So i was driving my 2003 Monte Carlo SS with a 3.8L engine yesterday and on my message display it showed "SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL SOON" on it and also the abs light and Trac Off lit up too. However i turned the car off and back on and they all shut off. Then earlier today i was driving and when i took a right turn the message box started saying Traction Active. I originally thought it was taking a little power away at takeoff when it did that but i realized i was wrong when i gave it a little more gas and it took off just fine with the same message being displayed. So I asked my dad about it and he said it was probably a wheel hub and that these cars along with the Pontiac Grand Prix's are known for that. So i wanted to ask your oppinions on what you all think it could be and if this has happened to any of you as well?

 

ok so i just drove my car again and when i take off occasionally it does in fact drain power and it doesnt let the car move at all. So i found a temporary solution of just turning the traction control off while im driving but when i do that i noticed that when i was pulling into my garage the brakes sort of pulsed. im not sure if thats because the floor isnt concrete or not but ive never noticed that before but i can deal with that but its still only a temporary solution until i figure out which side it is and i get a new wheel hub for it. Im still curious to your oppinions though so let me know what you think it might be please.

 

Now my gears feel weird from it also. i cant tell if its also involved with this abs system issue as well or not but when i accelerate the car sort of hesitates or when its cruising it sounds like it wants to shift up and down constantly and the revs keep jumping around as well

 

Now my gears feel weird from it also. i cant tell if its also involved with this abs system issue as well or not but when i accelerate the car sort of hesitates or when its cruising it sounds like it wants to shift up and down constantly and the revs keep jumping around as well

 

i am in the same boat as you, been doing that for a month on and off, more so recently. Traction off only prevents it sometimes. I think I need a new wheel hub, just moved and have no place to work on my car (street parking sucks), though I do not hear anything bad from my acre even at 80 mph. I shoudl jack the car and wiggle things but again street parking on a busy street, i don't want to die.

rock auto has cheap replacement parts though i am afraid what labor costs will be here in cali


The second or two it takes for the cpu to turn off traction control and the abs is why you lose breaking power, the traction control is why you get no speed increase.

 

alright well i had a buddy of mine put a scan tool on it and it read that the right front speed sensor was shorted and had excessive readings. So my plan of action is tomorrow i am going to jack up my front end, remove that wheel and disconnect the connector and spray some electrical cleaner in there and see if that fixes it because i know dort and stuff get in the connector and tend to set off the abs light and such. If that doesnt work then my next attempt will be to change the hub assembly. I will post an update on if it works after the spray or not.

 

Hey it sounds like a bad wheel speed sensor witch is in the front hubs I'm not sure about the rear sensors. You can get Oem hubs off eBay at a pretty decent cost. It is a little labor intensive to replace them. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give it a7.5.

 

Sounds like a dirty/corroded wheel hub connector to me. Some WD40 and an air hose, and you're back in business. I have to deal with this at least a couple of times a year.
Of course it COULD be a bad hub. I doubt it.

 

i sprayed some crc electrical cleaner in it today in all four sensor connectors and left the traction on and after i took off the lights didnt go off so im going to try it out tomorrow and see if it comes back. If it does come back then im going to replace the right front hub altogether when im changing the shocks as well on saturday (hopefully if the parts come in)

 

id put money on it that its your ignition switch for all your lights. Mine did the same replaced that which is the easiest thing ever, and hasnt had a problem since