Pontiac Grand Prix Traction Control/STS/ABS

mcp6530

All at once, each of those systems is out and needs service. Anyone hear this problem or have this problem with their GXP? Mine is an 05 with 14k miles.

SEE ALSO: Diagnosing Traction Control Problems

rmozol

That happened to me on one that I test drove off the lot. The calipers looked pretty rusty, so I'm guessing it was related.

bubbaman999

Marc,
I saw this at the nhsta TSB site. Does this sound like it?

Hope it helps,
Gary

Make : PONTIAC Model : GRAND PRIX Year : 2006
Manufacturer : GENERAL MOTORS CORP.
Service Bulletin Num : 050525009 Date of Bulletin: OCT 01, 2005
NHTSA Item Number: 10017755
Component: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:ANTILOCK
Summary:
BRAKE SYSTEM LIGHT ON, ANTILOCK BRAKE SYSTEM (ABS) LIGHT ON, TRACTION CONTROL LIGHT ON, SERVICE BRAKE/ABS/TRACTION/STABILITY MESSAGE DISPLAYED, DTCS C0241, C0550, P0856 SET. *TT

mcp6530

yep, that would be it.....guess i need to take it in...

rmozol

Would you have a link to that site? Thanks

bubbaman999

Here you go

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb/tsbsearch.cfm

Cheers,

PS the full report I think costs money.

rmozol

Thanks!

garuda

Hi

I was told the cleft front ontrol arm bushing separated on my 2003 Grand Prix, but I have not feeling anything abnormal while I am driving except when I press brake I can feel some vibration like ABS.

Should I repair it immediately ? what's the consequence if I delay the repair?

Thanks.

johnnymm

Changed the rear wheel bearing with no issues. Since then, the ABS light is on and my traction control is off. I cant turn it on. I have rechecked the sensor connection on the bearing hub, it seems to be ok. Unplugged the battery for 4 hours to reset the computer, hoping that would work but it didnt. Steering also feels sluggish - any idea what to do short of going to a garage? I have heard about an over the counter ABS "computer" but not sure if that will work.

tempala

My 2005 Grand Prix GT just turned 41000mi and now intermittently displays "service traction system/service variable effort steering/service ABS" (never says anything about basic brake system, no brake light ever comes on). Anyone experience this or have a clue what is going on? All 3 systems couldn't have gone bad simultaneously! I hope this isn't a bad computer module.

jeremers

My 05 (which I just purchased last week) is doing the same thing. It will tell me every now and then to "Service ABS/Service Traction Control/Service Variable Effort Steering." My ABS Light comes on and the Traction Control Disabled light comes on.

Any ideas?

ifixit

Just went and picked my 05 today with the exact same lights on. It was the right rear wheel bearing, and the right rear speed sensor. The lights were cleared and have not come back on as of today. It was still under 36,000 so not sure of the cost factor. Hope this helps!

jjj11

Hm...
I think I also have a same issue.
On end of January, I bought 06 Grand Prix GT with 16,000 mi ( at that time it was great, my best car ever). I have nothing problem with it before the mechanic replaced the intermediate steering shaft. They said it was recall thing and of course it was under the warranty. After that, tapping and knuckling started through the steering ( actually the vibration also came up while braking).
When I took in, the mechanic replaced wheel baring because it worn out ( this really did not make sence). the vibration was gone but the tapping remain.
I had taken my GT 4 times for tapping issue. Last week, they finally fixed. What they have been done is re-adjusting steering intermediate shaft, and injected grease which is the newest version.
The ABS service light still on, after replacing the wheel baring, However, it still needs to be fixed.
Hpe it helps to anyone.

for me steering var, tapping was really anoying because I could feel while accelating and braking.

cmichalak

My trac light comes on after a couple miles and therefore my RPM's shut off.
In one instance after the trac light came on my oil light came on and the car shut off!
There is oil in the vehicle.
I went to re-start it and it took 3 times of hard starting to get it started....HELP!

morty72

yea i have pontiac gran prix 3100 and the abs light and the track light comes on and when this happenas theres a grinding in one of the brakes and when you turn the car off it reset the light and works fine for a wile is it a sensor or a wheel bareing or what can you help me

tuckerminden

my 04 with116000 miles when goin down the hwy it acts like the traction control is kicking in then i turn it off it runs fine any one had this problem and what do i do to fix it.

didodano

abs ,tc and varible effort steering comes on monitor what could cause this?

jklightner

Most likely a bad wheel hub assembly which holds bearings and ABS speed sensor. Jack up the wheel off the ground. Grab it at 12 and 6 position and shake it. Any movement equals bad bearings. This will cause the wheel speed sensor to move around and be read as a faulty ABS/Traction Indicator. Then grab it at 3 and 9 and shake it, movement will most likely be worn outer tie rod ends. Same part for either side. Pontiac recommends using 3 new bolts for the hub to knuckle mounting. If asked about plastic or steel clip, they are talking about the clip that holds the ABS wire to the mount. NAPA part came with both.
Jim

cnancgo

I have a 2008 Grand Prix GXP and have had it in to the dealer 14 times in 11 months for the TC/ABS service lights coming on. I take a regular trip, approx. 1 hour 15 min, almost every weekend to the coast of OR. After the car has been driving between 45 min to 1 hour the service TC/ABS light comes on. It resets when the car is turned off and then it happens again on the way home. The dealer gets the same error message each time it is taken in. They have sent 2 specialists from out of town to look at the car and actually drove it the same route to see the error for themselves. They also hooked up a monitor so I could record the error when it happened. The computer says the car is at a dead stop when the TC/ABS light comes on, I was driving 65 miles an hour. Why can't they figure this out? Will the traction work when I am on ice? Is the car safe to drive? They have replaced sensors, wiring, etc. Anyone have any idea?

lin_b

I have a 2001 grand prix with a 3.8 V6 in it. Just yesterday I got it back from the shop. My traction control would not come on and my ABS light was on. The mechanic replaced my cam sensor and the traction control is now working and my ABS light has went off and stayed off... so far. The service engine light is still on and it is giving a code for a cam shaft position sensor this is very costly though so it is going to have to wait.

mnpossum

I bought my 05 new and it started doing this almost the day my 36K warranty was up. I'm at 95K now and it still regularly occurs. The errors will go away for months and then pop back up. Sometimes it kicks in going down the road, other times it comes on as soon as I start the car. I've also had issues almost from the beginning of grinding noices like the ABS is trying to activate when turning into a parking space. Early on when the problem started I was told until the lights came on and stayed on that it would be difficult to pinpoint the problem. When it occurs intermittantly, they might fix something and then just because the lights aren't on, assume that was the fix until two months later and they would pop back on again. For the person who asked if their traction control would work on ice when their car was doing this - NO. When the lights are on and the error messages are on your control panel, the traction control is disabled.

christiaanl

I have a 2004 Grand prix GT. Sometimes when im applying the brakes and turning at the same time, my abs kicks in. and sometimes the abs light, trac control light and the service brakes lights all come on. They are all related to the same sensor and in my case of course it ended up being a faulty sensor. its a 150 dollars or so if you can just replace the sensor, but on some models you have to replace the whole hub with the sensor built in costing 500 to 600. Hope this helps you.

d1sturb3d

Hi christian, i also have a 2004 grand prix gtp and all the same lights are on. ABS Tracion control, Variable effort steering. and parking brake. i was wondering which sensor did u end up replacing?

ranki1

I have an 04 Grand Prix GTP Comp G with similar problems at 50,000 miles. Soon after I start the vehicle I get messages to service the Traction System, then a Service the ABS message. Sometimes there is a Traction System Off message. If I turn the vehicle off and restart, the messages don't reappear. I haven't noticed any handling issues or brake noises etc. Also I haven't seen any other massages like Parking Brake or other lights on yet.

gjw466

I just had my 2007 Grand Prix, I think, fixed for the same problem. Fix they replaced the hub bearing and a week later the had to replace the speed sensor harness. I have 47,000 miles on the car and now that I'm reading that this is very common with the Pontiac to me it seems it should be addressed by GM. The dealer themselves say its a common problem.

ranki1

On my 2004 Grand Prix GTP service traction problem above, the front right hub bearing was replaced, then the harness required replacing also to fix the problem. It is operating normally at the moment. The problem occured just under 50,000 miles.

gjw466

I'm working on some documentation for GM seems we should not be responsible for this repair since it seems to be more of a defect with the Grand Prix. Not to mention how safe is it for our familes and ourselves to be using cars that do this.

markb9626

Did any of that documentation come up? I just started having this problem in my 2004 GTP w/ Comp G. If I can avoid paying for it, that would be great. A pm would be great to exchange info...

spanishfly05

I am having the same problem with my GrandPrix 2004 GTP the senors come on and off . We should all contact GM this sounds like a faulty part

eddie71

Hello everyone. My 05 GXP just started doing the same thing. It either does it soon as I start the car or after driving for some time but does it everytime either way. My warranty just expired, days ago I will continue to research & try to get to the root cause of this failure. I will share my findings with all.

gmcustsvc

Hello Eddie71,
I am from GM Customer Service. I can look up to see if there are any recalls on your vehicle. Can you please email me so I can get more information from you? You can access my email by clicking on my name. Thank you,
Mariah GM Customer Service

spanishfly05

Can you provide a email , I would also like to know if I have had any recalls. Also is this a known problem with this car and is there a permanent fix out there?

gmcustsvc

Hello Spanishfly05,
My email is socialmedia@gm.com. Please email me, and I will get some information from you to check on any recalls and answer your questions. Thank you,
Mariah GM Customer Service

csciuto

I just had the exact same issue happen today on my 05 Grand Prix GXP. I have had 3 of the 4 wheel hubs already replaced and my 100k powertrain warranty just lapsed recently (I just broke 105k). I am curious if anyone can verify if they had the brake like come on as well during this. Money is tight in my household thanks to my wife being laid off and I'm trying to NOT pay for a wheel hub replacement (my luck, the one hub I didn't replace went bad).

grady4

I have a 1998 3.8 grand prix gt with the abs and traction control lights that come on frequently. Is this a safety issue ? The car has 144,000 miles on it but is in great shape otherwise. I dont care if they are operational at this point, but I dont want to damage anything else or get into an accident. Can you answer this?

thanks, Chris G

chipmoss

I had the same thing happen to my 04 Grand Prix GT. I took it in to get it checked and they told me that it was the ABS pump/module. Once I changed the pump the brake light went off, and the Service Variable Effort Steering light came on. The other two lights (Service ABS and Service Traction Control) remained on. A few other forums say that the harness that goes to the sensors on the wheel hub assembly can go bad and that could be the cause of the lights coming on.

csciuto

Any idea on how much the pump/module costs? I'm probably going to take it in to get fixed early next week. I've been out of town and haven't gotten to it yet.

chipmoss

They have different pumps at different prices ranging from $450-$1250. The one that fit my car was the $1250 one, but I found a used one on Ebay for $100. You just have to check to see which one you need. The bad thing about it if you get it new is the fact that it is a dealer item (only sold by GM). But what i did is when to the dealership and got the part number for the one that fit my car and went searching the net until i found one.

a_reigh

My 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP recently started popping up codes as well telling me to service my ABS system, service my traction control, service my braking system, service my effort variable system, service my stability control system, and now I can't get three lights to go off on my dash. This is a very upsetting issue my car has had nothing but problems from the day I bought it. I completely agree with you about contacting the dealer b/c when I put my car on the scanner it said this was an electrical problem and they now want me to replace my whole computer and then re-program the stupid car! This is the last pontiac I ever buy. Have they told you what's wrong with your vehicle?

jodrum79

My 2004 Grand Prix GT had an issue with the ABS. I had it checked last summer (2009). Came out that the right front speed sensor was messed up. So I was wondering what speed sensor it was! I replaced the hub, and some other sensors having to do with the speed...none did the trick...so i replaced the speed harness on the right front. It worked...for a while. It seems this is an issue again. I checked it to see if it was ok and it seemed to be fine. However, the computer is now saying that there is an issue with the left rear speed sensor as well! I don't know about this...I mean, if so many people are having this issue...how does a recall work on this? I've seen posts on carquest having to do with this also. It seems to be a common problem... Here's the link: http://www.carquest.com/common/downloads/partsTechBrakeCQB%2004-12.pdf

So now the Service Variable Effort Steering light pops up and I'm thinking it has to do with the Service ABS System light.

ohiogtp

i have a 99 gtp with 177,000 and it still runs great but i have gone threw 3 front left hubs in 2 years well just recent ive had the abs light come on along with the trac control light. so i take it in and get it scanned and the codes were speed sensors in both front hubs so i replaced both fronts. now the traction control light kicks on usually when i am pulling in or backing out of a parking spot. any ideas on this? im starting to think its my traction control mod?

chipmoss

Judging from everything that I have been seeing on a lot of other forums, I would say try replacing the speed sensor harness. Many people have said that was the trick to the ABS and TC lights. They have them on eBay new for around $24-$45. if that does not work for you let me know and I will try to find other solutions. God Bless!!!!

ohiogtp

ok thank u im gonna try it this week and let u know

oates1906

Chipmoss! I need some input! I'm new to this forum and I see that you're putting out some good information from what I can tell. Just recently I seem to have started having some of the same problems described in earlier posts with my '04 Grand Prix GT. These include the ABS light on, Traction Control disabled, and Service Variable Effort Steering in the DIC. I'm not sure what direction I should head w/ this. Any advice that you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and have a wonderful day!

sweetride1

I have a 2008 GP and the ABS & Traction lights also both came on. I have 75k on the vehicle. I had my mechanic check it out prior to taking it to the dealer and he thought it could be wheel sensor as well. He also noticed that the plug to the left ABS wheel sensor was full of water. I took it to the dealer as I have a full warranty still on the vehicle and they replaced the left hub assembly n/c problem solved for about 2-3 days then the lights came back on.(it rained) They now tell me that they want to replace the harness however surprise surprise it is not covered by my warranty. I pulled the wheel off myself to have a look and low and behold the harness was full of water again. (it rained hard the other day again) I have cleaned out the harness and so far the lights have not come on. (day 1) Water is a conductor of electricity and I figure that it is causing the harness to short out when it gets full. This looks like a GM defect to me and I even called GM customer service to complain and was told they would call the dealer and get back to me in a day or so. That was a week ago and still no call to me or the dealer. I am going to see if the lights come back on over the next few days as there is no rain in the forecast, and I will report back what I find. Other should have a look at their harness as well and make sure that it is not wet.(inside the plug it self)

ohiogtp

oates1906 ive been doin the same thing on my 99 gtp its nuts ive calle my local dealer to order the new male ends that plug into the speed sensor on the hub and they wanted $95 a side! i found some on ebay for about $30 shipped waiting on them to come in to put those new ends on each side and pray that fixes the problem because a whole new speed sensor harness cost $2200 from the dealer :mad:

gmcustsvc

Hello Sweetride1,
I apologize that no one has gotten back to you. Can you please email me your service request number and your VIN number so I can look into this further? You can get my email by clicking on gmcustsvc. Thank you,
Mariah GM Customer Service

jerdog44

My ABS and Traction control lights come on every time I operate my vehicle. I have a 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix, and would love to have a car that I feel safe driving. If anyone can help me to try to fix this without spending a fortune in the shop, I'd greatly appreciate it. Maybe this is why they don't make Pontiac anymore.

gmcustsvc

Hello Jerdog44,
I apologize that you are experiencing a concern with your vehicle. Have you had anyone look at the vehicle to have it diagnosed for the concern? Thank you,
Mariah GM Customer Service

mikeodo

I have had my abs light come on a few times. After reading your messages I bought speed sensor cables from Car Quest in Glendale Arizona for $28.00 for the right side and $28.00 for the left side. I also purchased the speed sensors on line at carpartswholesale, both sides for $41.14. I will be installing them this weekend. I will let you all know how it turns out.
It all seams to be fairly simple. I found at about.com instructions on how to install the new wiring harness.

mikeodo

jerdog44
Look what I posted just below your post.
I will let you know what happens to me with my efforts to cure the problem.

Mikeodo