of the building, the ABS came on.. also there where no warning lights, and the TRAC OFF light was not on. so what could this have been? it wasnt all that cold, maybe 20º... so what could cause this?? any help?

When you first start your car and put it in gear, your ABS does a "self test". It does a test to make sure everything is working correctly. On some cars you can hear and feel the car do this. It makes a groaning/grinding noise much like your ABS feels like when it kicks in. This is the self test. I know if I start my car, put it in gear and start moving too quickly before the test completes, it will disable my ABS and throw on the ABS and trac off lights. If I stop, turn the car off, restart it and start moving slowly, I don't have an issue. Maybe it is just a thing with my car being older, I don't know.

But my guess is that you started moving the car too quickly by spinning the wheels and the system didn't have a chance to complete the test. Try starting the car, letting it idle, putting it in park, keep your foot on the brake, and start moving slowly. If that doesn't work, disconnect your battery for a couple minutes and try again. If that still doesn't work, you may need to replace a wheel bearing as I would think you have a bad wheel speed sensor. But that is last resort. Do what I suggested first.

well it did work after a few mins... but the first time i hit the brakes it didnt. there where now warning lights, and i had the car on for maybe a min or so before i moved... idk i think its just because it hadnt been started in a couple days, and it was cold. and also maybe because i was going slowly... it hasnt had any problems since, so im assuming just a one time thing.. i hope!