Mailbag: ABS light on

[Bruce Nunnally]

I have 98 caddy my abs light wont go off is it a reset button

[Cadillac Jim]

The sentence "My ABS light won't go off" is clear enough. I infer that "it is a reset button." is asking how to turn it off.

The lights on the dashboard are turned on by the car's computers when a problem is detected. All cars sold in the US since the 1996 model year have On Board Diagnostics OBD (and Cadillacs have had precursors of OBD since at least 1981). OBD is the written standard that defines the device trouble codes (DTCs) that are available and their meaning, and which ones relate to emissions requirements. Any time a dashboard warning light is turned on, there is a DTC that tells why this light was turned on.

Not every DTC will turn on a dashboard warning light; some of them are there to help the dealer or mechanic maintain the car, and some will cause messages on the driver information center but not turn on a warning light. But for every dashboard warning light there is a DTC that tells why that light was turned on.

In Cadillacs from about 1992 through 2005 model years, the owner can get the OBD codes himself without a code reader using the buttons on the A/C console and reading them from the driver information center below the speedometer. See the link in my signature block for instructions on how to do this for your model. Write them down and post them here. We will interpret the DTCs and tell you what needs to be fixed to turn off the ABS light.