PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! i love my bonne but this sheet is getting old
ANOTHER problem to deal with!
After about 1 hr of driving (in town) my abs, trac and service stability system all lit up. i turned the car off and when i restarted all was back to normal (other than having to readjust my stupid mirrors AGAIN! (see previous post)). about 1 hr later it happened again. the roads were smooth and dry, not driving aggressively.

(i did a search and someone else had similar problem but no abs or trac light)

PS: this car sits a lot and we have had a LOT of rain this year. Relevant?

This is a common event. Most likely one of your wheel speed sensors needs to be replaced -- probably one of the two in the front. These are built into the wheel hubs, so the entire hub must be replaced. This is not too difficult of a job if you have basic automotive tools and some basic know-how. You can find more discussion here at Pontiac Bonneville Club about this, and info about other GM cars will likely apply also. You can find videos describing the procedure on YouTube (although not specifically for Bonnevilles).

You will need to determine which of your wheels has the problem. A scanning device is required; specifically one that can scan brake codes. It plugs in under the steering wheel and gets info from the car's computer. You can likely have this done for free as a courtesy at Advance Auto stores. Make sure their scanner is able to scan brake codes, and not just OBD-2 codes. The scan will tell you which side needs to be replaced. If you are unable to get the scan done for free, most car repair places will do it for a modest fee (anything more than $50 is a rip-off; $15-$30 is typical).

There is a school of thought that says when you replace one side, you should go ahead and replace both, because the second one will not be far behind. While this might be wise, it does double your cost. Thusly, many price-conscious Bonneville owners just replace one side as needed. If the other one eventually goes out, you can get that one later.

It is not necessary to get your hub at a dealership. New hubs can be purchased from Autozone, Advance Auto, O'Reilly's, as well as on eBay. It is the consensus of our club, based upon real-world experience, that the cheap hubs should be avoided because they don't last long (will wear out in anywhere from 18 weeks to 18 months, and then you're right back where you started). The cheapo ones typically go for $30 to $60. Here at the Club we recommend Timken hubs (also called "wheel bearings") because these are a high-quality hub that last for a long time. They do cost more (around $100 at Rock Auto) but are worth the extra money. Note that if you do not shop around you can easily pay more for the same Timken hub.

It is also possible (but less likely) that your hubs are fine, and that you have an electrical problem where the wires plug into the hub. It is worth taking a few minutes to examine the wires visually at all four wheels before your spend the money for a new hub, just to make sure the hub is actually needed. Sometimes merely jiggling the wires can make the problem go away for a while, but also look for corrosion or other obvious problems. If you don't see anything like this, it is probably time to buy a new hub.

Ken_W

thanks for all the detailed information Ken.I'm sure it will be helpful to many others as well as myself.

I know without actually inspecting the connections we cannot be sure but is it common for the abs trac light and service display to only come on at wide intervals? if it was an actual sensor failier wouldn't it be displayed all the time?

There are probably several different ways in which the thing can die; i.e. sudden failure versus gradual failure.

I'm only guessing on this point: I suspect that there is a "going, going, gone" way that these fail sometimes. Such was the case with mine; it would come on a lot sometimes, and at other times go up to a week without coming on. If there was a pattern, I did not see it.

Eventually, however, I decided (after getting it scanned) to replace the faulty hub. The problem immediately ceased and has not returned.

For what it's worth, the car remains drivable. You just lose the traction control, ABS, and stability systems, which will not activate if they are ever needed. Most cars didn't even have these until the last couple decades. Unless you feel unlucky, it is not an absolute urgent thing to fix. You can take the time to educate yourself, figure out what you want to do, and shop around for any parts (and wait for shipment, if you order by mail). I mention this because some people think they have to rush out and get it fixed immediately, which usually results in their spending more money than they would otherwise.

Ken_W

By the way, what is your car's mileage? There are things that wear out on 2000+ Bonnevilles at common intervals. Such things do not make these bad cars -- they are just maintenance items that need service and/or replacement when they wear out. If your car has more than 100,000 miles, you will likely encounter more of these within the next 12 months. Fortunately, there is enough info here at the Club to save you a lot of money on getting these items serviced, as well as answer many questions. If your car has been reasonably taken care of so far, and you keep up with future maintenance items (and you don't get bad rust), you could potentially drive this car for 250,000 miles or more.

Ken_W

To quote Rain Man... "I'm an excellent driver" so i'm completely fine without all the added crap. i'm gonna put off fixing it until it is a more frequent annoyance. with well over a million miles logged over the years with no abs i only view this as an annoyance ( I hate seeing any lights or warnings on my dash)

As far as mileage, it just hit 80k but based on everything i have had to have fixed (capable to do most myself but too lazy) i know the previous owner neglected it. Instead of listing everything just read the common problems on site and i have had to deal with most, plus replacing the the motor (it threw a rod 2k miles after i bought the car. 43k and new LIM on replacement)

Wow -- only 80K and a new engine... That car must be a beauty! Given what you said, the only big-ticket item that could go anytime soon would be the transmission, but you are probably several years away from any trouble there. Sounds like you have a good solid car, now that you've fixed most of the issues. Enjoy!

Ken_W