91 SE - ABS & Battery lights on

[HondaFan81]

91 SE (~218K miles), A/T, 4-disc ABS

Car was cold, been sitting outside. Started car, it started well. Ran @ 1500 rpm at first, then let I it warm up below 1000 rpm. From the instant I started car, battery & ABS light remained ON. Popped hood alternator belt running nicely, no excessive vibration like it was loose. Checked brake master cyl for leaks or low fluid & ABS modulator...all checked out fine.

Drove car around parking lot twice, hitting brakes, they worked fine. Then, drove car toward my garage. Put trans. in reverse, backed in slowly. As I did this BOTH battery & ABS light instantly shut off and a noticeable vibration from engine bay area. I instantly put trans into PARK, then popped hood to listen where vibration came from. It is coming from engine bay area, seems more from the bottom of it. Turned car off, then restarted and NEITHER the battery nor ABS light came on, but engine bay vibration persisted.

I have few chores to do, will come back to check. Hopefully someone leads me in right area, looks like I have a date w/Helms manual.

[91accord4door]

sounds like the rear motor mount to me.and an automatic is a bitch because it holds fluid.good luck.

[HondaFan81]

if it was rear motor mount, it might explain the vibration portion of the prob. However, why would the ABS & battery light go on...then both lights went off when this problem instantly started???

I figure if there is a problem it's there & is only gonna get worse. I'm gonna start car again take it for a spin thru all gears, note sh*t. Get back with more info. Gonna check the Helms too.

anyone else?

[HondaFan81]

I think it's ABS related aka I'm thinking it's gonna be an expensive fix.

@40 mph I hit patch of snow/ice, hit brakes hard to activate it, brakes pulsated like they should , came to a complete stop. Heard this rat tat tat sound for a couple minutes. Did a rerun, same exact think occurred.

I also have noticed the ABS & battery light ONLY come on when the car has been sitting in park for couple hours , completely cold. Both lights go off few minutes after engine reaches normal operating temp. If engine is warmed up, lights are off & you shut it off, then restart...lights don't come on again...they remain off. They only came on when car had been sitting there cold for couple hours.

[HondaFan81]

Aight, now that I've looked at Helms, I found out there is an LED light in trunk on right side under a small rubber cover. Supposedly, if the ABS light stays on after you start engine, you shut it off. Then go to trunk, remove this cover. Go turn ignition on, but don't start engine...go to trunk and write down the codes. From this, you compare to table in Helms & it narrows down problematic area.

This is nice, only the darn battery & ABS light don't come on now!! I started car up after it's been sitting in garage for hours & nothing...it's frickin normal. Even drove car around, activated ABS by doing hard stop on slick area....normal operation. That rat tat tat sound goes on for about 10 seconds or so & it appears to be normal cuz it's the pump getting activated to repressurized the accumulator after it's been activated. I just never noticed this before cuz it's not like I activated ABS all the time (mostly in winter & my mom drives it all the time). After understanding the way the system operates I figured it's normal.

so I'm driving car now....if them lights come on again I'm checkin codes. I'm thinking it's a faulty connection from ABS system to battery. I'll check them out soon.

[HondaFan81]

battery check: (requested by someone on AIM)

battery, w/engine off = 12.82 V

battery after starting engine = 13.86 V

battery after 10min engine running = 14.06 V

[HondaFan81]

festiva , my a$$!!

Yea, I think that engine bay area vibration when backing into the garage is a separate issue.

However, the fact the ABS & battery lights came on and stayed on after engine start up two different time periods tells me something is up. Just cuz it don't do it now, I'm not gonna ignore it.

So tomorrow after work I'm gonna check each wire going from ABS system to battery & see if everyone is alright. Then, I'm gonna clean the battery terminals & reset the ABS self-diagnosis system by taking out ALB b2 fuse for more than 3 seconds. I'll continue driving it, leaving it outside every night (like normal). If problem happens again, I'll check codes instantly & go from there. I'm thinking if problem comes about again...we're most likely talkin ABS hydraulic component probs & these probs now were just the beginnings of it.

[xplode]

you might want to make sure you check and make sure your properly grounded and that the ground terminals are not going bad.

[HondaFan81]

Nah, cuz in reading the helms it states the grounding is good if you turn the ignition ON (engine off) and the Anti-Lock light comes on at that time...which it does.

Like I said, I think it's a faulty connection between ABS system & battery OR a sign sayin it's the beginning of something in the ABS going bad and I'll later find out driving down road or whatever & the light comes on & stays on....no off & on sh*t.

Then, it'll probably be serviced by Honda dealer & who knows how much. All I know is the modulator ~ $700, accumulator ~ 4$400, power unit ~ $300... those are the expensive parts.

can u say ouch?

[HondaFan81]

To bring end to this story...we found out alternator was the culprit & was dying on us draining power. It caused both lights to come on. Had it replaced. Faulty negative terminal as well on alternator, that's why it was fine then not.