I recently bought a 92 Bonneville SSEi that had hit a curb, cracked the rim and bent the lower control arm. The previous owner towed it to a garage and they disconected the ABS sensor at the wheel (I think). The owner decided they didn't want to spend anymore money in the car and wanted to buy a new vehicle.

When I bought the car and picked up the car from the garage I asked them to reconnect the ABS, which they said they did.
Does the ABS have to be reset by a dealership or is the garage BS'ing me and they actually didn't reconnect the ABS ?
Is there a way to reset the ABS myself ?

When I had the rim off doing work on the car everything looked like it was connected.

Any help would be great,
Thanks in Advance,
Dutch

If I understand you right, you're saying they reconnected the sensor but the warning light is still on? That would mean you've still got a problem somewhere. Stop by someplace that can pull the error code(*) for you (AutoZone, for one) and tell you what code(*) are still there. When everything'* fixed, the system will be happy; there is not a manual reset of anything that would be needed.

Acg_ssei is right, but only for 94+. In 92 they have the same system as I, IIRC. Now, you need to short two pins on the ALDL connector [can't remember off-hand.. someone else should chime in with those]. It is basically the same procedure for extracting engine trouble codes. Once the pins are shorted, turn on the igniton [IN THAT ORDER!]. The ABS light will flash one code at a time. Once the code is done displaying [when the ABS light is solid or out], remove the shorting wire, and plug it back in [keeping the ignition on]. That will display the second [if applicable] code. Keep doing this until the ABS light is solid on, or completely off. There are more detailed instructions, but I don't know where I put my FSM, so somebody else should chime in with those.. but those are the basics. Once you have extracted all the codes.. drive the car 25+ mph, and the light should go out [if all the codes are fixed, of course]. The light does NOT go out on it'* own.


-justin

Oh, duh. Of course... I just found the DTC Guide here in the manual...

Well, the ECM diagnostic would be the two cavities at upper right. One is the diagnostic trigger (I think it'* the B connector) and the other is a ground connection. Grounding it will put it into diagnostic mode, but blinks the Check Engine light, not the Antilock light.

The manual here talks about watching the Antilock light, not the Check Engine light, so I think a different connector needs to be grounded for ABS diagnostics. Unfortunately the manual just babbles on about plugging in a bi-directional scan tool; it doesn't say exactly which wire in the connector is the one of interest.

Maybe a wiring diagram will tell me something more... I'll try...

All righty...

Data Link Connector pin L is a tan wire linking the ABS, RAC and DERM (air bag) modules. Pin M (also tan) comes in from the PCM. Pin M is at the end of one row of cavities in the connector; L is next to it.

Basically the tan wiring is the local data network connecting the various modules, into which the bi-directional diagnostic tool is plugged. That'* all I got so far; hopefully someone else can take it from here.

Thanks for your help guys

So if I understand what you guys are saying, is that once I read the diagnostic codes via jumping out the diagnostic plug pins, I can reset the system and the ABS Light should go out.
I have the Haynes manual for the car which covers this and I've done this before with other vehicles. I also have a diagnostic scan tool, which I can use to read the codes.

I'm gonna see if I can use the scan tool instead of farting around jumping out the connector.

Thanks for your help,

Dutch

Mostly true, although there is not a "reset" step involved. Once you've corrected the error condition(*), whatever those turn out to be, the light will go out by itself.

Yes, please; I'm used to jumpering the ECM codes with a paper clip, but the manual hints that there'* some sort of dialogue you have to have with the ABS controller (which is why they're telling you to use a _bidirectional_ scan tool). I haven't found anything in the book that flat-out tells you that you can just jumper a couple of ports together for ABS diagnostics.

I want to know how this comes out!

There is no simple jumpering of pins to obtain ABS error codes in the 92+. This may also be true for the 91 as the Teves was dropped for this model year. It does work for the 90 though as I've followed some of Pagett'* instructions for diagnostics.

I doubt that a traditional "scantool" such as an Actron will help either. This probably be a dealer or specalized shop diagnostics.

Second that, although I still think that you've got nothing to lose by asking at the local Auto Zone, see if they can actually query the ABS controller with whatever diagnostic tools they've got on hand. Expect to have to patiently explain once or twice that you need to get ABS codes, not have your Check Engine light diagnosed.

From what I see of the wiring diagram, it looks like the bidirectional scan tool inserts itself between pins L and M, completing the tan-wire circuit through the four controllers as a Local Area Network. Once it'* on the LAN like this, it can probably talk to any of the four devices (ABS, RAC, DERM and PCM).

Oooh! Oooh! Bright idea! Back to the manual to see if there'* a picture of the scan tool... YES! Volume 2, Page 6E-7. It'* a Tech 1 Diagnostic Scan Tool. Diagram shows a good-sized control box with 16 buttons on the keypad, along with the DLC plug and a cigar-lighter plug to power the thing.

Okay, now we know what it'* called, it'* off to eBay to see what it looks like. Ah, here we are:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=7308206332

This particular one may not have the right data cartridges for the '92 from what I'm seeing there, but you get the point...

P.*. Due to a colossal typing error on his part, he'* managed to list it under "Pottery & Glass > Pottery & China > China, Dinnerware > Wade > Pottery" for some reason. Probably wondering why he'* only got three bids on it so far...

Ok somehow from driving the Bonneville to get it certified (Safety) & emission tested the ABS light has turned off on its own.
I can't test the ABS because I have a donut (spare) on the front while I await the proper color Rim from the wreckers.
I checked and the ABS is plugged in on that wheel. So hopefully it is working now.

Thanks for all your help,
Dutch