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I have a 2002 Cavalier automatic with a 2.2L Engine in America. It seems to run fine but I have all kinds of status lights on and they are worrying. I took my car to the local shop to hook it up to a code reader and the only code it spit out was “P0446”. I looked it up and it seems to be a minor emissions thing that I’m not too worried about.
What I am worried about however are the other status lights: a yellow wrench, “no trac”, and “ABS” light. I have no owner’s manual with the car and I don’t really know what these lights mean. Those three lights come on at random times and go off at random times. The “check engine” light is always on because of the “P0446” code, but the other lights are very frustrating and any help if appreciated.
Just a recap on my questions. What do the 3 intermittent lights mean? Can i do anything about the lights without going to an expensive shop? What is your advice for me?Thank you 🙂
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The wrench light probably signifies that the car is due for an oil change.
The traction control and the ABS operate in conjunction with each other making two of your lights redundant. Without codes, it would be impossible to say for sure what’s going on. But your likely sources are going to be a bad wheel speed sensor or maybe a hub & bearing. If you’re feeling a pulsation of the brake pedal at speeds of less than 10 mph, then you’re dealing with a cracked tone ring. You’re going to need access to a scan tool that can read ABS codes to get started though.
If what you say is true the wrench light must be faulty. I literally did an oil and oil filter change yesterday. As I said before, I did hook the car up to a scan tool, but there was only one code “p0446”. When I was able to use the scan tool the “ABS” and “trac cont” lights were not on however. Do I need to try and use the scan tool when these lights are on? My scan tool says “the car needs to be off and the key needs to be in the on position”. This makes it impossible to test when those 2 lights are on because they only come on when the engine is running.
I have had times when the brake pedal will shake but not always. The ABS and trac cont lights come on almost every day, but i’ve only had my brake pedal shake once in the last month of driving it.
To recap my questions in this reply. Do I need to test when the lights are on? Are the lights on to tell me the cause of my brake pedal shaking once? If so, why are the lights on almost constantly and the brake pedal does not always shake?Thank you, but i still need help. Anything is appreciated.
There’s always a reset procedure to turn the maintenance (wrench) light off if that’s what is really is for. Aside from some BMW’s, cars don’t have a sensor that knows you did an oil change. For your car, you should be able to turn the key on, engine off, and push the gas pedal to the floor three times within five seconds and it might reset that light. That car is old enough that it might have a reset oil button in the fuse block instead. Your fuse block could be on either end of the dash board under a cover or it might be in the fuse block under the hood.
Your question regarding the ABS codes depends on your scan tool. It’s got to be able to access the ABS module to pull ABS specific codes. If your scan tool can access the ABS module, then you should be able to get history codes without the lights actually being on.
I will try what you said to reset the wrench light. How do I access the ABS module? Is it a different plug than the one used by my scan tool under the dash?
A cheap “code reader” will not likely read ABS codes, you would either updated software or a more expensive scan tool.
In all likely hood being that it’s a 2002 GM product you probably have a broken ABS sensor wire along one of your control arms. It may also be the sensor or tone ring but the tone ring is integral to the hub/bearing assembly and the sensor tend not to come out of the hub without a fight.
I went in search of a scan tool that could read ABS codes but the cheapest one i found was $230 which is out of the question for me. I have been reading around and people seem to be telling me to take off each wheel speed sensor then clean them and test them with an Ohmmeter.
Apparently, if you disconnect the wheel speed sensor then you put the ohmmeter probes on the sensor’s contacts then you spin the wheel, you should see a change in the ohm reading.
So far I have taken off one sensor, cleaned it, and tested it. The way I did this is, I clipped probes to the sensor’s contact’s and touched the little magnet on the sensor to a magnetic piece of steel. I did observe a jump up in Ohms every time I brought the metal into contact with the sensor’s magnet.
Is looking for a change in Ohms a legitimate way to test to see if the sensor is good? I can easily disconnect each sensor and test them this way if this method works. But again, I need to know if this is a true test for a faulty sensor.
All help is highly Appreciated. 🙂
You could either use ohms, or AC volts. Before testing each one, I would seriously pull back the loom over the wires all the way back to the subframe and check for breaks.
You’re just guessing by randomly testing the speed sensors. Not to say they couldn’t be the issue, but if you had the code, you’d have a much better chance of success for solving those problems. You might consider taking your vehicle to an auto parts store that can pull ABS codes for you. You really need to start with the code to solve a problem like that. More info here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-brake-problems
Good luck and keep us posted.
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