Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Question for the auto mechanics.

My son and daughter in law have a 2005 Pontiac Montana mini-van that my DIL drives. They picked it up 3-4 months ago when their other car died unexpectedly. The van is in great shape with 105,000 miles

About 2 months ago the car suddenly braked and the traction control and stability control lights came on and stayed on. It did this several times before we were able to get the car to the mechanic we use. He replaced a wheel speed sensor. It has worked perfectly until about a week ago when my DIL says it did the same thing one time. Except this time the traction control light only came on briefly and didn't stay on.

She is scared to drive it and I've loaned them my old crew cab Tacoma until we get it figured out. I've driven the van about 50 miles and it worked perfectly for me. Our mechanic has had it a week and it shows no codes on his scanner. He is driving it whenever possible trying to get it to do it for him. So far the van is working perfectly.

My 1st reaction is that she simply put the van in a position where traction control came on when it was supposed to, and it is working normally. But she claims she was driving 45-50 mph on a straight dry section of road. At any rate she is afraid to drive it until we "fix" it. But both the mechanic and I are out of ideas.

Anybody got any ideas.

I can't answer that specific question but I will tell you that when our kids were small, we had a Montana van and it was the biggest pile of crap I've ever had the displeasure of owning.

Hope your DIL has better luck with hers.

I cannot believe a 2005 Pontiac Montana is still operable.

At all.


LOL

Some scanners won’t read ABS codes. Be sure the mechanics does. It should have registered something even if the light is back off. Broken wire in the harness for one or more of the speed sensors? Makes contact but can be intermittent if you hit a bump. Had similar happen with a 2004 Chevy Cavalier. Ordered a replacement pigtail cut the old one off higher in the harness and soldered it back together. Never a problem since.

Worst case, pull the fuse for the ABS controller until you figure it out.

Funny you say that. This summer up on the White Earth Rez, there was a Montana parked outside of a liquor store. I stopped and took a picture and the lady getting in it asked "what are you doing?" I said "I'm sorry. I just have to show my wife that there is still one of these POS still on the road."

They don’t always last and doesn’t mean you haven’t got a bad connection between it and the ABS.

Looking left at a stop light and seeing a 1990 Chevy Cavalier.

Z24.

LOL

Are you kidding?

I wouldn't drive that hunk of fugking schit to my own funeral.

Sell it, burn it, bury it, whatever.

The fact your Tacoma is the go-to is all you need to know in life.

Poor
Old
Negro
Thinks
It’s
A
Cadillac

I think these had a tent option or something back in the day?

LOL

Cutting edge.

I would drive it until it repeats.

I think I still have a throttle body for ours. Had it to one of it's several visits to the mechanic. He says "appears to be the throttle body" so he orders up a used one online. Nope that wasn't it so I got to pay for it to sit on a shelf in my garage.

I had a Ford Explorer company car that would go crazy with the traction/stability control a few times a year the whole time I had it, maybe 7 years. It would happen during the summer heat after I had driven it for a while then stopped, say at a grocery store on the way home, and then restarted it and swing out into traffic in a hurry. It would brake and adjust until I pulled over and shut the engine off and restarted.

I always assumed the computer chip that controlled that feature could not take the combination of the high heat and sudden acceleration and turning required to enter busy traffic. I never had it looked at, just lived with it that couple of times a year until I retired and got rid of it.

I wouldn't. I'd trade it in like yesterday.

lol

Just a guess, but the mechanic most likely used a cheap non OEM sensor. That sensor is flaky and probably right on the edge of barely working. Been seeing this a ton lately.

Leave the keys in it running somewhere

That's a very good idea.

Even if you don't have insurance.



lol

I'm sorry for sounding sarcastic OP but seriously, tell those kids to dump that thing ASAP.

It will nickel and dime them to death.

This. Especially if he was unable to pull a new code.

-Ken

Even if it did pull a code, you can't trust it to be what is wrong.