Originally Posted by hjacobson

First.. thanks to all who can help with this.

Just purchased a used 2001 Sante Fe. The ABS & TLC light go on and stay on (they do not just blink to let me know its activated) any time the vehicle reaches highway speed. Once the car has been driven city-speed for awhile, the lights will turn off. The antilock break system is working as I have felt it during snowy conditions.
1- Scan the control module and find the codes,, this will tell you which circuit(s) are making problems.. then diag from there.

2- break = fracture/broken.... brake = stop/halt motion

3- you can do your own simple visual inspection,,, look specifically at the toothed ring on each front outer CV joint... you is looking for a crack or break in between the teeth that would make for a wider gap between 2 teeh as opposed to rest of the ring.. good light and eyes is your friend.


The dealer wants to charge me $118 just to diagnosis.
Yea, no law requqires anybody to work for free, and they need to recover some costs of that nice piece of expensive diagnistic equipment, training for the tech to be able to understand principles of the system in question, and time required to find the actual fault... I can diag it from here for free, go buy a HECU and change it.. cost you maybe $800, and some time.. now that $118 sounds a little better now for a more thorough diagnosis, yes ??

We just spent a lot of money in order to purchase the vehicle and would appreciate any help from those that are familiar with this.

I have read the car manual and it says that when the lights stay on, it means there is a problem with the antilock BRAKE system & to take it in, however the ABS has been working.
Scan the HECU (Hydraulic Electronic Control Unit) and get teh codes, these will lead you the problem circuit(s)..


I don't want to spend a lot of money for a broken sensor?
Then disregard the lights, and drive with the plain old everyday braking same as any other car that does not have ABS,,, otherwise you going to pay to get the added feature of ABS back on-line..,, myself, I would take the money and put it into something that will appreciate, like a house payment. But that just me.. I dont own a car with ABS, never had desire.

Thanks!