# TRAc OFF & ABS light

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/trac-off-abs-light/47880>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** alero, oldsmobile\
**Created:** [April 23, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/trac-off-abs-light/47880 "2010-04-23T21:14:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tacan39](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tacan39](https://community.cartalk.com/u/tacan39)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/trac-off-abs-light/47880/1 "2010-04-23T21:14:02Z")

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The TRAC OFF and ABS light intermittentkly come on and of course when they come on so does the CHECK ENGINE light come on. It will always reset if I turn off the engine and then restart. Anything in common with the TRAC OFF & ABS that I can check If its the Body Control Module, I’ll just live with it.

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**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/trac-off-abs-light/47880/2 "2010-04-23T21:18:01Z")

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The thing that both traction control and abs have in common is the wheel speed sensors. It wouldn’t hurt to just pull all of the connectors, check them & clean them up - then see what happens.

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**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/trac-off-abs-light/47880/3 "2010-04-23T22:01:21Z")

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Start by having the stored trouble codes in the car’s OBD system scanned.  
I believe that you are misunderstanding the actual sequence, because when the OBD system detects a problem, it will often shut down the Traction Control system, and possibly also the ABS.

If you find out what is triggering the CEL and if you fix that problem, more than likely the other lights will not come on.

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**Author:** ![tacan39](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tacan39](https://community.cartalk.com/u/tacan39)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/trac-off-abs-light/47880/4 "2010-04-23T22:20:27Z")

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Thanks for the reply. Are there speed sensors on all 4 wheels.

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**Author:** ![tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@tardis](https://community.cartalk.com/u/tardis)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/trac-off-abs-light/47880/5 "2010-04-23T22:50:47Z")

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Yes, there is a wheel speed sensor for each wheel. Be aware that the wheel speed sensors are far from the only things that the ABS and the traction control have in common. Any fault with the ABS system will also disable the traction control system.

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**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/trac-off-abs-light/47880/6 "2010-04-23T23:41:10Z")

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VDC makes an excellent point - many corporate chain auto parts stores will read codes for free.

There may, however, be codes relating to the ABS/Trac system that these scanners won’t pick up.