Can Low Battery Cause ABS light to come on?
A car has several electrical components in it which are continuously working behind the scene. You may not know that but many cars have sensors for everything to monitor your control over the car.
These sensors indicate by turning on different symbolic lights if there’s something wrong with the car. But what happens when the ABS light is on? Can low battery cause ABS light to come on?
Let’s get to know that in detail.
Can low battery cause ABS light to come on?
Yes, a bad or low battery can cause your ABS light to come on. But that happens in extremely rare cases because otherwise these lights are turned on when there’s something wrong with the system. And by the way, for whatever reason your ABS light came on, just stop the car right away and get some professional help.
NOTE: Never underestimate these warning lights because they can cost you a lot more than you can bear.
When this happened especially because of the bad battery that your ABS lights illuminate, the first thing you should do is call a professional. After that the mechanic checked all the systems top to bottom, now comes the time to call for a battery replacement. This is because your lights may be turning on because of the bad battery.
Solution
The first solution that comes to mind is replacing your car battery immediately. Obviously, if the lights are on because of a weak battery then battery replacement is the only option left. But if those lights are still turning on during the drives, you should get a voltage regulator installed in the system. Basically, that voltage regulator will keep an eye on the voltage of the alternating current side. If the voltage drops are noticed during the drive, it will show you a sign and you will be able to maintain a speed to maintain the voltage.
The car battery needs at least 13.5V to 14.5V to keep the components on and charge the battery simultaneously. If your voltage drops or increases, you can easily keep your battery from damage. Also, the car’s electrical components work on a certain voltage, if there’s a power surge, they might get damaged or even catch fire because of too much power.
Meaning of the battery and ABS lights coming on
To completely understand this you need to know some important information about it. Actually, the system works on several parts and is divided into multiple layers of functionalities.
There are four, speed sensors and some other sensors on all four wheels of a car that monitor the speed and control that car. So when something is wrong like the brake pedal is not properly in its place or even if its brake fluid is not enough, the ABS light turns on.
This is not the only reason for an ABS light to come on because it senses many functionalities of a car and alarms accordingly. If you try any abnormal transmission, or if it doesn’t get any response from any of the sensors, then it will illuminate.
Why does the ABS light blink before turning it on permanently?
The ABS lights and the sensors come in different varieties and they all work and mean something to the driver. For example, some of the sensors pre-alert the driver about certain things like the speed or the brake fluid. Similarly, the ABS lights blink before turning permanently on and they mean something by giving you a coded sign of the warning.
Now you’re just a layman who knows how to drive, you don’t know what that code means because you’re not the mechanic. Hence, you will need professional help in this matter to crack the code. Or you can also consult the instructions manual by the manufacturer. But there’s a lot of information available online and you will easily find it if you type your car battery model, size, manufacturer, and the system installed in your car.
Reasons for a car’s ABS light to come on
So if we keep it short, the most common four reasons for an ABS warning light to turn on are as follows.
- Broken wheel speed sensor
- Low brake fluid
- A faulty ABS module
- Bad car battery condition
Low brake fluid
Brake fluid is an important part of the ABS system because of this fluid’s power the anti-lock braking system works. It controls how your car will stop at high speeds and low speeds. And when this fluid ends or becomes too low in the chamber, the warning light turns on. The fluid may become low because of leakage or being used too many times.
Broken wheel speed sensor
With the speed sensors, this is a common problem because sometimes these speed sensors stop working or they break. They are fixed in a wheel’s hub so they record the speed of the rotation of the wheels and send it to the system. If there’s something wrong with the wheels like it is running slowly or isn’t under control, then the brake fluid comes into play. And that’s how the speed of four wheels is managed. But if the sensor is broken, then your ABS warning light will illuminate for sure.
Faulty ABS module
When you keep using your car without getting it serviced, or even if you get it serviced after every month, it still is at risk. So the risk here is that time eats your car’s ABS system and it starts corroding. When corrosion occurs on your car’s anti-lock braking system, your ABS light will turn on. This is because it cannot gather speed information from the sensors anymore.
If the sensors don’t give the speed information, then the whole system fails and that doesn’t even require too much corrosion to happen. Just a little bit of corrosion will do it. And when that happens, unfortunately, there’s no other way than to get it replaced.
Warning lights not working properly
In a car’s dashboard, there’s no lifetime warranty on any light that shows something. All the warning lights on the output end can malfunction too. So if all the other solutions have been tried by the professionals and they found nothing there, then it might be your car’s dashboard warning light. It is because sometimes because of low power coming from the battery and sometimes because of the power surge, the lights turn on and off. And that’s how sometimes drivers get confused because of wrong information.
Can disconnecting the battery reset the ABS light?
Yes, disconnecting the battery from the engine will reset your ABS lights. Actually, it is very easy to do because you just have to unplug the positive terminal of the battery. Then go inside the car and press the brake pedal and hold it there for some time. This is to let all the electrical charges drain from the system and when you think it’s done, just leave it. Plug the wire back and it will reset your car’s engine and the ABS lights.
Will the alternator make the ABS light come on?
Yes, the ABS lights of your car can turn on because of the alternator. So this doesn’t happen directly because of the alternator. Actually, it happens when the alternator charges the battery slowly and the battery level goes down. And when this happens the battery sign comes on with the ABS sign also illuminating. Therefore, yes, it can cause it to happen.
What would cause the ABS and brake light to stay on?
So ABS is a complete system that doesn’t have only one compartment to understand and regulate. Therefore, there are many reasons why an ABS or brake light may turn on. But these two lights can turn on because of the brake fluid level coming too low, or the car is in a parking state. Both of these conditions fulfill the requirements for the brake or ABS lights to turn on.
What is the most common cause of the ABS light coming on?
There is not one common reason for the ABS light to illuminate. In fact, there are four different reasons why the ABS lights turn on and those reasons are given below:
- Broken wheel speed sensor
- Low brake fluid
- A faulty ABS module
- Bad car battery condition
The details of how and why these reasons are given above, please take a look at them to fully understand them.
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