Purple94EX

I have searched and no luck, I am a newb to the Honda World. Yesterday I just purchased a mint condition 94 EX civic coupe with 64k original miles. Adult owned and bone stock. Well it has been a dream all yesterday and today but I just left my apt for a bit and leave my driveway and notice that my ABS light is on and not going off unlike every other light on the dash. I pull down the street and turn the car off then back on and the ABS light is still on. My manual that came with the car just says the ABS light means the ABS quit working but does not explain what might be wrong. Any ideas would be helpful as I am learning this car. Thanks!

krisjk2

are you throwing a cel along with it? the cel will tell you more if it is on. if not i would take it to honda ASAP.

Edit: cel=CEL=check engine light

EeeJayEight

ABS light gives information out just as a check engine light does...

i took it to a friend at pep boys and he hooked it up to the obdII scanner and told me my problem...

anyway.. just start by cleaning the sensors and checking fuses...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Muttly &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">are you throwing a cel along with it? the cel will tell you more if it is on.
Edit: cel=CEL=check engine light</TD></TR></TABLE>

not sure but i dont think this is the case... as far as a I know, ABS is its own independant system just like SRS.. but mabye not

Purple94EX

CEL is not on, its just the ABS light. Odd it just came on all of a sudden. I am about to get in the car and hopefully it has gone off.

ek4_b16a

check your fuse in the fuse box...under the hood...maybe that could be your problem..blown fuse...!?!? that was what happened to my buddy's 94 ex also...we replaced it with another fuse...10 i think...and the light turned off...unless your abs system is shot?!?! who knows..check the fuses first though...

EeeJayEight

just get someone to hook it up to a OBDII scanner if worse comes to worst... then you will know..

DO NOT GO TO THE DEALERSHIP TO GET THE CODE READ!!!
they will charge like $100 and for that price you could go to an autopart store and buy a scanner...

umm...you could even go buy one, pull the ABS code, then return it

JdmLub

check sensor, fuses... and if u put ABS in to the search menu (not being a dick) u will find ur answer just got to look... most likely it is a sensor...


can u hook up a OBD 1 motor to a OBD II scaner.... i dont think u can.. if he does pull cel codes then he as to do it threw his ecu... but i could be wrong... but i never heard that u could..

EeeJayEight

on my 96 ex w/abs option... i threw a light about a year ago...

took it to a good friend of mine and he hooked it up the diagnostic port (i believe the same spot as the CEL port but i dont now since i just do the paper clip trick for CEL) and the code we got pinpointed the drivers side rear sensor... cleaned it up and has been working since...

ek_chris

its probably just a bad wheel sensor. You def. have to pull the code though.

Frozen E

Get a new set of the magnetic pickup sensors that read the ribbed ring on your axles. On a 12 year old car it's a good chance that those are going bad. I have a 94 EX as well.

turnsignalandy

my abs light came on after i pulled the ebrake round the corner. It scared the **** ouia me for about 25 min then in went off. Dont know what happened.............or why it happened. When it was on, i tested it on a gravel road and i think it was workin by the way the peddle was moving.

Purple94EX

Well now it coming on and off. I let my buddy drive my car around the street and it never came on, then when I went to go home from work it was on the entire trip home. Where is this sensor I should be looking to clean/replace? And my brake fluid resovior is full of brake fluid but what is the much smaller resorvoir right behind it to the right? And how full should this one be?

Targa250R

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Purple94EX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">And my brake fluid resovior is full of brake fluid but what is the much smaller resorvoir right behind it to the right?</TD></TR></TABLE>
That's the reservoir for the hydraulic clutch system.

Frozen E

if you pull your wheel off you can see where this magnetic pickup is at. It's right above the ribbed ring that's around your outside CV boot on your axle.
As far as filling the ABS brake fluid, look down by your battery. That's where your ABS guts are at. You should see the fill resevoir down there. Check that.

Purple94EX

Ok I will check tomorrow in light, but the ABS system on the passenger side also has a fill resevoir? I see the brake fluid resevoir and clutch resevoir next to that on the driver side near the firewall. Hmm And you say "pull the wheel off", I assume you are referring to the passenger wheel? Thanks

Purple94EX

So i found this reservior attached to the ABS unit on the passenger firewall area and it seemed to be pretty full, I have it a bit more fluid. So now all fluids are full, and still the light is constantly on. So where are these exact connections I need to clean? And clean with brake fluid? Thanks

Frozen E

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Purple94EX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ok I will check tomorrow in light, but the ABS system on the passenger side also has a fill resevoir? I see the brake fluid resevoir and clutch resevoir next to that on the driver side near the firewall. Hmm And you say "pull the wheel off", I assume you are referring to the passenger wheel? Thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, system has it's own resevoir.

Each wheel has a sensor on it. Including the rear wheels. Make sure none of 'em are damaged. Clean 'em up while you're at it.

Here's some copied down infor from ym helms manual for ya regarding what makes the light come on.


This warning system turns on the anti-lock brake indicator light when one or more of the below described abnormalities is detected. This is only a partial list:
- When the operating time of the motor in the power unit exceeds the specified eriod
- When vehicle running time exceeds 30 seconds without releasing the parking brake
- when one of the rear wheels is locked during running
- When absence of speed signals from any of the four speed sensors is detected
- When solenoid output is not detected in the simulated anti-lock brake system operation carried out during running at speeds of 6mph or more.

Frozen E

Try pulling the ABS backup fuse under the hood. Clears the ABS memory.

::Edit::
Wow, the ABS section in the Helms manual is HUGE. You'd need to get your hands on one along with an ABS system checker from Honda to really do this yourself.

Purple94EX

I found the ABS box full of ABS fuses, I pulled them all except the one held down by 2 screws and it has not seemed to do anything. Should i try cleaning each connector with say brake fluid? And I serached last night for this "wheel sensor" and on ebay it says common problems with hondas is that the e brake is shown to be engaged and that throws the ABS light on, so maybe a faulty Ebrake relay? I dont even know where to begin, but i know that I want this light off.

Frozen E

Who the hell told you to clean stuff with brake fluid?

I'd say go to honda and see if they can make some copies of the ABS section of their shop manual for a few bucks. Well worth it in a way, but it's kinda useless without the ABS scanner tool that tells you exactly what's wrong.
Hell, why not have honda pull the ABS code for you? If you really want the light off, just pay them to fix it for you, or go the free route and pull the bulb for the light.
90% of civics out there run fine without ABS. Yours will too.

Purple94EX

How much do you think Honda will charge? And taking the bulb out seems like the last thing I want to do, although my last car did not have ABS and it was a good car!

93eg2james

doesnt autozone do free CEL checks? go there and have them ell you what code you're throwing and then post it here and you'll get all the info you need.

i know you dont have a CEL, but the abs light will provide the same info as a CEL when they check it.

Purple94EX

Ah I had no idea of that. Where is the port that they attach the scanner to on these cars? Thanks

93eg2james

i have no idea where it'd be. you are running obd1 so im not totally sure. on my integra its to the right of the radio under the glove compartment

Purple94EX

Well I went to autozone today and he said they only pull CEL codes and not ABS codes.
And I will not just pull the light bulb to pretend it went away, my car only has 64k miles, it cant be that bad.
And after more searching I found this....
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1584925&page=1
That sounds like it is helpful, anyone tried this? I am going to pull off my ratty stock hub caps and attempt to clean what I can. Thanks