VTM-4 and ABS Lights Stay On

[E-ville Jim]

Hello,

I just had the engine replaced in my '05 Pilot with 140,000 miles (the "new" engine has 78,000 miles). Within a minute of leaving the independent mechanic who replaced the engine I heard a slight squealing noise coming from what seemed like the driver's side rear of the vehicle while turning toward the right, but no noise persists. Then the ABS and VTM-4 lights went on. I went back to the mechanic and he ran a diagnostic on it. I don't know the exact code but he said it came up as a bad ABS sensor; he didn't get a code on the VTM-4 light. I think he just wanted to go home (it was 5pm on Friday). Obviously, I'll be back there Monday morning.

In the meantime, is it OK to drive with the ABS and VTM-4 lights on? The mechanic said so, but after spending big bucks on the engine I'm a little uneasy. The ABS light is on all the time, the VTM-4 goes on after a few seconds of driving.

Any advice as to what caused this (and whether or how the two lights are related) would be appreciated. Meanwhile, I'll go to Advance Auto and ask them to run a diagnostic and see what I find out.

[whizmo]

My guess is that you had a mis-routed wire to the left-front wheel sensor which failed the wiring the first time you made a hard right turn. Now the wire is broken so you've lost the sensor. I don't know the exact failure scenarios, but I'm sure both the ABS and VTM system require this sensor to be working, so getting both lights would be consistent with this.

Shouldn't be a big deal - probably a new sensor which should have the wiring pigtail on it, perhaps some wiring repair.

The car should be driveable, but you won't have ABS brakes or a functioning VTM system.

Let your mechanic have a crack at it - probably an honest error and it is not uncommon to have such problems after a major repair like this, although I would have thought it should have been discovered during a shakedown test run.

- Mark

[E-ville Jim]

Mark,

Thanks for your idea, and it was close. As it turns out, the sensor itself was stuck open; once that was replaced both systems work again. Not such a big deal.

I don't think they did a test run after the engine replacement, or else they would've caught that!

Thanks again.

Jim