Dash Lights Going Haywire!

[Guest Gilly99]

Hi I recently got a c5 hdi on a51 plate but the electrics seem very temperamental. !st the srs light flashed on then went off again, then straight after that the check engine light came on but went out followed by the red stop light. All was ok for a few days then it did it again. also the centre display with mpg, otg etc has some weird readings, the gauge reads normal mpg one min the next i was doin 565mpg!(would be nice eh?) the radio also intermittently wont switch off and cd player is hit and miss even using a brand new shop bought cd. Has anyone else had this problem its begining to bug me now. Suspect it may be a dodgy connection or bad earth but could do with a few pointers. cheers

[coastline taxis]

Hi

youve made a good choice with your car and what youve got is just couple of niggles.

 

Lights

ok then the lights will be when you 1st switch the ignition on and will go out after a couple of seconds. if so then its your comm unit and your best bet is to just live with it.

 

mpg display

The daft miles per galon your getting on the display will happen when you have it on the mpg setting and you ease of the acelarator or dip the clutch and coast. This is because your car is using next to no fuel and the compute calculates thats what mileage you would get if you could drive like that. so your system is working perfectly fine so cross that of your list.

 

stereo

Well in technical terms its knackered and with yours being a mk1 you wont have any problems putting a aftermarket stereo in. depending on what you get you may lose the stalk control and center display (leads are available if you still want them to work). And a 10 quid adapter plate makes the stereo fit the housing perfect

 

best regards

steve

[Guest Gilly99]

Thanks for your reply mate, yeah I dont mind living with the dash lights going on and off as long as they dont stay on permanently. But thought I'd just check in case anyone else had had the same probs, was going to try cleaning a few connectors up and disconnecting the bsi unit behind glovebox etc. Thought the mpg gauge was just acting up because of the other faults so prob won't bother doing owt with that ta. Regards.

[paul.h]

If you push the button on the end of the wiper stalk you can change from instantaneous mpg to average mpg and the value will not change as frequently, further pushes give distance since last zero, distance to fuel tank empty but this varies with current mpg being achieved. Push and hold the button in will zero the values.

[Guest Gilly99]

Thanks i'll bear that in mind and give it a go next time i'm on a long distance run. Suspect it's just a bit temperamental though and one of the things i'll have to puy up with.

[Guest Gilly99]

Hi just thought i'd add this comment in case it helps anyone for future reference. Re srs, stop light, service light etc flashing on/off. Today i found a multi earth point inside the n/s/f footwell area, i removed the earth cables and cleaned off the paint behind them as they only earth out through the bolt down the centre. I cleaned the contact area on each terminal too, its early days but seems to have done the trick. Hope this is of some use to anyone who has had this slightly annoying trait.

[Guest 1200bmer]

I would like to check this earth.

 

2.0 hdi 51 plate.

 

Do I have to peel back the carpets on the passengers side to reveal?

[Guest Gilly99]

Yes mate if you open the front passenger door then follow the plastic sill trim toward front of vehicle, pull away the carpet and the plastic trim that attaches to the sill trim and here you will find the earth points, I removed them one by one and cleaned the paint off them too. hope this helps.....