Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club

Good evening all,

I'm new to the forum and unsure of my way round at the moment; my subject matter is where I'm looking for some help/clarity.

My car is a 1993 216 Honda engine Cabriolet vin 672519, the issue is the ABS light, when I bought the car, I thought all was well, until reading the manual when I found out that the ABS light should go out after starting, well, there was no light, the bulb had been removed!

There is now a bulb fitted, and it goes out after starting, but after a few minutes & yards it comes on, switching off & restarting starts the cycle over again.

I've tried hard braking, but there appears to be no ABS.

So, looking to establish the fault/s. I have read through many posts and I appear to have 2 possible diagnostic area's, under the seat there is a pink 6 pin plug with a clear cap, this one is featured in a post where the 2 pages show the seat & pin, with instructions to bridge contacts to establish codes on the ABS dash light, I've tried, but nothing showing assuming that I'm doing it right?

I also believe this socket is used to run the ABS pump when using the Rover bleed system?

Under the dash I also have a bright green plastic holder, but without the orange plug attached as mentioned in posts, at least as far as I can see so far.

Would anyone be able to confirm what I have found thus far, and point me to the way forward, or tell if I'm going down the wrong road.

Thanks & regards

You mean the Honda ALB System? ABS wasn't fitted to this era of Honda based Rovers. It tends to physically seize up GTi John is your man on this subject.

Hi,

that's part of my confusion, its definitely a Honda unit, but on one post it's mentioned that in 93 system's changed, and it mentioned the dash light symbol changed from "ABL" TO "ABS" which is what I have.

I think that's because the T series engine was shoe horned into the R8 engine bay. The ALB unit seizes up thro non use, the check light working [ or not] is immaterial you only find out the thing is defunct when you skid.
Because the unit was discontinued very few people understand how it works & it's failure mode.

One of the few people knowledgeable about these units is the Chairman John, perhaps try dropping him a P.M?

Good morning John,

One of the members suggested that I send you a PM, you may well have seen my requests for help and there has been some forum assistance to get me to where I am.

I have only just bought the car from a dealer for £6k and was very happy until the ABS problem came to light (no pun).

I have spoken with them about the issue and they asked me to go to my local garage to discuss; went to the Honda dealer, not overly interested and no offer of help.

Went to my normal garage, old school, into Mini's, was more than happy to talk, but he has no kit to delve further.

Your thought's are appreciated, should I go back to the dealer and return the car, or ask for a fair cash refund to sort the problem, if indeed it can?

Thanks & regards

Jim

I'm very sorry about this, but I'm really struggling with how to private message, I've composed 3, they say they are sent, but still. sitting in the outbox,Help please !

I think I’m right in saying that it sits in the Outbox until it’s read......or at least that’s what I was told!

Yes, that is correct. It will remain in the outbox until the person has opened it. That way you know when the message has been read.

Thanks very much, pretty much an aged novice at this, as you can clearly see!!

Good afternoon all,

Tomorrow's job will be to investigate further the under dash area for the diagnostics.

A thought tho, whilst checking everything out, I pulled the all the fuses, would that have erased the memory? if so would running it again put the fault back in the ECU?

In advance of any more feedback on the diagnostics side of things would anyone be aware of Honda models of the era that could possibly be a donor for the complete assembly, should that prove to be the issue.

I have seen two units on Ebay America that superficially look to be near the mark, I would really like to try and resolve the problem, I'm prepared to invest some money, as I really would like to keep the car on the road.

Thanks & regards