E-brake / ABS - Honda Prelude Forum

arf the lude · 11-09-2003, 10:26 PM

I thought this was odd enough. Whenever i start driving along the ebrake light comes on, when it's not even up and then a little while after the ABS light comes and and they both stay on the whole while im driving. Does anyone know a way to fix this and does having ABS on the whole time limit performance?

justanotherlude · 11-09-2003, 10:43 PM

If I am not mistaken, sometimes when you are low on brake fluid. The E-brake light comes on once in a while. I don't know about the ABS... Are you feeling hesitation or seeing any power surges?

arf the lude · 11-09-2003, 10:58 PM

nope, all seems the same but sometimes the light goes away.. but then it will come right back after i make a turn and will stay on?

-= Wasif =- · 11-09-2003, 11:15 PM

take off ur wheels and try cleaning all 4 sensors .. that might help

SolRayz · 11-09-2003, 11:20 PM

Funny thing is that I experienced the same exact thing today. I took off this morning and forgot to release the ebrake completely. Before I had relized that I noticed the ABS light came on. I thought to myself "oh sh!t,what now!" I reset the ECU and it turns out that it was becuase of the ebrake. I guess the resistance from the brakes kind of freaks out the ABS system. Weird! Well scared me anyway!

PDUNZ · 11-10-2003, 12:15 AM

Ummm, thats what it's supposed to do. You do not need to reset the ECU if the ABS was turned off (ABS light On) by having the handbrake up one click (enough not to enguage the rear brakes but enough to turn on the handbrake light). Just turn off and restart. It's totally normal and is designed to do that. If your at the track, you would not want the ABS kicking in under heaving braking through bends/courners, so what you do is lift the handbrake up one click, drive a few miles until the light comes on and release - it will revert to normal operation when you restart the car.

Having the ABS light on will not restrict peformance but will also not engage under heavy braking.

It's just all the fail-safe systems built into it.

If the handrbake light is coming on for no reason, check the level of your brake fluid.

SolRayz · 11-13-2003, 09:45 PM

Wow, right on,,,learn somthin new every day now dont we!

Absolut · 11-14-2003, 12:34 AM

If your brake fluid is low, the brake light will come on, if it stays on for moare than XX miles, then the ABS system shuts down.

If the contacts on the ebrake switch stick, it will make the light coem on and thus, disable the abs after a short while.

Check your brake fluid level and if thats good, remove the center console and clean the parking brake switch.

B0b · 11-18-2003, 12:42 PM

I just did the s2000 start button and I checked all the clips that I removed. The ABS light is on and doesn't turn off. I was advised that the airbag might not be getting power.

where are those sensors located that I would need to clean if that's the case. I'm gonna go fiddle with it.

prelude styl · 11-18-2003, 01:03 PM

The ABS light comes on when driving with the ebrake on for 30 seconds. So when you're driving and the ebrake light comes on... 30 sec later the ABS light will come on as well.

B0b · 11-18-2003, 01:48 PM

no I didn't move the car. i put it in the on position and pushed the button and the ABS light stays on after I put the ebrake down. I even turned the car off. put the ebrake down and then started it. still up.

I know I need new brake pads in the fronts. could it be the rotor is messed up and the sensor is shutting the ABS off and it's just a coincidence. I did blow the 50 A ignition fuse. checked all the abs fuses. replaced the burnt out ignition one. taped around my relay connections so it wouldn't touch metal and do that again. still the same thing. I check all the connections under the dash including the ones I didn't touch.

Sonik_Fury · 11-18-2003, 03:43 PM

Look behind your center console and find the blue 2-pin service plug. It is located right behind the drivers side of the center console, you have to unplug it from the mount it's attatched to. Stick a paper-clip in the connector to jump it. Turn the key to the ON position and get the code the ABS light spits out. Example: Code 4-1, the light will blink kinda like this: ____:_:_:_:___:__

Post the code and I will, with the help of my Magic Helm's tell you what is wrong with your ABS system.........