Hey all. I recently posted here right before my alternator died. Well the alt has been replaced successfully and I had roughly zero issues. Recently, however, at random, my ABS light will come on, normally while driving (never on ignition unless it was already on before I turned the car off last). I have not yet had a chance to check all the fuses, but the issue was resolved when I disconnected the negative battery cable for one minute and replaced it. The symptoms are something like this: Instrument Panel is dim as if the rheostat is completely turned down; Low Fuel Light; All gauges don't work; Gear indicator is off; ABS + Brake Lights on; Rheostat only affects the gear handle lights; AC Control lights off and no AC control; Blinkers don't blink. Bright lights still work as normal, outside temp indicator seems to be normal, aftermarket radio works normally, no accel problems. Yesterday my car sat for about 6 hours cold after the ABS light came on and when I tried to crank it up (this was before I undid the battery cable) and the ABS light was still on, I noticed a faint electrical smell. That smell was not present this morning, after re-attaching the battery cable. I don't know if that's anything.

I also experienced recently (not while the ABS light was on) that when I put my car in reverse, it just didn't do anything. When switching back to park and back to reverse, still nothing. After turning the car off and back on, it worked fine and hasn't done this since (been about a month).

Photo of dash during error state


Any clues? I'm at a loss. I could try taking the car to a local dealer; I just hope hope HOPE it's not the ECU giving out.

 

Now to find the intermittent relay which is screwing you over.

 

Where would I look?

 

Check the grounding of your negative battery cable.

 

Download the FSM and start tracing the electric diagrams with the voltmeter and ohmmeter. There is no single recipe for that. Ten years ago I was lucky to find the root cause of my intermittent stalling in the green ECM relay after a lot of troubleshooting.