You say that the ABS light is "on" - do you mean it's on all the time, or that it comes on during the bulb test when you switch the key to on just prior to starting.

If the ABS light stays on after starting the motor, that indicates a fault in that system - computer scan for codes required to further chase the problem.

You should see the CEL as part of the bulb test mentioned above. If you don't check the bulb again by swapping with a known good one. If it still doesn't light then the problem is way beyond my ability to suggest a course of action.

If you just purchased the car and the ABS bulb was out, it might indicate tampering prior to sale to hide a known problem - or did this stuff start after you bought the car?

This is a BIG hint to anyone purchasing a used car. If all of the warning lights don't light up during the bulb test, get the seller to fix the bulbs first. If they stammer or avoid the issue - walk away from the car.

Speedo and odometer work from the same feed - if the feed is bad, both will cease to work.

thanks,

yeah I'm quite sure it's a scammer thing, but what can I do about it...I found the car at the auction. It does drive and go pretty well aside from the maybe 1 out of 15 times stuttering idle. And I'm happy for what I've paid for it.

When I said the ABS bulb is on it's on the whole time when the engine is started - ABS is faulty. But I'd imagine that is because my speed "feed" from the differential is bad. no speed feed from the rear = no ABS, right?

makes no sense how come the CEL does not light up even after replacing the bulbs though.... faulty connection on the cluster maybe? Everything else comes on properly.

I guess I'll go grab a new VSS and swap it out and see what happens with my speed and maybe my ABS fault light.

What stumps me here is that my car "seems to" know how fast it is going because it is shifting gears normally. But if it knows how fast it is going (Assuming faulty gauge instead of faulty VSS) then the ABS is a whole different can of worm.....

I've got the same car as you,UK version,the signal for the speedo comes from the ABS sensors as an average of the signal from the three sensors (one on each front wheel and one on the final drive unit ), if any one of the sensors is faulty there is no signal to the speedo. Check all wiring connections then each ABS sensor in turn.