The situation:

Woke up this morning to go to work, as soon as I got out the driveway my slip, vdc and abs went on. I also noticed when I got to a stoplight that there was a loud buzzing noise coming out the engine. It wasn't so loud that I could hear it while driving but when I came to a stop I could definitely hear it.

When I got to work, I opened up my hood and the buzzing noise was defintely coming out the compartment where the brake fluid and clutch fluid was. Now when I turned off my car completely when I got to work, the noise is still going 30 mins after. Its still buzzing around that compartment.

Could someone help a bro out. Any ideas or if you have experienced this, any help would be appreciated!

 

Sounds like a stuck ABS motor relay, the sound is probably coming from the component bolted under the aluminum valve block for the ABS. You need to disconnect your battery so the motor doesn't just keep running until it burns out.

The relay is inside ( part of) the VDC actuator control box.

 

This is the VDC relay box.

 

You might be able to tap that box lightly with the butt of a screwdriver or something to get the relay to unstick, it's a physically moving part, an electrical contactor. The system does a self check after every engine restart when you get the vehicle speed to 10mph, it lasts about 1 second and makes a slight "grinding, whirring, just bottomed out my car" kind of sound.

 

God bless your soul, you even gave me a picture. Thanks for being awesome

Yeah i disconnected my battery a lil bit ago, I'll go ahead and try what you recommended in a little bit after I get time to move away from my desk.

If that doesn't work, should i remove the wiring to get into the box?

 

Yes, I've never tried to open it so I don't know if it opens or not. Once it's removed from the vehicle if it is a sealed unit just rap it on the ground a couple times to unstick the relay. Normally I don't recommend "percussive maintenance" but it sometimes works for relays.

If the motor still won't stop running then you should be able to drive the vehicle with the relay unplugged. I don't know which harness it is but just be aware that safety components have been disabled and replace failed components ASAP.

 

Got it, so I'll try to figure which one of the 3 plugs is connected to the relay. Do you think if I try to remove each plug one at a time to see if it stops and find out what plug it is will be fine? I don't want to ruin anything if i pull the wrong plug

 

I would check first to see if it stops, if the problem persists then disconnect the battery each time you unplug something just to be safe but it should be the harness that has 7 wires in it.

 

Sounds good I will, so you said the relay is what does abs check after you start up your car? Just want to know how important it is. Thanks for you help man, I really appreciate it

 

Cleric thanks for being so helpful!

 

Hey also wanted to know how to get the plug out, do i have to press a button or something or do I just pull it out. Don't want to break anything

 

Solved:

So I tried to take it out and it wouldn't budge, so I decided to put the battery back on and see if me wiggling and tapping the box while I was trying to pull out the plug did anything. I put the battery back on and it went back to normal.

Shout out to Cleric for being a G!

 

I had a mountain of help from dozens of excellent mechanics over the years, just passing the torch along. You can never learn too much and you can never share too much.

 

Cleric hit this one on the nail. FYI it probably will happen again. It means that relay is on its way. The abs does a self check every time you start and drive away. The relay gets stuck open and keeps the abs motor running. You're lucky you didnt burn out your pump. I've gotten a abnormal battery voltage code with it before so it's possible it didn't have enough juice to complete the abs test

 

Can anyone help with how to remove the relay. There is a tab on one end with flanges that would appear to slide forward or backward. But there are also channels on the front and back that make it appear to slide up and down over a bracket. Not sure how you can simultaneously move it forward and up. I've depressed the tab and tried pushing it sideways and/or lifting it, but it won't move. Thanks for any help you can provide.