2000 Monte Carlo Traction Control Problem.

I have a 2000 Monte Carlo SS. My Message comes up to service Traction System, and then the Traction system turns off and my abs light comes on. I am trying to see if anyone might have a possibel trouble shooter for this. I have noticed uneven wear on the back rotor and when I apply the brakes with any force, I notice some pulsating in the Peddle. There is plenty of pad left on the rear, could the uneven wear and the Traction system be caused by a bad brake pad. If anyone has had an exprience like this could you let me know. Thanks a Lot.

Could always unhook the battery for 20min and that will reset all the codes. If it comes back on again after that I'd def. go and have it checked out.

The only time I've heard about this happening is when a 2001 got stolen and then they recovered it and the traction light was comming on...Guess just plain driving it to hard will make it come on.

Done any power braking, burn outs [with the traction on...] or anything like that? That would probly cause the computer to think weird.

Dear Gkumler,
I also have a 2000 Monte Carlo SS with the same problem as you seem to be having with your Traction Control system. My Message comes up to service Traction System, and then the Traction system turns off and my ABS light comes on also.. Before all this happens though, I can feel and hear the traction system trying to engage or do something. It varies when this is going to happen. Sometimes I can drive up to 30 miles before it turns the system off. Other times it comes on right away regardless of road conditions and the weather. I've also tried unhooking the battery for 20 min. with no success. I've even tried pulling a few fuses to reset the codes too. No luck there either. I've even tried running it through the car wash and then putting my car in a heated garage to let everything completely dry out. Thinking maybe dampness had something to do with it.. Still no luck.. Just recently I had someone look at the right front wheel sensor and they found that it wasn't quit connected all the way so they thought maybe this was the problem. They connected things but it still doesn't work.. I've also had the car scanned while the ABS and traction lights were on.. It brings up no codes and says it's okay to drive..?... I am stumped...? The only thing I can think of is that maybe that connector that wasn't quit connected before is bad and sending a false signal that the wheel is not turning and therefore it tries to engage the traction control system and when it can't do this it shuts the system off. But I can't figure out why there are no codes that show up telling me this when it's being scanned. Frustrating isn't it? Well, if I find and answer to this mystery, I'll let you know and if you could,,, Please keep me informed if you figure your's out to. Thanks and much appreciated!
Tanya

I know that this isn't what you two want to here, but it sounds like yall's computers might be going out, i have the same problem with my truck, i told the dealership what was going on with and this said it was the computer. (only about $200 for it)

DomesticRicer,
A buddy of mine said to try that and I actually unhooked the battery for a weekend. I hooked it back up when it was time to go into work on Monday. No Luck. Thanks for the reply.

Tonyaras,
That is the exact problem I am having. I have also noticed that if you turn off the Car and restart it, You will have your traction control back for a little while. If I do find out what is wrong I will respond to this so you may check that as well. My car is due for inspection, so I am going to let me mechanic look at it to see if he can find a solution to the problem.

Big Dawg,
Was it $200.00 for them to tell you its your computer or was it $200.00 for the computer. Just wondering.

Gkumler,
I got good news, maybe!!?!! So far things look good!! Last week Friday I took my car back in to my mechanic. He was able to get Matco tools, his parts guy, to lend him a new scanner to try on my car to see if he could read any codes on my car that maybe his older scanner isn’t able read on 2000 and newer vehicles.
At the time he scanned my car, the lights were not on, so he went back into the code history and he found 6 different codes that can up with this newer scanner that he wasn’t able to read on his older scanner. 5 of the 6 codes can up as “C” codes and there was one code that came up as a “U” code. The “U” code stands for “unidentified”. My mechanic said that this “U” code may be the culprit. But, all the “C” codes were veering us towards the left rear tire area.
While my mechanic was driving my car with the scanner hooked up, he was able to monitor the percentage of wheel rotations on each tire. All but the left rear tire matched percentages. This could be were my problem lies. Something to do with my left rear tire censor, maybe..… It could be a bad wire, bad connection or something, which could explain the inconsistency of when and were the system, turns the traction control and abs system off.
If ice, snow, or dirt at one time skewed the censor and caused it to misread the problem. It could have caused this unidentified code to come up.. It just couldn’t figure out what was the problem at the time.
But, having this “U” code still logged in it’s memory, it still thinks there’s something wrong and therefore tries to figure it out and each time it comes up it thinks maybe there’s something still wrong bringing up the “C” codes.
Sooo what my mechanic did was he used the scanner to clear the codes with the hope that, if it happened again, he’d immediately rescan the car while the traction control and abs lights remain on, and see if we could read the code that seems to be the culprit to this mystery. If that “U” code would come back up again we’d know that that was the one that was causing the problem but if any of the other codes came back up again we’d then know what to look for. We would have narrowed or search down with the code that it would bring up….Right!!?!! That was our hope anyway….
But,,, as weird luck would have it, my car has been running fine since we cleared the codes and got rid off that “U” code. My traction control and abs system works fine and none of my lights have come on since we did this last week Friday.. I drove the car all weekend and I drove 50 miles into work this morning and everything is normal so far..
So, if it happens to happen again and part of me hopes it won’t but part of me hopes it does so I know what caused this, I’m crossing my fingers either way but if it does happen again, I’m suppose to take it over to my mechanics right away while the lights remain on. He’ll hook up the scanner again and we should then be able to figure out what code it is that will tell us what’s wrong and what caused the problem in the first place. Then maybe we’ll be able to fix it. I mean, something had to happen, right? To cause this problem. I just hope that it’s something minor, like a lose wire or bad connection that won’t cost me an arm and a leg to fix. It’s just that those are much harder to find but easier to fix if that is what’s happening….?....
Well, I hope I was able to explain this ok and it wasn’t to confusing to follow. It’s gets hard to explain some things when it’s just confusing in the first place…
I’ll keep in touch if my car does it again and we figure out what caused it.. Let me know what you fine out about your car and I hope I’ve helped narrow some of your search down on what to look for with your cars mystery…
Thanks for the feed back! I look forward to hearing how your problem gets resolved.
Thanks and good luck!
Tanya

Did you end up fixing the reat tire problem or just clear the codes and left the rear tire at the different revolution or rotation ratio.. My step mothers car is having the same problem and I'm gonna try leaving the battery unplugged for a while and see if that clears the computer.. but if it doesn't where can i take it to get cleared? can autozone do it? and how much did it cost for yours to get cleared.. thanks..

Just jumping in to offer another possible solution. In know it is a different car and year but we had the same problem with my son’s 96 Cavalier. Unfortunately the problem was in the transmission. I can’t remember exactly what it was. My son will be in town this weekend and I’ll ask him. I think some type of pump was not building up enough pressure or something. Whatever it was, it fixed it. Good luck. Aren't computerized things neat?

the newer montes then to need the whole hub assembly replaced on 1 wheel.. it seems that the hub is the problem with the speed sensor built in

Which wheel would that be on? just gotta try to find the messed up one and then replace it? any ideas on how to find out which wheel?

if u have a scan tool and have somone watch the abs/wheel speeds and see which one is off when it screws up....or it may be the abs/traction pump...thats another thought..i've seen those go out occasionally

fill up your brake fluid

People please try not to post in a thread that is over 3 months old as its probable that the original posters/maker of the thread dont come around anymore.