Intermittent Blinking/Flashing Anti-Lock light?

[TimRTGP77]

Hi,

The amber Anti-lock light on my TGP flashes about 65 per cent of the time that I drive the car.. sometimes it doesn't blink at all, other times it does. What causes this? I don't hear the motor running..?

 

-Tim

[Garrett Powered]

you need a new accumulator most likely.

 

all mine do that but I ignore it.

[mfewtrail]

you need a new accumulator most likely.

 

all mine do that but I ignore it.

 

The accumulator is the most likely reason for a blinking amber light. Ignoring it isn't the best procedure though. An accumulator with a low charge(they're nitrogen charged) will result in the motor running more often. With the motor running a lot more than necessary, it will wear out quicker. How much quicker that it will wear out is anyone's guess...

 

The accumulator is about $100 from "Prior Remanufacturing" in Texas. GM ones still might be available as well(they're smaller in size and easier to install, but are more expensive).

[TimRTGP77]

Thanks Garrett Powered, mfewtrail,

Where do you recommend I get the accumulator? Mfew which would you get for your car?

 

Tim

[92 GP]

you need a new accumulator most likely.

 

all mine do that but I ignore it.

 

ass!! LOL!

 

Yea mine does it too, and i'm 100% sure it's the accrapulator

[mfewtrail]

Thanks Garrett Powered, mfewtrail,

Where do you recommend I get the accumulator?  Mfew which would you get for your car?

 

Tim

 

Tim, I have a Prior unit on one of my TGP's. It's not really that much harder to install. To install it, I slaved the motor forward(unbolt the dogbone/upper engine mounts and use the "slave" holes on them to pass the bolts back through and hold the engine forward), then I removed the old accumulator. If your car has a GM accumulator now, it will have a nut welded to the front that you can easily get a ratchet + socket on. It might be on there kinda tight, mine was. After that I removed the silver heat shield around the master cylinder(2 10mm bolts hold it on if I remember correctly), then I ended up removing the throttle body to make more room for the larger Prior accumulator. The Prior accumulator has a nut on the back of it where it screws into the PMIII unit. Hand tighten it, and then use a large open end wrench(I think it's about 7/8'' in size) on it. Stand on the passenger side of the engine and slip the large wrench behind the engine to tighten it. The accumulator doesn't need to be extremely tight to seal, just snug it up pretty good. If you overtighten it, you could potentially crack the housing on the master cylinder OR strip the threads in it. After you install it, you are supposed to fully bleed the brakes. Some people here skip this step and only bleed at the master cylinder(those people claim their brake function fine afterwards, I went ahead and completely bled mine the proper way, see the link below for the proper bleeding method). The hardest part will be removing the throttle body if you still have the throttle body heater/coolant hoses attached to it. Those clamps on those hoses are always positioned where they're pretty hard to get to. I simply cut them and purchase a bypass hose that does away with the two small heater hoses on the throttle body. Those hoses are there so that your throttle body will not ice up/stick in winter, but it never gets cold enough to worry about here in Georgia. A lot of people on this board bypass the hoses as well, and they live in much colder climates than I do...

 

If you go with the GM unit, there is a ft-lbs specification that you can tighten the accumulator to.

 

Here's the page that details the proper PMIII bleeding method: http://www.kazmotorsports.com/tpsgarage/  Click on the PMIII tab.

 

EDITED: about 10x for various errors, I need some sleep!

[TimRTGP77]

Thanks for the step by step mfewtrail,

But it still looks like a pig to get out of there.. do you recommend the GM unit?

 

-Tim