Hi All

My BA falcon wagon has been playing up quite a bit lately the most recent problem is the ABS dashboard light faintly flickering followed by a mild shudder.

The shudder seems to coincide with the flickering of the ABS light. It occurs whilst cruising (over 80kmhs) however it is most noticeable when idling. Occasionally the ABS light and Brake Light slightly illuminate.

Compared to a cracked inlet gasket and dead spark plugs this shudder is far less violet albeit still very concerning. I took it to an ultra tune type place to check ABS sensors which were "apparently" fine. I have since changed both my rotors and pads thinking that my slightly warped rotors may have been contributing to the problem however the problem still exists.

We checked the sensors for grit / dirt and gave them a clean however it made no difference either.

So im kind of stumped. I have let the car idle for upwards of 10 minutes to see if this shuddering will stall the car, it didn't. The oil / filter were changed less than 500kms ago, spark plugs, ignition coils, air filter, fuel filter were all done at 120k (now at 160k). Inlet gasket manifold was replaced as it cracked, throttle body has been cleaned. PVC valve is intact.

Could a fault in the ABS system cause the car to shudder like i'm describing? me and my mates all think it feels more like an engine problem. I'm wonder if the ABS light is the first dash light to illuminate when something is failing? Could it be a fuel pump issue, this would also support the lag / delay when I accelerate from 90kmh +?

Hopefully someone else has been in the same boat as me! appreciate any advice

Check your earths
Check your battery
Have it checked for fault codes

Thanks for the response

Ended up taking it to a regular mechanic who noticed that the ABS light coming on coincided with the engine misfire so he referred me to an Auto Electrician.

In a strange turn of events a faulty coil was responsible!!! such a small and simple solution. It was odd since they had been replaced about 8 months ago. Luckily the old ones were under warranty so I returned them and installed VDO coils instead.

Hopefully this can help someone else out in the future!