[68lemansman]

A good friend of mine has a 2003 grand prix gt v6 3800. Her cars abs light is on and the brakes go to the floor just to stop it. Could anyone tell me what would cause this or if there is anything I could tell her to look for since this is her daily driver and she doesn't have much money to afford another car any advice or help would really be appreciated. Thanks

[mrrat1]

Poss ABS sensor dirty at the calipers...Had the light, and sounded like the ABS is kicking in = vibrating pedal?

[68lemansman]

Originally Posted by mrrat1

Poss ABS sensor dirty at the calipers...Had the light, and sounded like the ABS is kicking in = vibrating pedal?

She's telling me the light is on and the pedal goes almost to the floor to stop

[68gtoMN]

ABS light is a distraction. The real issue is that the brakes are not functioning properly to stop - not safe. Sounds like a loss of system pressure - leak. Master cylinder? Caliper? Line? ABS unit itself??? Look for fluid levels - leak

[rexs73gto]

The W-body cars have a lot of problems with the rear disc brakes. The owners don't use the E-brakes & then the calipers become stuck in postion which cause the pads to extend all the way so there is very little pad , so you end up with no brakes. You will have to take the rear brakes apart & replace the rear calipers & pads , make sure the E-brake cables are free & replace them if there not. Then as the instructions say in the owners manual you must SET your E-BRAKE daily so the rear brakes will stay in proper adjustment. The rear disc brakes ONLY adjust with the constant use of the E-brake. The E-brake adjuster is built into the E-brake parts so if there not used your rear brakes will not adjust. I know your going to say well I thought backing up adjusted them,,,,,, WRONG that hasn't been true since the OLD style drum brakes. Most all cars adjust through the E-brake now. Be perpared to spend a bunch of money as the rear calipers are a bit on the salty side but it has to be done to correct her problem. When I was still on the line we did this all the time to fix the W-body cars rear disc brkae problems, it's normal. It is also very dangorus to drive it that way as the calipers may seize up while driving & lock the rear brakes while going down the road, not good at 50-60 miles per hour. Thats why the ABS light is on to. If they sieze it will also brake the ABS wires off the backing plate & cost a bunch more money. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but that is the fix. I've seen it thousands of times, literly.

[mrrat1]

also had a rusted brake line that popped at the bottom of firewall. Pedal went to the floor with that issue. Had the ABS light after that repair flushed the fluid and then cleaned up the sensor. Have had no problems since last summer

[jerry455]

Have the code read to find out what the abs problem is. Check to see if there is a leak in the system, that would cause the pedal to have a lot of travel. The 97 and newer W body has a pretty good brake system, much better than the previous generation W's.

[1969GiPper]

Like was said the 97 and newer Grand Prix's have a much better braking system than that used on 1988 to 96. If the pedal is going to the floor check the fluid level in reservoir on the master cylinder. Add fluid as necessary. One place to check for leaks is the brake pipe that runs cross car (from driver side to passenger side) at the rear suspension area. My 1997 with 119,000 miles sprung a leak in that pipe about a year ago. Couldn't even see where on that pipe it was leaking from because the pipe is hidden by other parts. I knew it was the problem because the fluid was all over the ground directly below it. What first looked like a nightmare to fix actually wasn't bad. I bought some new sections of brake pipe and bent them as necessary to fit. Wasn't able to follow the routing of the original pipe, so I made a new routing. Actually the old pipe is still on the car because it wasn't worth the effort to get it out. One thing to be aware of is the pipe and fittings used is NOT your old double flare type. I believe the correct term is bubble flare and it takes a different flaring tool to make. I was lucky and was able to use the pre-made lengths of pipe (with bubble flare fittings already on them) that I bought without cutting them. Was able to connect to the in-line fitting located under the floorpan in the area of the backseat. Bled the brakes and problem was fixed. For what it's worth my ABS light had come on when the leak started.