Wierd Dash

Post Tue Oct 18, 2005 1:35 am

Hello. Had this wierdness for a while. I am now curious if there is a cure. When I start my car, the handbrake, (!) and battery lights come on and do not go away until I drive off in first gear. They stay off (unless i put the handbrake on) until next time I start the car. Any ideas why this is happening? Any fixing suggestions?
Cheers

Post Tue Oct 18, 2005 4:20 pm

this is a total guess but would be the first thing i would check!

check the wire that connects to the hand brake and make sure its connected properly. this is the wire that tells you when your hand brake is on or off

hope this help a lil bit

Post Tue Oct 18, 2005 4:21 pm

e30_318i wrote:this is a total guess but would be the first thing i would check!

check the wire that connects to the hand brake and make sure its connected properly. this is the wire that tells you when your hand brake is on or off

hope this help a lil bit

I would also check this first as it may be shorting

Post Wed Oct 19, 2005 6:29 am

thanks guys, had a look at the connection. It is all good. Handbrake light only comes on when I opperate the hanbrake, except when I start the car, thats when the light stays on as well as the other two lights until I drive off in gear. Dodgy leccys somewhere

Post Fri Oct 21, 2005 8:57 am

if more than one of the warning lights flicker on and off. remove the instriment pod, try tightening the 2 small nuts 1 on the back of temp guage, one on back of fuel guage.thise sometimes works .if it still does it suspect youve got a faulty circut board in the instiment pod.

Post Fri Oct 21, 2005 9:08 am

Unusual fault. Problem will either be the cluster itself, the altenator, or the blue wire that runs between them.

Post Sat Oct 22, 2005 4:50 am

Thanks for your replies (thought thread had died) I will check cluster out. Have had it out recently to replace bulbs and made sure that bolts were tight on the temp/fuel gauges. I will check this blue wire soon.

thanks again. I'll let you know if I find the problem.

Post Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:20 am

Problem update! Hello again. I havent had a chance to check this problem properly, instead I have replaced my doorlock, all fuses in engine bay and my headlight switch (which died).
Anyways to add extra wierdness to the afore-described problem, I have noticed that if I rev the car to just under 3000rpm then the lights go out (the ones mentioned originally). Also I have noticed that when my headlights are on and I turn the dimmer down, then the brake pad wear light comes on and goes brighter the more I dim the instrument lights and dimmer the more I turn the instrument lighting up.

I am suspecting that my dash circuit board is foooked but I would like some opinions on this before I spend a squillion on a new one.

Any ideas?? Brian??

Sorry bout the long post (I like to ramble)

Cheers