Brake System Trouble
 

Starting late Tuesday night, my ABS and bake warning lights on the instrument cluster came on and the message center says "service brake system". It started when I was backing out of a parking spot at work. I put it in reverse but had to wait about 30 seconds for a truck to pass behind me. The lights came on then. I tried restarting several times right then but that didn't fix the problem.

When I step on the brake pedal, even in park, I hear a groaning noise from under the hood. It almost sounds like the ABS module, but it sounds more like it's on the driver's side and the ABS module, I believe, is on the passenger side. The brakes and regen system are working but ABS is definitely not working, which was a little bit of a problem yesterday when 8" of snow got dumped on the Chicago area. I've checked all 4 of the ABS and BSCM fuses and they're all good. I'm dropping my car off at the dealer on Monday. Has anybody run into this issue before? I've got an extended service plan on it, but I'd like to save the $100 deductible if it's something simple that I'm overlooking. Has anybody run into this problem before?

Re: Brake System Trouble
 

Did you have the hybrid battery service recall work performed? Reversing uses the hybrid battery and corrision of a hybrid battery piece(?) (why the service recall was issued) can induced various issues. In your post you did not mention any issues with brakingother than ABS, just the light.

Re: Brake System Trouble
 

Brake fluid fill level...??

Re: Brake System Trouble
 

I haven't noticed any other strange behavior with the regen/hybrid system at all and reverse works perfectly. I do know about the resistor corrosion recall and I'm having that fixed too when I take it in on Monday.

I just checked the brake fluid level and it's fine. The system status check reports it as OK as well.

One other thing I just noticed today is that when I unlock and open the door, I don't hear the brake pump pressurize, which does kind of scare me.

Re: Brake System Trouble
 

as soon as i read your post, my s.o. ( a ford tec) said that you will prob need a master cylinder. the jumper harness to the master cylinder has a tendency to go bad.

Re: Brake System Trouble
 

I wonder what Mark Smith would say? Without hookup on the computer analyzer who knows?

Re: Brake System Trouble
 

I tried reading any codes in the ECM through the ODB-II connector under the dash, but that only reports ICE and emission-related problems, not ABS.

I dropped it off at a dealer this afternoon. I hope they get it back to me quickly. I'm going to miss it while I'm tooling around town in my Chevy Cobalt rental in the snow tomorrow.

Re: Brake System Trouble
 

Well the first thing is to retrieve the trouble codes and the Scan Gauge will not do that. This could be a pressure switch to a module failure. Hope every thing is simple. How many miles do you have on your FEH?

Re: Brake System Trouble
 

The ScanGauve won't retrieve trouble codes?

Re: Brake System Trouble
 

I got it back from the dealer yesterday afternoon. It's working perfectly now. Looking over the paperwork, it looks like all they did was bleed the brake system and reprogram something per a TSB. In addition to that, they did the battery wiring harness recall.

For the record, my FEH has just under 46K miles and the brakes are still in the green zone, according to the inspection they did.