I'm seeing a weird problem. Every now and then -- as in not reliably -- I start the car, and the ABS / TCS / TCS OFF lights come on and stay on. I turn off, then back on, and they go away. I took it to a local guy and he said that unless they are always on, they wouldn't be able to diagnose it. I have not replaced the serpentine belt yet, and know that should be done ASAP. Could this simply be a slipping timing belt issue? When these lights are on, I notice NO degradation in driving. Also, sometimes the lights come on togther after the car's been running. In that case, the lights come on after the initial start up diagnostic, but then clear off after the 3-6 second time.

The first time I ever noticed it was when my wife was driving the car over a RR grade with uneven tracks. The above mentioned mechanic said that this may have been the sensor detecting that wheels were spinning. I thought hmm... ok, but then I've been over those tracks since then, and I can't imagine how fast you'd have to go to even be close to spinning a wheel over those tracks. (It would have to be >30, and we never take them above 10-15 mph).

Being Sunday, I can't call anyone to help on this. I will check back for replies.

As you can tell since it's now late 2006 and the car was bought in Jan 2001, 73K isn't heavy mileage.

Thanks in advance!

 

Same problem on my wife's 626, same year. . . I'm about to get rid of it, and was hoping for a quick fix. Any ideas??

 

Actually, I have an update. My tech at my dealership found some loose string (twine or something) had gotten wrapped around one of the sensors on the rear wheels. They removed it, and tested the sensors and they check out "within tolerance" -- but alas, the lights are still on. I can easily spin wheels in a gravel lot (which was possible with tcs functioning, but took some work)...

The brain (which also comes with the modulator that pumps the abs) is about $1800, and each sensor is $250... So, if I swap it all out, I'm looking at close to $2500. I am "living with it" at the moment and pondering if it's worth fixing.