Have a friend who has owned a 93 SSE since new with 165,000 miles. Want to buy it from him for my daughter as her first starter car but it has a few problems. I am pretty mechanical and love to work on cars but I just wanted an opinion as to these problems. Will I be biting off more than I can chew to fix the following problems?

ABS Lighht si on. Brakes are good but lights is always on
Extremely fast idle.
Gas gauge does not work.
Some sort of electricial problem in that the battery keeps going dead. Car is garaged and not driven. New alternator and new Die Hard battery but it still keeps going dead. It has an aftermarket alarm system complete with starter kill switch. That may be the culprit but with all of the electrical/eletronic stuff (HUD, Driver Infotmation, Compass, Trunk air pump)

Honest opinion is appreciated.

i would bet that the ABS light would be the WSS in the hub, that is either bad or disconnected

not sure on the fast idle

as for the gas gague prolly dealing with a bad cluster, or the resistor just reads 0 ohms

I would say that the ELC keeps killing the battery, try pulling the ELC fuse on the lower I/P block right above the drivers footwell

Your hub assemblies will need replacing in the front. If the traction control light comes on you will have to replace the Motor Kit $400-500. The relay $14.99, the Valve Kit $799.00, and the fluid. Dealer labor is around $400. You must clean all the rust off the inside of the Caliper'* or you will get some shimmy and clicking at high speed cornering. You will probably have a little difficulty getting the hub assemblies off unless some previous work has been done. I would ask if any wires had been cut into for the alarm system. Can't help you with the other stuff, but I know about the brakes. Hope this helps you out.

I would also say that you have at least one faulty Wheel Speed Sensor although I'd like gumdo to elaborate on I'm unfamiliar with these parts.

I'd check for broken or disconnected vacuum lines to troubleshoot the high idle.

To test the fuel gauge, disconnect the 4 pin harness to the tank. Turn ignition on. Gauge read full? If so, the sending unit is bad. If not, the gauge in the cluster is at fault.

You can temporarily disconnect the alarm to verify if this is your current drain. You may need to reconnect the starter wire depending on the alarm.

Hello. I just had my whole ABS system replaced by my Pontiac dealer. After diagnosis, because I had both lights coming on, ABS, and traction control, it was necessary to replace the complete system. The brakes will still work even if these lights are on and these systems are not functioning, however, usually you will eventually get to the most expensive parts. you will find them on the drivers side chassis. You will see all the brake lines running to the pump, and a small motor on top of it. There is also a relay thatruns from the motor. I stood and watched the Pontiac Brake specialist Diagnose the problems and watched the codes come up. My brother is the sales manager at the dealership so I am fortunate to get into the bays, talk to the guys, and get a discount.
Code A061/A045 indicates complete brake failure. What it boils down to is Replace pump and Solenoid-Valve block Assembly and ABS main Relay. Then bleed the system. This is only if you have to go that far at this time. You can fix the ABS system by going to NAPA and picking up the hub assembly'* and replacing them on each wheel. Cost is around 160.00 per wheel I think. Good Luck. hope this helps.

OK. That'* clearer now. I'm interested because both lights are on in my car too. It seems to me though that just because both lights are on dosen't necessarily mean that a total ABS unit rebuild is in order... at least I hope not. Potentially it could just be one wheel sensor that is causing an error in both parts of the system. I guess there is no way to tell except by taking a trip to the dealer to have the ABS scanned.

Also, I had the pleasure of dismantling a pair of front spindles from a parts car. the sensor ring which is press fitted into the spindle has the magnetic pick-up and the teeth are on the hub. I've often thought "How the heck can the teeth be the problem with a speed sensor". Providing they are all there and undamaged, of course. This leaves the sensor ring which I'm sure is considerably less expensive than the hub.

This has been discussed before but not in depth. Maybe we can go deeper in another thread as to not clutter the responses to the author'* questions.

I hope you're right, but, I have never seen both lights on and not have to replace the whole system. I replaced both hub assemblies and the traction control and ABS lights stayed on. I wish ya the best and sincerely hope you're right. Good Luck.

I have replaced the Hubs on my Bonnie and that killed the ABS/Traction Control light. If you can hear or "feel" some vibrations in the pedal or hear some clicking from the front hubs the bearings are probably going out. When the bearing fails or is wobbling around it will give an erratic read to the sensor, in turn, showing the ABS/Traction light, they need the info from the wheel to aid in traction and anti-lock. 140 bucks is a lot better than the 1500+ mentioned earlier. Good Luck!