ok well to start with i have a 97 sunfire 2.2 with like 63k on it. The abs kinda blows. its very loud when it kicks on and my peronal opinion is it kicks on to soon and makes me stop worse. when i say its loud i mean its like this crazy scraping sound it should make almost no sound right? i have pretty much stopped using my brakes in the snow because my car slides so bad with the abs i just downshift now. any help or adice on why its so loud or crappy would be awsome. oh i forgot to mention on dry pavement the abs works decent.
ABS is surpossed to be noisy. WHen the ABS kicks on you will hear and feel in the pedal crunching grinding noises that kind pulsate. Almost liek your trying to stop the car using rocks as brakes.... this is normal. Its how ABS works not a defect. ABS isn't designed to make you stop faster, in many cases it actually increases stoping distance. The ONLY purpose ABS has it keep you from locking up the brakes so you can steer. If the wheels are locke dup you can't steer a skid, as long as the wheels are moving the car will turn (in the case of snow it wont turn very well but it will at least try)
ok I was just wondering because no other car I have is loud like that. so next question whats the easiest way to disable the abs for when i drive in snow? I use the e brake the steer alot on the snow anyways its more fun sliding just not when im trying to stop.
I could be mistaken, but I believe if you leave the e-brake engaged a couple of notches (but not enough to drag), your ABS should be disabled. I know on the 4-speed autos this dispenses with the traction control, and I think it works for ABS as well.
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^^^ that turns off traction control but it shouldn't affect ABS.
a very easy sure fire way to disable ABS is unpluging any sensor but seeing as you want to do this in the winter thats a bad idea, it will corrode being exposed to that kind of weather. I would try pulling the ABS fuse, I don't knwo what else is on that circuit, maybe someone else can chime in with that info of you could get a service manual for your car but if you pull the fuse the ABS wont work. Basically anything that will cause the ABS light in the cluster to turn on disables it, if the ABS light is on the ABS will not function, neither will your traction control.
Agreed,
Listen to what everyone else said above.
...They just HATE it when you ...POINT - LAUGH - then DRIVE OFF AND AWAY-!...
1997 Sunfire ABS fuse: Shared with cruise control, and "exterior lights". It looks like it might be only the hazard lights affected, but I would make sure before doing any night driving.
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Seriously, learn to drive and use winter tire. Not 4 seasons tire.
Gilles
2.3 Ho
I was in a bit of a rush when I posted the above pictures, but I see after looking more closely at the owners manual that they put "antilock braking system" in the description for three different fuses. (The one I highlighted, and then also the one for the HVAC functions, and the instrument cluster.) Good luck sorting that out.
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