SEAT Ibiza Cupra - ABS Light On & Off

[ricster]

Hi there,

I currently own a 1999 Seat Ibiza Cupra which over the last month or so has developed a problem with the ABS.
The problem is that the ABS warning light comes on one day & then may be off the next.
Any advice or help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks Rick

[Tim]

have it scanned for codes. might just be an intermittant abs sensor. Ive seen a few VR6s do that. and they will store a code. it will usually be nice enuf to tell u at which wheel its happening too.

[Golf Loon]

Get the brakes bled and new fluid put in, nip the problem in the bud before it becomes terminal.

[brackie]

Water in the brake fluid

Brake fluid is hygroscopic...it absorbs water. After a couple of years this can cause problems as it can boil off during heavy braking and cause fade, or interfere with electrical sensors. Loon's right. Get it changed as it's a fair bet that it's been in there since the car was new

[Golf Loon]

You need to take it to a specialist to get the abs bled. Dont goto VW, an independant VW specialist is the GO.

[Bora Sport]

Having the brakes bled is a good idea however as Tim said I think there is a good chance that it will be one of the wheel sensors. The day I took my Cupra for its road worthy the ABS fault lightwas not on and hadn't been on since I bought the car. They put it up on the hoist to check the brakes etc. and when they had finished and drove the car out of the garage they said btw your abs light is on!

We drove off to get it looked at and after about 30 minutes and 2 or three stops at various tyre places (because it needed 2 tyres as well) where I turned the engine off we realised that the light had gone off. My mate scanned it with his Vagcom and it actually said left rear wheel sensor. He cleared the fault code and it has been fine ever since. I think it must just gotten a bit of gunk on it when the were fiddling around with the brakes or perhaps they fiddled with the wiring. Anyway 5 months and 10,000 k's since and all is still good.

[ricster]

Thanks everybody for your helpful input.

My next question is can anybody recoomend a workshop to take my car too.
I live in Sydney - Leichhardt & work in the Parramatta area.
So if anybody can recoomend someone it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Again

[Golf Loon]

Wolfsberg Motors on Princes Highway at Alexandria are good and not too far away from you.

[veedyf]

the wires sometimes get nipped & garages around wales/ukhave a habit of not putting the abs sensor bk on hence when yors came off the ramp, they coulda charged you anothers hour labour for 30seconds work.....

If the abs light comes on ...check the wiring all round first before taking to a garage...
my abs is off anyway becase that way i can left foot brake exellent..as the rear end is so light...good fun

[ricster]

Hi again everybody, a quick update.
On the weekend I jacked up the car & cleaned the ABS wheel sensors & they were very heavily covered in dirt & tiny metal/stone fragments.
Disconnected the battery & the ABS warning light has now disappeared since Saturday.
So all is fine. Thanks again for everbody's input. Rick