E30 Zone

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Hi Chaps.
Any ideas why the warning lights are staying on after starting the car, as above.
The battery light goes off so think the altenator is charging.
When i pull up the handbrake the light seem to get brighter which leads me to think earth prob.
Any advise would help.
Cheers

as the car is running then the battery light should be off.


the main lights from left to right
the P is for your parking brake on, if that does not go off with the brake off then the issue is the swtich located at the base of the handbrake

the one to the right of that is the brake wear warning ( its not on - but should come on with the ingition and go off once running), this it triggered by 'sensors" in the front pass (LHD car) and rear driver brake calipers that indicate your pads are worn

the next is the brake warning light, ususally an indication of low brake fluid or a faulty sensor in the fluid reservoir

the yellow one is an ABS fault - possibly a fuse or issue with the ABS relay, or faulkt with the ABS pump. If it only comes on after driving ie it stays off at first then its likely the wheel speed sesnors...yours is on from starting it looks likie so not this!

the battery indicates a problem with the alternator or battery,if yours eventually goes off then my guess is a battery issue, use a voltmeter to measure the votlage accross the battery with engine ruunning shoudl be about 13-14V

the next one is oil pressure (off)

in the middle over the green lights is the inspection light, it is a time dependant light and can be reset by grounding pin 7 in the diagnostic plug, see the wiki for a more thourough explanation

Ah ha...Thanks Mr Lee.

Im aware of what the lights indicate, but thanks for taking the time to explain/clarify. Was a bit baffled as all of them came on together.

This morning i did a battery charge check and it indicated no charge from alternator.
My local auto electrician confirmed this when he did a bench test.
So new alternator on way.
fingers crossed it solves this issue.

ok so it was the alternator that was causing the lights to stay on.
New one fitted !!

ok so it was the alternator that was causing the lights to stay on.
New one fitted !!

good stuff!....the one underneath that says "inspection" means you need to bend over and lube up

pukar wrote:good stuff!....the one underneath that says "inspection" means you need to bend over and lube up

or it means you take a paperclip and short pins 11 and 7 in the diagnostic plug, turn to IGN wait ten seconds, and carry on as normal.

no doubt your faulty alternator was not giving any voltage thus nthe car never "thought" it had been started, so dash appeared as if it was in IGN stage but with engine off.

Glad it was an easy fix.

as above your inspection light and the red/orange lights below it are only service lights, they come on with time and are also slightly rev dependant, so high revs frequently mean they come on earlier, they are NOT an indication that anything is wrong.

simply take a piece of wire and find pin 7, this shoudl help:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... ostic_Plug

then with the ignition off connect pin 7 to ground (anything on the engine or chassis unpainted will do), or I short out pin 7 and 11 - but this leaves more room for error if you get the wrong pins, then turn the key to IGN but dont start, wait a few seconds and the lights will all go green, then turn off and on again and wait few seconds and the inspoection light will also go out. remove the jumper wire and carry on as normal.

if the lights do not go out then either you have the wrong pin, or your SI batteries in the cluster are flat.

Good luck.

Some of the cluster warning lights are required to have a 'test' function. On an E30, this 'test' starts when the ignition is switched on, and ends when the electronics sees a voltage coming from the D+ (thin blue wire) from the alternator.
With a duff alternator, this voltage doesn't appear when the engine is started, so the cluster remains in 'test' mode.
The 'inspection' and 'clock' lights that you have illuminated are simply and purely a twelve month alarm clock, indicating that the car should be 'inspected' and may be due for coolant and brake fluid changes.

my cars just been to coopers bmw for its oil service and it seem that they didnt do the reset... bit of wire and plug 7 it is then!! dear dear.

Would it be a piss take if i asked the reason for very irratic windscreen wiper action.
I feel like i have a direct line to God as far as e30s go!!

i was told once to remove the motor and clean it up??
cheers

Pukar!!

Oh MAtron....lol

Happy burffday by the way..
catching up with me you old fart

for erratic windscreen wipers my first port of call would be the wiper control unit, it is located in the fuse box, its a fag packet sized box above fuses 6 to 15 (top right as you look from the side of your car at the fuse box)

haha! 39 now


....i didn't know about the wiper control unit. taking out the wiper motor is tricky as the wiper motor is big and the hole is small...expect scrapes all over your arms if you have to go down this route!

Happy Birthday Atul

thanks Mr Lee
New one will be ordered monday!

Wiper motor is not difficult to remove for real men,then take off the cover over it's gearbox,clean the crusty old grease out and re-lubricate....as the actress said to the bishop...

daimlerman wrote:Wiper motor is not difficult to remove for real men,then take off the cover over it's gearbox,clean the crusty old grease out and re-lubricate....as the actress said to the bishop...

Real men with girly hands