slickboy

Hello...this will be one of my first posts here on CL even though I've been here for a while. My wife and I had a 96 ES for a few years before it met it's untimely end in a wreck last week. We picked up a 99 ES yesterday but are experiencing some odd problems with it. So before anyone flames me for asking a question that's been asked before (that's right..I know how to use the search feature), please read through my post.
While driving around today, I can hear a faint clunking sound coming from the drivers side wheel well. After a few hours of driving around the ABS light comes on, and the Trac Off light flashes. I pulled off the drivers' side front tire to check for any loose parts as the front drivers side caliper was replaced before we purchased the car due to the old one sticking. I checked the ABS/speed sensor but everything seems to be okay (no broken wires, etc). No loose suspension parts either. If I turn the car off for a sec, then crank it up and go, the lights stay off at first. When I hit the brakes, the car twitches to the right and then shifts to the left. It feels as if the ABS does not want to kick in on the front drivers side. After coming to a stop, both lights come on again and the ABS no longer kicks in. I am a pretty experienced mechanic, so if yall have any suggestions, please let me know as this is the car my wife drives. Thanks!

92ES5sp

Check the ABS ring for cracked/ missing teeth.

slickboy

Thanks for the reply. I had a chance to check it out better today while it was still light out, and found out that the ABS ring is spinning freely, and not rotating with the axle as it should be. A buddy of mine that is a mechanic at Honda said that's he'd put it on a lift for me this week so we could take things apart. I did take the wheel/abs/speed sensor out and was able to spin the ring inside with no problems. I believe that what's happening is that each of the front wheels is reading at a different speed, that would make the speedo jump around like it did on the way to church this morning, thus not allowing the ABS to modulate correctly.

I found out today that the axle on that side (passenger) was also replaced just before we got the car. Is it possible that the mechanic damaged the ABS ring when changing the axle/putting the hub back together?

92ES5sp

^ Yea or the axle was defective right from the get go. Glad to hear you got it figured out though

aust1648

Battled with the ABS and Trac light on for a week. Car wouldn't start one morning. Bad Alternator. Replaced it and ABS/Trac light went away.

Bad voltage to electrical components can sometimes throw codes. In short, stop by auto parts place and have alternator tested. Usually the tests are free.