Ornery Varmints

[TommyK]

While rolling down a county road in our Saturn Minivan, early one morning before sun-up, mywife passed a vehicle coming from the other direction. Just as soon as she could see the road past the on-coming headlights a coon appeared in our lane. She swerved to the left, but it was too late. She'd caught the critter with the right front and followed up with the right rear tire. Oh well we thought. then "DING", the ABS and Traction control lights came on, with a warning that neither was functional.

 

Before he expired, Mr. Coon reached up, or some part of his anatomy reached up and grabbed the wires which sense wheel motion, (I guess) at the right rear. He pulled them clean out of the plug end. I noticed that GM in their infinite wisdom had placed these wires along a drag link towards the back axle that put them in an extremely vulnerable position. Thanks Fellas!

 

The Non-dealership mechanic said that these were obviously installed wrong. However, a brief survey of identical GM minivans at the local BestBuy and WalMerts revealed this to be a common installation practice. To save us a few bucks, the mechanic and I decided he would twist the wires as best he could back together then shrink wrap them. We are both of the understanding that this is not a permanent fix. Only until we decide how we are going to procede. We may have to turn this into the insurance.

 

Insurance? you say? Yup, the harness alone is $900.00! Not to mention the harness connects all four wheel sensors at the four corners of the vehicle to the on-board computer. This will necessitate the removal of a significant number of large items from underneath the van, like the fuel tank. i.e. big labor!

 

Watch out for them coons. Time was you could straddle them and if Mr. coon kept his head down he could miss the tie rod and rear differential punkin'. No any more.

[Bowdiddley]

Have you checked with GM? They may be willing to fix their screw up to keep a customer happy. It's worth a try anyway.

[DanvillRob]

Tommy, when the ABS light comes on, it means the ABS is not functioning. The brakes should then operate like normal, (sans the ABS part).

 

The sensors in each wheel do sense motion, and then the wheel stops moving, the brake on that wheel is released through the "brain". As soon as the sensor senses that the wheel is moving again, the brake engages again, (which is why the car doesn't skid).

 

Once your Mr. Coon pulled out the wires, you'll log a fault and turn on the light.

 

I hope you can get it fixed through your insurance...it WAS an accident... had you damaged your fender, it would have been covered, (but you'd have to pay the deductible, I suspect).

 

Good Luck.

 

Bob

[Big Bill]

Sue the coon's next of kin!

[bbtop]

I was floating down a river a few years back and saw a racoon on the bank about 150 yards away. I pulled out my trusty .22 and actually hit the varmit. He was tossing around and probably suffered for a while before he died or something else got him. Hope that makes you feel a little better.

[TommyK]

Rather than turn in a claim, which will just make my insurance go higher so they can cover the cost of the claim... I will probably go to a salvage yard, find a similar GM minivan and trim off a couple feet of the appropriate wire harness, then graft it in place. All the while doing a better job engineering the routing of the harness which was obviously engineered by a rank amateur who wouldn't know the difference between a 3/8" drive socket handle and gear puller.

 

Too many of these nitwit engineers have had zero shop time, but boy, o boy can they make the computer screens light up. I used to work with a bunch of them green behind the ears idiots. The only ones worth a darn were the ones who used to disassemble dad's Snapper lawn mower just to see what made it tick. The other clowns are lookin' for a big paycheck without gettin' their hands dirty.