No amigos, no ABS light on start up

I have finally started to investigate my lack of amigos as the MOT is due later in the year and better to start early.

On switching on the ignition, all I get (in that group of lights) is a green hill decent light whcih goes off after a moment or two. No ABS light, no traction control light ........ . I assumed that probably some wires had been cut behind the instrumnet panel, bulbs removed or chiselled out to hide a lights on problem. However, I had the panel out today, checked the wiring, checked the bulbs, cleaned the connections and found nothjing mutiilated. I checked the ABS fuse a well which is fine. What is my next step? Buy a diagnositc tool?

Thanks

Does the ABS / TC and HDC actually work? If so it's got to be an light fault.

Nodge68 said:

Does the ABS / TC and HDC actually work? If so it's got to be an light fault.

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Thanks Nodge. I am pretty sure they are not working ...... I cant feel any ABS kicking in when I slam the bakes on. I will check the HD again but am pretty sure it is dead. it has been like this since I bought the car last year - I knew it would be a problem but everything else about the car was good so I paid my money .....

gareth123 said:

Thanks Nodge. I am pretty sure they are not working ...... I cant feel any ABS kicking in when I slam the bakes on. I will check the HD again but am pretty sure it is dead. it has been like this since I bought the car last year - I knew it would be a problem but everything else about the car was good so I paid my money .....

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So the car skids/locks its brakes when you 'slam' the brakes on?

Epicuser said:

So the car skids/locks its brakes when you 'slam' the brakes on?

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No - it stops fine - but in my other car (old toyota) I can feel teh ABS in the pedal when it starts to activate.

Pumping the brake pedal 10 times in the first 10 seconds after the ignition is turned on diasables the traction control until vehicle speed reaches 4mph, then TC is enabled again. This will power the yellow TC, yellow ABS and yellow HDC fail lamps on the dash until it's moving at 4mph, to help with fault finding the lamps.

gareth123 said:

No - it stops fine - but in my other car (old toyota) I can feel teh ABS in the pedal when it starts to activate.

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So the abs is working then.... If not it would lock the brakes. (Or you aren't trying hard enough )

Hippo said:

Pumping the brake pedal 10 times in the first 10 seconds after the ignition is turned on diasables the traction control until vehicle speed reaches 4mph, then TC is enabled again. This will power the yellow TC, yellow ABS and yellow HDC fail lamps on the dash until it's moving at 4mph, to help with fault finding the lamps.

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Thanks Hippo. Will give that a try!

Epicuser said:

So the abs is working then.... If not it would lock the brakes. (Or you aren't trying hard enough )

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Hmm - maybe. The previous owner did say he thought the ABS still worked even though the ABS light didnt come on at start up. I didn't believe him but now I am not so sure ....

Try it on some grass.....I find it very hard to lock up the hippos wheels on tarmac....

I don't feel the ABS through the pedal on my V6. I think it depends on what system is fitted.

I would have been tempted to swap a non working bulb with a known working one ..just to see.

Excellent charity that you work for by the way - close to my heart

Brack said:

I would have been tempted to swap a non working bulb with a known working one ..just to see.

Excellent charity that you work for by the way - close to my heart

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Thanks Brack. I checked the ABS bulb and that showed Ok on a multimeter. Perhaps I should have checked the others in the same group as well - maybe one bulb out affects the rest (like christmas tree lights in the old days???)

Thanks for the comments about my work!

I just tried Hippo's advice to pump the brake pedal 10 times after ignition - with no lights showing at all.

All I have on first switch-on is a green hill descent light which goes off after a couple of moments - indicating I presume that system is self testing and working.

What else can I check?

Thanks

Gareth

Thing is when the ign is turned on the warning lights should come on and go off if everything is ok and when things are not ok they should stay on - three of yours don't come on at all (ABS, TC, HDC!) - I just wondered if someone has put bulbs in of a different rating ..ie the wrong bulbs.

Brack said:

Thing is when the ign is turned on the warning lights should come on and go off if everything is ok and when things are not ok they should stay on - three of yours don't come on at all (ABS, TC, HDC!) - I just wondered if someone has put bulbs in of a different rating ..ie the wrong bulbs.

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OK - that's a point. I will swap the known working bulb (hill descent test) with the ABS bulb to see what happens and report back - may need to wait till Saturday for that.

Thanks again

Download a copy of RAVE it has very useful wiring diagragms in it.

ianda12 said:

Download a copy of RAVE it has very useful wiring diagragms in it.

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Thanks - I will have a look at that. In the meatntime I have just checked the ABS ECU has not been disconnected (following other posts today about turning of ABS). All is in place and just hoping the ECU is working. Can I check it?

Thanks