Honda Car Forum

'96 Accord EXR, VTEC

Hi again, My ABS is acting strangely. Recently, I noticed a peculiarity when
coming to a stop: the ABS kicks in momentarily. To be more specific, when
stopping with light brake pressure only, just before the car is completely
stopped, the ABS releases the brake pressure and then re-applies it. This
makes the car lose deceleration and then stop suddenly. IT only does this
when using light brake pressure and at very slow speeds. However, the
problem is significant enough to be potentially dangerous. If I am pulling
my boat for example, I can easily misjudge where the car will halt be a foot
or more.
At first I thought this was related to another problem I had recently where
one of my brake calipers came loose ( on the back of the car ); I guess I
used to much anti-seize and didn't torque down the nuts enough. But this is
definitely an ABS problem. I know this for certain because if I engage my
hand-brake just enough to make the warning light come on, after about a
minute or so, the ABS will shut off, as indicated on the dash. I know this
to be normal. The symptoms during a stop are no longer. Releasing the hand
brake and having the ABS come back on make the problems reappear. Does
anyone have any thoughts?
MajBach

On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 10:35:39 -0400, "MajBach" <majbach@sympatico.ca>
wrote:

>'96 Accord EXR, VTEC
>
>Hi again, My ABS is acting strangely. Recently, I noticed a peculiarity when
>coming to a stop: the ABS kicks in momentarily. To be more specific, when
>stopping with light brake pressure only, just before the car is completely
>stopped, the ABS releases the brake pressure and then re-applies it. This
>makes the car lose deceleration and then stop suddenly. IT only does this
>when using light brake pressure and at very slow speeds. However, the
>problem is significant enough to be potentially dangerous. If I am pulling
>my boat for example, I can easily misjudge where the car will halt be a foot
>or more.
>At first I thought this was related to another problem I had recently where
>one of my brake calipers came loose ( on the back of the car ); I guess I
>used to much anti-seize and didn't torque down the nuts enough. But this is
>definitely an ABS problem. I know this for certain because if I engage my
>hand-brake just enough to make the warning light come on, after about a
>minute or so, the ABS will shut off, as indicated on the dash. I know this
>to be normal. The symptoms during a stop are no longer. Releasing the hand
>brake and having the ABS come back on make the problems reappear. Does
>anyone have any thoughts?
>MajBach
>

It sounds like one of your wheel sensors is starting to go. I had the
same problem, and eventually the part failed and triggered an error
code in the ABS computer.