brake pad smell and ABS light on

[rodrigo]

Hi Guys!
Hoping you can help: I noticed my ABS light came on while driving in the snow on Saturday and it stayed on for the duration of my drive: 45 minutes. While driving I stepped on the brake pedal to confirm: no ABS.

I parked the car for about 45 minutes, and then went to start it, ABS light was off and after a quick stop on the brake pedal, ABS was working.

When I got home from work last night I noticed a very strong brake pad smell from the LR wheel.

Went to work this morning and the ABS light came on after about 20 minutes of driving...and when I got out of the car, it smelled like brake pad again....

Would this be a ceased caliper causing the ABS to go off or are the 2 things (ABS light coming on and the shot caliper) coincidental?

This is confusing to me.....

The car is an '89 325i, Automatic with 206,000. :)

[ELVA164]

No matter what else, it sounds like you have a sticking caliper in the left rear which is causing the brake to drag. That may also cause the ABS system to malfunction as there is an uneven braking force from corner to corner, but I'm not sure about that part.

[jlevie]

The pad smell is from a sticking caliper. In slippery conditions that might upset the ABS as it might see continuous wheel speed differences if that wheel is slipping some. Then, it could be that the ABS light is unrelated to the sticking caliper. Fix the caliper problem and then see what the ABS does.