2004 Buick Rendezvous engine and ABS problems
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Olds Wagonmaster
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 292
From: Slidell, La
2004 Buick Rendezvous engine and ABS problems
I wanted to know if any of you guys ever heard of this. My buddy has a 2004 Buick Rendezvous. He has been having issues with acceleration and it's been going on for about 6 months. It has the GM 3.4L V6, which is the same engine in my 2002 Monte Carlo, and I've had a couple issues with that engine so I tried my best to help.
What he described was this: The car starts and idles just fine. But as soon as he got on the road and tried to accelerate from 20+, the engine would kind of surge and buck and wouldn't accelerate except for very slowly. On the interstate, it took him a while to get up to speed, if at all. His check engine light was on, and I suggested that it might be the catalytic converter causing his problem, as I had a similar problem with my Monte Carlo; but not really at slow speeds. I would give the car gas to pass on the interstate or something, and it wouldn't accelerate quickly, but barely. When I got a new converter, my old one was completely clogged and that solved my problem.
Well, my buddy got a new converter and still had the problem. The check engine light threw an emissions code that included the converter and also suggested that the MAF was faulty or needed to be cleaned. So we took it out and cleaned it. Problem remained. So we took MY MAF sensor and tried it on his car. Problem remained. Lol. So we tested the power to his MAF sensor and all was good. Another one of his "mechanic friends" suggested that it was faulty fuel pump (even though I told him that wasn't likely), so he took it over there and had THAT changed. Problem remained.
At his wit's end, he took it to the dealer, and they kept the car for 5+ hours and told him they couldn't find the problem. Still charged him 220 bones for the diagnostic, though.
Finally, I took to the internet and read a very long thread on Renezvous and how bad wheel bearings were throwing the ABS off and one reply to the thread stated very "matter of fact-ly" that the "traction control was kicking in, throwing the ABS light and restricting the flow of fuel to the injectors, causing the engine to do that. Take out the 10A fuse for the ABS and the engine will run just fine. Then, just repair the ABS"
HAS ANYONE EVER HEARD OF THAT BEFORE?! My mechanic brother in law sure hadn't.
I called my buddy and told him to take that fuse out to see what it would do. Hell, at this point, if I told him that taking a leak in the gas tank would fix it, he'd have tried it.
Sure enough! Car ran like a champ with the fuse out!! Effectively disabling the entire ABS, but he was amazed because the car ran normally and he could go through all the gears at speed just fine.
I never would have thought that in a million years and I'm just wondering why they would incorporate a connection between the ABS and the running of the engine.
Sadly, we now know WHAT the problem is, but he's having difficulty finding a mechanic to fix it. One shop; one that I have a very high opinion of, told him they're a 2-man mechanic shop, not an electronics shop and ABS is an electronic function.
What he described was this: The car starts and idles just fine. But as soon as he got on the road and tried to accelerate from 20+, the engine would kind of surge and buck and wouldn't accelerate except for very slowly. On the interstate, it took him a while to get up to speed, if at all. His check engine light was on, and I suggested that it might be the catalytic converter causing his problem, as I had a similar problem with my Monte Carlo; but not really at slow speeds. I would give the car gas to pass on the interstate or something, and it wouldn't accelerate quickly, but barely. When I got a new converter, my old one was completely clogged and that solved my problem.
Well, my buddy got a new converter and still had the problem. The check engine light threw an emissions code that included the converter and also suggested that the MAF was faulty or needed to be cleaned. So we took it out and cleaned it. Problem remained. So we took MY MAF sensor and tried it on his car. Problem remained. Lol. So we tested the power to his MAF sensor and all was good. Another one of his "mechanic friends" suggested that it was faulty fuel pump (even though I told him that wasn't likely), so he took it over there and had THAT changed. Problem remained.
At his wit's end, he took it to the dealer, and they kept the car for 5+ hours and told him they couldn't find the problem. Still charged him 220 bones for the diagnostic, though.
Finally, I took to the internet and read a very long thread on Renezvous and how bad wheel bearings were throwing the ABS off and one reply to the thread stated very "matter of fact-ly" that the "traction control was kicking in, throwing the ABS light and restricting the flow of fuel to the injectors, causing the engine to do that. Take out the 10A fuse for the ABS and the engine will run just fine. Then, just repair the ABS"
HAS ANYONE EVER HEARD OF THAT BEFORE?! My mechanic brother in law sure hadn't.
I called my buddy and told him to take that fuse out to see what it would do. Hell, at this point, if I told him that taking a leak in the gas tank would fix it, he'd have tried it.
Sure enough! Car ran like a champ with the fuse out!! Effectively disabling the entire ABS, but he was amazed because the car ran normally and he could go through all the gears at speed just fine.
I never would have thought that in a million years and I'm just wondering why they would incorporate a connection between the ABS and the running of the engine.
Sadly, we now know WHAT the problem is, but he's having difficulty finding a mechanic to fix it. One shop; one that I have a very high opinion of, told him they're a 2-man mechanic shop, not an electronics shop and ABS is an electronic function.
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Mar 11, 2007 11:21 AM
