I currently have 191,000 miles on my car and to say it's religiously maintained is an understatement. Yet, today I changed the window switch on the passenger door with no problems and everything worked fine. However, I needed to leave the house and as I got to the end of my long driveway, the Traction Off, Service Traction Control and ABS lights all came on. I shut the car off for approximately 15 seconds and restarted it. At this point all the lights remained off. I then hammered the throttle and the traction control worked fine. Then I ran it up to about 60 mph and stood on the brakes and the ABS worked just as well and I could feel the peddle pulsing as it should. A scan with my Auto X-Ray showed no held or pending codes.

My question to you all is this: Do you feel that this was an erronious code sent through the ECM as a result of working on the switch? I understand that the ENTIRE wiring harness works as an integral component and sometimes a false-positive code can pop. Any input from you all is appreciated. Thanks!!!

 

It is possible the code was false but I would say you have a wheel hub bearing on its way out and only a scanner that does scans for brake codes would find it.

 

Or just some dirt in one of the connections to the wheel hub

 

Back in April before my trip up to Talladega, I rotated the tires and didn't see any problems with the bearings (no extra movement, unusual wear, no sounds, etc..). At this point I'm still getting zero bearing noise. Actually, this morning I took a trip to Houston and back (approximately 230 miles) and everything was fine. Along one of the more desolate roads I again retested the traction control and ABS and all worked fine.

BK, I believe you are right about the dirt issue. Here in Southeast Texas we are in an extreme drought condition and dust and dirt even on the main roadways is at a premium. I'm inclined to think that some dirt or other contaminant has invaded the connections at the hub[s]. I'll spray WD40 into the connections and let them dry and then re-connect them with dielectric grease. Thoughts?

 

Shouldn't hurt anything with the WD-40

 

WD-40 is petroleum based and can cause a loss of conductivity. They have electrical and electronic connection cleaners at the auto parts and electronic store. Use that.
I just went through the whole Trac off/ABS routine.
First I had a bad wheel hub assembly which usually is very apparent from the noise. A dealer service manage I know said it is usually the inner bearings so if you start getting noise from the front and suspect a wheel hub, if you turn the steering to the right while driving and the noise increases, it is probably the left wheel hub and vs verses.
That fixed the trac/abs problem for awhile but then it came back. Could not find an auto parts store that had a scanner that could pick up abs codes, so took each tire off, checked resistance in each connection, cleaned and reconnected securely. Then followed battery grounds to their chassis and engine connections and cleaned, brushed and sanded them well.
No problem after that.
These cars do have a history of bad wiring harnesses to the front wheel hub assemblies so it is important to check to make sure you have resistance on both the wheel and harness connections. If the harness side shows no resistance, then it is the wiring and not the hub.
FYI Everyone, had the car doing all sorts of weird electrical stuff, lights blinking, truck opening, bells going off. Everyone seemed to think it was the BCM. Key was not working well so replaced the key cylinder and all those weird things went away. Buy from a junk yard as the cylinders are VERY expensive anywhere else I could find.
Good luck

 

SD, thanks for the heads-up on the WD40. Since I'm not having a bearing or hub issue I'll definitely use your suggestion since you've lived through it as well. Thanks!

 

Problem solved thanks to my fellow MCF members. Thanks!!!