My ABS light came on the other day. It seems to light-up after a couple minutes of 'city' driving. However, yesterday I got on the interstate and no light (for 5-10 minutes) until I start braking on the exit then the light came on. Braking was fine no noise or anything but I did smell 'hot brakes' when I stopped and discovered my driver's side rear wheel was somewhat warm to the touch.

So I'm assuming I have a locked caliper for some reason. But I'm curious if malfunctioning ABS could cause this or if the light came on due to heat possibly.

I'll pull the wheel later this week and not drive until resolved.

thank for your opinions.

 

if your acceleration seems low, and when coasting you seem to slow down a bit more than usual, then you have a sticky caliper, so fix that first either way. once thats fixed, brake hard in a deserted area and see if your abs kicks in on all wheels. that'll tell you if a sensor is gone.

 

There is a self diagnostic you can run on the ABS unit that will tell you what is wrong. It make the ABS light blink a code number.

Get the 2001 FSM, for this. Nissan deleted it from the 2002 & 2003 FSM, but the diagnostic still works. Look in the BR (BRakes) section. Page 48 tells you how to start the diagnostic and page 61 has the codes.

Get the FSM here - http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/2001/

 

IDK if you have actually done the self diagnostic yourself but it did not work on mine... I have a 2000 se manual...
what I actually did was using a voltmeter I found which sensor was bad and replaced it...
just check for resistance at the abs connectors inside the engine bay...

 

The abs light comes on when the abs self diagnostic test fails (if it fails it turns off the abs). If the abs 'thinks' at least 1 wheel is locking up it will enable the hydraulic unit. Do you ever feel the abs engage?

 

Find someone with a code reader. My Cipher reads ABS codes.

 

Fancy Boy!

 

Viable tool for 200$. A lot of options.

 

My Maxima has the ABS, TCS Off & SLIP lights turning on when it is constantly raining (but not snowing)...

 

Thanks for this info Dennis. I searched and searched the internet for a way to get the blink codes and nothing in google till I came upon this thread.
It definitely shortened the troubleshooting time now I now exactly where I need to go troubleshoot. Why did them bastards remove the blink code procedure from the 02 manual??