Hi all, I strayed from the Honda camp, but am back and I'm looking into buying a 99 Prelude Base, but there's a strange issue...and I'm hoping someone can help!

The car has ABS , but I was able to lock up one of the wheels under relatively hard braking. I believe it was the front right wheel both times.

Info:
ABS system seems to be function in that at key-on, the light comes on for two seconds, then off.

Car recently had front right caliper replaced with a reman, because it was sticking. Pads and rotors on both sides were replaced.

Car is now OBD1 and the OBD2 port seems to have been removed. So, I can't check error codes (if they would even show up because the ECU is gone, and the ABS light acts as if everything is fine.)

Thoughts:
Could air have been introduced into the ABS "brick" such that the caliper acts normally, but is unable to be released by the ABS system? Is the ABS system screwed up by lack of an ECU?




Modified by ion_four at 5:15 PM 9/10/2008

 

It depends on your local emissions requirement, you may not be able to pass emissions inspection (lack of OBD2 port) to register the car to drive on public roads. Base on that, I wouldn't even bother fixing the brake problem and simply walk away from the purchase.

 

That is a valid point, but I'm quite willing to work around it. The car is in Florida and could stay registered there, for quite some time, and there are NO inspections of any kind in that state.

It turns out there is probably not a brake problem at all! The radius rod on the drivers side had the nut back off so upon hard braking, the caster and toe were changing like no one's business causing the tire to rub the fender! The wheel wasn't locking up, it was just skidding against the car, itself, causing the same type of sound!

I had a dealership inspect it and they found nothing else wrong, beside the surprising lack of the radius rod nut and a vaguely weeping axle seal.

The car is a sweet deal, so even with this problem and the OBD2-1 issue, I can't pass it up!