I recently putchased a 1998 XJ8L that Im in the process of bringing back to road worthiness. The car is relly clean but needed a few things, mainly suspension related.

I have replaced all the front suspension bushings, sway bar ends, shocks, etc. I also did the rear shocks. This has made a huge difference and its now great to drive.

My Traction control and stability control lights are on however. ABS light is also on.

The guy you owned before me had a dirt driveway and everything had a pretty good amount of dust and mud but I have everything clean now.

Any direction you guys could point me in for diagnosing, testing, repaing this next project would be very appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave

 

Freetime,
Before you get into modules and all the rest, check the condition of your battery. An undercharged or badly maintained battery can quite easily give you the trac/ light.
As for ABS, you may still have a dirty or defective sensor or even problem with wiring.
May be worth trying the hard reset once you have confirmed the condition of the battery.

 

Battery seems fine and is producing good voltage.

Disconnceting it for a reset was going to be my first step.

I had a guy at a local parts place tell me he didnt thing that would reset it and that it was his understanding that only a certain number(usually 10-25) cycles of the key would reset that system. I had never heard that one before! Anyone else?

 

Hi Dave,

if trying to fix it on my own the first thing I would do is to get an ODB II code scanner. The fault code read from the car's fault memory provides more details on the problem. For example, which sensor might be faulty.

 

What I've been told is that the regular scanner will not read Abs codes. U need a special scanner. I would unplug clean with electrical contact cleaner te wheel sensors connectors. If that doesn't do it then u will need to take to a shop to have ur abs codes read. I have the same and it's my module so I just clear the code and ride.