Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega Electrical and Audio Help => Topic started by: gbh on 15 January 2021, 14:41:05
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The alarm went off and it would seem that the interior map light is not dimming and going off.It does go off when ignition is turned but back on again after and staying on so could be a timer fault or any other suggestions to overcome this problem would be most welcome.Is there a relay?
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Push the headlight switch in and report back ;)
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deja- vu is kicking in !
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deja- vu is kicking in !
At least it was well lit ;D
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if its accompanied by strange sounds from the warning buzzer too i can tell you what happened on mine too !
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Well some good news and bad,I reconnected the battery after being off for a day and the interior light was off and appears for the moment to be behaving.I'm sure it will reoccur again but for now ok i did hear a slight whining noise for 20 seconds or so but a little unsure what that was.Thanks for now and a safe new year to all members
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That wining noise was probably coming from the warning buzzer like mine did. It cleared itself for a day or two but then reappeared again .
Not saying it's the same identical fault but if you can find my post and read through it you may have the same symptoms/ fault.
My interior light wasn't going off properly,warning buzzer was sounding but muted,quieter if you put on the parking lights or even with the key in ignition and doors shut.
It turned out to be a common blue wire that connects the central locking,warning buzzer ,door aperture switch,and also goes across into the drivers door .mine was this wire that went into the door.it was low to earth and fooling the central locking ecu to turn the interior light on ( or not turn it off !) I unplugged the door connector and it cleared. There was some water in the door connector but even after drying it with a hairdryer the wire was still low so earth so I disconnected it. Everything is working so its either something unimportant,something I've not noticed yet or something that my car doesnt have fitted.
Next time I take door panel off il see where it goes
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Well some good news and bad,I reconnected the battery after being off for a day and the interior light was off and appears for the moment to be behaving.I'm sure it will reoccur again but for now ok i did hear a slight whining noise for 20 seconds or so but a little unsure what that was.Thanks for now and a safe new year to all members
Could that be the heating/aircon vents behind the dash resetting themselves? Always had that on my CDX Desmond. Perhaps a more informed OOFer can confirm or say that i'm talking horlicks. ;D Which is highly probable. :D
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And there back on again!!!!
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Push the headlight switch in and report back ;)
Pulled it out and in several times with no difference
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Take the fuse out and put a torch in the pouch, that’s what I did ;D
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Take the fuse out and put a torch in the pouch, that’s what I did ;D
Are you a kangaroo Rae? :)
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Well of course I could take the bulbs out but would be nice to test and sort out
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Door contact switches next then ;)
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Door contact switches next then ;)
Which includes an thorough inspection of the wiring around them
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Take the fuse out and put a torch in the pouch, that’s what I did ;D
Are you a kangaroo Rae? :)
No Rolf :D :y
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Hmmm, watching with interest, TBE is starting to do "weird shit", including faint buzzer noises when the ignition is off but key still in. Whatever the issue is, it seems to be disabling the seats though. I'm suspicious of the drivers door contacts and/or the alarm ECU.
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all sounds very familiar.
could be same as mine,could be different .time will tell.
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It's probably a moisture issue. Sitting around getting damp and never being driven far enough to warm up, let alone dry out won't help.
I drove mine to the big shops 11 miles away the other day just to give it bit of a run. I did consider Chichester, 20 miles each way, to give it a decent blat and top the battery off, but decided against it as we actually have a Sainsbugs and Tescos in the village, so had no real justification to even do the 11 miles... Other than to give the car a stretch.
Incidentally, if you have a preserved Plod car, you can use it on the Public roads for three reasons... to/from shows, to/from garage, and for 'battery charging' purposes... Which in itself implies that taking the car out for a run is actually a thing ::)
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Mine was doing exactly the same while it was laid up for lockdown , faint buzzing from light switch, seat(drivers only) not working.
I was trying to keep battery topped up by charging every couple of weeks ,but every time I came to start it battery was dead, I figured out eventually interior lights were staying on and I guess draining battery, so I pulled the bulbs instead of doing a proper fix ;D.
Eventually decided to buy a new battery anyway and while getting ready for new MOT so starting car to work on it etc and driving to get wheel bearing done(about 20 mile round trip) it all went back to normal ?? Seat works, no more buzzing, but i have left the bulbs out for now!!
See how it goes, as now using as daily.
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It's a strange one and moisture could be a problem but perhaps the timer/relay as the foot lights go on/off normally.Having left the battery off all night it's fine again very difficult to find a fault like that.I could change all the door switches using my other car or the relay if I knew which one and where or just take the bulbs out strange there's no setting for permanently off
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Off position is all doors closed and headlight switch pushed in.
On position is headlight switch pulled out and/or door open.
It's complicated by the fact that the alarm also uses the door contact switches, which are grounded via the screw. Any corrosion here and they become temperamental.
Damp can cause a cars ignition to misfire, why wouldn't it upset electronics inside the car?
Especially if it has a fist sized rust hole in the bulkhead ::)
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The door switches on Omegas have 2 sets of contacts - one purely for the courtesy/puddle lights and the other for alarm/delay/seat etc. So just testing by watching the puddle lights will only test one set of contacts.
Contacts easily tested with a meter.
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Damp can cause a cars ignition to misfire, why wouldn't it upset electronics inside the car?
Especially if it has a fist sized rust hole in the bulkhead ::)
Low lying electronics should be protected, usually with potting or varnish type protections. In an Omega, there aren't really any low lying electronics internally, unlike cars which, for example, mount engine management in the footwells.
So unless you submerge such a module - which is pretty near impossible on an Omega - this is rarely going to be a problem.
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Damp and condensation don't require submersion to cause chaos ;)
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Damp and condensation don't require submersion to cause chaos ;)
Which automotive modules should be protected against, as its not a guaranteed dry environment. And certainly the vulnerable ones in the Omega like ATWS are.
We ain't talking about MB designed* shite here, like the location and lack of moisture protection on the Smart's SAM modules... ;)
*word used in the loose sense, seeing as the company haven't had designers since the 80s.
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Not to mention VAG's penchant for putting them under the passenger's feet. Next to the scuttle drains.
I recovered several big Audis, and a couple of Phaetons from Sheerness docks to the nearest dealers for warranty work before the cars had been delivered to the supplying dealer. All electrically dead, so no way of releasing the parking brake, transmission lock, steering lock or door locks, all which make moving them interesting.
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I take your point TB, but you're ignoring the fact that between the hole, the non working aircon, the time of year and lack of meaningful use all conspire to add more moisture in the car for longer than might have reasonably been allowed for.
I would wager that once the temperature starts to rise into spring it will be working fine :y
The Mercs weakness is that the front fuse boxes are open to the front footwells, and if the righthand one isn't closed properly, then water drains straight down the loom and if parked up hill, allows water to flow all the way to the rear fusebox/SAM. RHD are better because the cabin intake only floods the passenger side, so it only kills a couple of modules and one of the Canbus nodes ;D
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deja- vu is kicking in !
Deja vu? I've heard that before somewhere.....
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Mine was doing exactly the same while it was laid up for lockdown , faint buzzing from light switch, seat(drivers only) not working.
I was trying to keep battery topped up by charging every couple of weeks ,but every time I came to start it battery was dead, I figured out eventually interior lights were staying on and I guess draining battery, so I pulled the bulbs instead of doing a proper fix ;D.
Eventually decided to buy a new battery anyway and while getting ready for new MOT so starting car to work on it etc and driving to get wheel bearing done(about 20 mile round trip) it all went back to normal ?? Seat works, no more buzzing, but i have left the bulbs out for now!!
See how it goes, as now using as daily.
Err :(
drivers seat has stopped working again , everything else seems ok , still no bulbs in interior light tho
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I take your point TB, but you're ignoring the fact that between the hole, the non working aircon, the time of year and lack of meaningful use all conspire to add more moisture in the car for longer than might have reasonably been allowed for.
I would wager that once the temperature starts to rise into spring it will be working fine :y
Relative Humidity in there is currently around 30%, and has been for about 3 weeks mostly...
So now we have ruled up dampness, can we move on? Although as the alarm triggered again, its now sat with battery disconnected, and suspect wont move until lockdown ends and the scrappy can come out ;)
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Disconnect and Throw the alarm away, if it gets nicked it will save you scrapping it👍
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Wires don't generally uncorrode :D
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Mine was doing exactly the same while it was laid up for lockdown , faint buzzing from light switch, seat(drivers only) not working.
I was trying to keep battery topped up by charging every couple of weeks ,but every time I came to start it battery was dead, I figured out eventually interior lights were staying on and I guess draining battery, so I pulled the bulbs instead of doing a proper fix ;D.
Eventually decided to buy a new battery anyway and while getting ready for new MOT so starting car to work on it etc and driving to get wheel bearing done(about 20 mile round trip) it all went back to normal ?? Seat works, no more buzzing, but i have left the bulbs out for now!!
See how it goes, as now using as daily.
I have figured out that if you have the dimming wheel on the light switch at full brightness it doesn't buzz , but if you scroll wheel to dim lights buzzing starts ??
I guess new switch is needed or just have dash on full brightness and ignore, although i have no idea if this is part of the interior light and seat not working issue.
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As I've said earlier.this is pretty much what mine was doing. Funny noises from warning buzzer,strange noises when key in,park position etc and interior light not fading away . Yours may or may not be the same but mine was all linked to a problem in the drivers door or door connector plug. All found from following the blue wire .if req my post was entitled. Strange goings on
Mine also varied with the dimmer but nothing to do with light switch
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Mine DID sound like the buzzing was coming from the light switch but it wasn't.it was the buzzer in the relay box left of the column
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And the easiest ,quickest way to confirm this is
Create the situation where the noise happens
Unplug the door big connector plug.( fiddly to get off and on but if the noise stops then it's most probably moisture in the plug/ socket or whetever the wire connects to in the door.
At least this way will check/ eliminate it
Hope this helps. ( to gbh and franks dad!)
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Haven't yet had time to get out and fix this problem yet so as a temp workaround I'd like to remove the bulbs but haven't managed that simple task yet especially with my big fingers.Are they twist and fall out or push up and twist or pull not that any would seem that easy ?
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Why don’t you pull the fuse just for now?
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the lens comes off the front and the bulbs pull out or remove the light unit and either remove them from the back or unplug it
by the time you get back to fixing it if the weather warms up it may cure itself .nice to find the actual issue thou !
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Haven't yet had time to get out and fix this problem yet so as a temp workaround I'd like to remove the bulbs but haven't managed that simple task yet especially with my big fingers.Are they twist and fall out or push up and twist or pull not that any would seem that easy ?
2.6 will be later light type, when is remove entire light from roof, unplug the loom, then twist and remove bulbs (or just leave loom unplugged.
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It's happening to me. Same as the others - the car just stands there these days and rarely gets driven.
It's very intermittent. Sometimes it's OK. Once it stayed on even when driving. Sometimes it goes off after a long time. Once the alarm sounded which I put down to wind rocking the car. Manually pushing the door switches didn't do anything. I don't get any funny sounds.
The lamps pull out. The bulb has a glass tab with the wires which push into the socket with the tab going side-to-side across the car. I broke one bulb using pliers with tape round the jaws to grip the bulb. Fine nosed pliers were best as I could get below the cylindrical bulbous bit and gently lever them out. I did wonder about wrapping some duck tape round the bulb and pulling. The look like these Autobulbs 10 X 501 Capless Sidelight Car Bulb Bulbs Interior Number Plate Side Light 12V 5W https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autobulbs-Capless-Sidelight-Bulbs-Interior/dp/B009ZJUI90 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autobulbs-Capless-Sidelight-Bulbs-Interior/dp/B009ZJUI90)
I will investigate the solutions suggested and post back.
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yes they are 501 bulbs.
as ive mentioned above .MINE was traced back to the blue wire going into the drivers door .yours or other peoples may be different.mine and others also had a noise from the "lights on" warning buzzer when you shouldnt have.this all makes sense realy because that blue wire is one of the inputs to the central locking ecu that tells it that a door is open and controls other things accordingly.if that blue wire is partially low to earth it will make the ecu think a door is open.
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Thanks. A quick clarification: You say you
Unplug[ged] the door big connector plug.
Sorry for being a twit but where is the "door big connector plug". Is it pry off the grommet and it's inside the bodywork pillar? Or is it inside the door itself, either by prying off the black knob-like thing and poking around, or by removing the door panel? Or is it the black knob-like thing itself where the cable goes into the door, and I just need to pull it off? My garage is full of other stuff so work has to be done on the drive in between the showers while getting frozen by the howling wind :-(
As an aside - when I was looking last night I discovered that the central locking works but the second press to deadlock doesn't. It's looking very similar!
if that blue wire is partially low to earth it will make the ecu think a door is open.
Absolutely. I have several times recently found myself checking to see if a door is open.
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I had a brilliant idea and I looked in the manual :y
It says "[the wiring connector] is fixed to the front edge of the door. Unscrew the connector locking ring, then pull the connector away from the door (see illustration)". It has a pretty picture ...
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yes deadlocking was not working either.
trouble is .if yours is very intermittent it could be hard to trace. mine was more constant and included the warning buzzer sounding at a reduced volume when it shouldnt and if you operated the dashboard dimmer.
if you unplug the door connector when the fault is not there then it wont acheive anything and wont be traceable. plus,the connector is a bit of a fiddle to getback on !
i can only tell you what MY symptoms were and how i solved it ,yours may be different. if the warning buzzer is working totally correctly then it may not be the same fault.
(behind the drivers kickpanel there are a bunch of wires going upto the big door connector plug. with a meter on my blue wire there was a low resistance to earth ( with the door pin switch held in ) i have temporarily cut this wire and all is well.if you find this wire is low to earth and decide to cut it also then make sure you do it in a place you can rejoin it if necesarry.i havnt found anything that doesnt work since this wire was cut ? ?
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Thanks.
i havnt found anything that doesnt work since this wire was cut ? ?
The problem is you won't find it till you need it and it isn't working. Vauxhall wouldn't have put it there and connected it up unless it was needed.
Could it prevent the alarm going off? While I doubt it, in the worst case it could mess with the air bags or seat belt tensioners or the "unlock doors in an accident" ...
The infinite pleasure of intermittent faults and insufficient information to do a full diagnosis :'(
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like i said. this was the issue on mine. will take door trim off and see where it goes soon anyway. it could be for an option that my spec doesnt have ?
just offering advice on how i solved mine. yours or others may be different.
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Suffering the same issue, I was going to go out and have another look at mine today. But was greeted with an unexpected paintwork problem, which probably means I'm tending towards the idea of simply not bothering, and scrapping it.
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Suffering the same issue, I was going to go out and have another look at mine today. But was greeted with an unexpected paintwork problem, which probably means I'm tending towards the idea of simply not bothering, and scrapping it.
My fix is to wait until summertime when all these problems will miraculously disappear then i'll bin it instead of re-MOT'ing it in November
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like i said. this was the issue on mine. will take door trim off and see where it goes soon anyway. it could be for an option that my spec doesnt have ?
just offering advice on how i solved mine. yours or others may be different.
I have a VM Ware manual I bought on line for £10 or so. It is a pig to use but I discovered this wiring for a 2002 Omega. It has one blue wire going to 4 blue wires. If any of the four blue wires go to ground it is the same as the driver's door switch closing to ground and bringing on the light.
I have an image at https://www.dropbox.com/s/1grjgnzqe57shmj/Car%20-%20door%20switch.png?dl=0 but cannot seem to upload it.
Does this work? (https://i.postimg.cc/Cd872rty/Car-door-switch.png) (https://postimg.cc/Cd872rty)
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I have done some more digging. The top of the two bulbs is 12V.
(https://i.postimg.cc/3yxvfPbZ/lights.png) (https://postimg.cc/3yxvfPbZ)
The bottom of the two bulbs goes to Pin 11 on the K37 Control Unit - Central locking which must pull them to ground.
(https://i.postimg.cc/zVcKgc1B/Control-unit.png) (https://postimg.cc/zVcKgc1B)
(https://i.postimg.cc/gnTk8swn/Relay-time-delay.png) (https://postimg.cc/gnTk8swn)
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[/quote]
I have a VM Ware manual I bought on line for £10 or so. It is a pig to use but I discovered this wiring for a 2002 Omega. It has one blue wire going to 4 blue wires. If any of the four blue wires go to ground it is the same as the driver's door switch closing to ground and bringing on the light.
exactly yes. and it doesnt necessarily need a full 12v to trigger it hence a damp ( low to earth) area will make it switch
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The lamps pull out. The bulb has a glass tab with the wires which push into the socket with the tab going side-to-side across the car.
Oops. The tab goes along the length of the car.
The problem has miraculously gone away so damp does seem to be my problem too.
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definately damp . mine has been in an oven recently and ive checked the wire. all totally clear now !
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Right I'm checking again and changed the door switch no difference,then the interior light is staying on again but when i put main headlights on it goes out so then I moved the rotating dimmer and buzzing noise and interior light flashing all at the same time so looks light the main lighting switch has a fault so I need to remove/replace/swap off other car.How to remove would be the next question please but I will start checking for similar questions
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The main light switch just pulls out. I wouldn't use the knob though, I'd gently pry it until I could get enough out to grab.
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Used the credit card trick and that worked for removal and swap byt the problem is still there unfortunately.So the light stays on when main lights on it goes off but only with the dashboard dimmer to fully on otherwise it's on or flicking and the buzzing relay makes a noise but not as strong as when keys left in.There must be another relay to control all this and maybe that has a fault/damp etc
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Back again swapped the 3 relays red/yellow/green made no difference but interestingly with the door switch not screwed in I noticed that if I depressed the switch lightly i could here something clicking another relay or something else happened it I rubbed the switch wiring against the metal opening sometimes i heard the car running tone slightly an once it stopped the car.
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with the door switch not screwed in you are effectively removing an earth contact connection from two different places so i wouldnt read too much into it.
if changing the light switch and various relays did not make a difference then they are a result of the fault not the cause of it.
this is exactly the same as mine was so just trace it back and you should find it. my cure may not be your cure !
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what will also happen ( as seems so in other cases) is that if the car thinks the door is open it will time out the consumer relay as well and various things that are fed from it will switch off.
have you had a meter on it yet to check for low earth reading
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Its looking like mine was a doorswitch. On a meter, it was perfect. In circuit it seemed to allow a small amount of current. It was desperately intermittent, so fingers crossed.
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hope so. glad it might be sorted.
thought you were selling it ? is this the silver one with pimples !
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Mine has fixed itself and I started thinking about it.
When I took off the plastic cover to remove the light bulb I saw a printed circuit board about the size of a postage stamp inside the interior light unit - there may have been two. I suspect one is to do the delayed slow dimming when the light goes off - ie it holds the light on.
I wondered if the PCB or PCBs could be where the problem lies.
Several of us have all had the same fault at the same time. We aren't using our cars as much with the pandemic. Moist air will condense inside the cabin and, as this PCB is close to the windscreen and roof, it is likely to be colder than other places so moisture will condense here first.
With normal use in the winter, the heater is on and it dries out the PCB every time the car is driven so not enough moisture collects to cause the problem. But, when the car isn't used, the moisture can collect and cause the problem.
If anyone has the problem it would be interesting to see if a hair dryer blowing warm air on these PCB(s) fixes it.
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the delay is done in the central locking unit rather than the light unit. but yes its all down to moisture somewhere !
as the weather warms up this will clear itself .but just be nice to know the actual area.
il be removing door trim this weekend so il at least find where mine was .
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Thinking my problem is somehow door switch area just the 2 wires on it and although they look just fine there must be a problem if you can scrape the pvc and rev or stop a car.So today made sure wires just the 2 were not touching in that last few inches and added a layer of tape to each and sprayed some wd40 around and at the moment it's working.Has to be tracking up the conductors somehow maybe to earth is shorting and confusing both me and the car.To be continued!!!!!
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Just to add to the confusion ;D
I have been experiencing the same symptom's etc, I have left my interior bulbs out but having had a week off work last week the car was stood unused, went to go to work 6am Monday morning and battery (new in Jan) was dead, nothing, no ignition lights no central locking nothing, luckily started instantly from swmbo's bus. (jump leads)
So I obviously have a drain somewhere (sigh)
I have since noticed upon opening door before starting, the puddle lights not coming on, but when running they work??
still no memory seat on drivers side and buzzing from dimmer but only on low, dial it up to bright and it stops.
I give up
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its all connected.
if the central locking unit thinks the door is open ( not necesarily ) by the door switch) it will turn on the interior kight. and if the consumer relay doesnt know otherwise that the door is not it too will turn things off including seats ,windows etc.
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Just to add to the confusion ;D
I have been experiencing the same symptom's etc, I have left my interior bulbs out but having had a week off work last week the car was stood unused, went to go to work 6am Monday morning and battery (new in Jan) was dead, nothing, no ignition lights no central locking nothing, luckily started instantly from swmbo's bus. (jump leads)
So I obviously have a drain somewhere (sigh)
I have since noticed upon opening door before starting, the puddle lights not coming on, but when running they work??
still no memory seat on drivers side and buzzing from dimmer but only on low, dial it up to bright and it stops.
I give up
Kevin Wood's excellent starting and charging guide is a must read. Follow it to the letter and work through systematically to trace your drain.
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Just to add to the confusion ;D
I have been experiencing the same symptom's etc, I have left my interior bulbs out but having had a week off work last week the car was stood unused, went to go to work 6am Monday morning and battery (new in Jan) was dead, nothing, no ignition lights no central locking nothing, luckily started instantly from swmbo's bus. (jump leads)
So I obviously have a drain somewhere (sigh)
I have since noticed upon opening door before starting, the puddle lights not coming on, but when running they work??
still no memory seat on drivers side and buzzing from dimmer but only on low, dial it up to bright and it stops.
I give up
Kevin Wood's excellent starting and charging guide is a must read. Follow it to the letter and work through systematically to trace your drain.
Yes your right I know but i am at the point of thinking if it starts and runs and gets me to work and back with a little buzzing, that will do ;D
Or it might even fix itself!!!!!!
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Jump starting it every time you drive it gets a bit boring after the second time in a day... as does changing the battery every month ;)
Fortunately we get used to get free jump start call out at the staff carparks :-X
Also, the current drain might cause enough of a voltage drop to disrupt the rest of the car... relays and timers not working quite as they should etc. In my case it was an aftermarket addition/alteration. Cold and damp won't help any.
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Jump starting it every time you drive it gets a bit boring after the second time in a day... as does changing the battery every month ;)
Fortunately we get used to get free jump start call out at the staff carparks :-X
Also, the current drain might cause enough of a voltage drop to disrupt the rest of the car... relays and timers not working quite as they should etc. In my case it was an aftermarket addition/alteration. Cold and damp won't help any.
It actually only needed jump start on Monday morning, it has started every morning and every night since with no issue so there is some charge going in, but left for the week was enough to drain it.
If its dry this weekend I will start pulling fuses armed witha multimeter i think,.......... maybe ;D
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I think the problem is most likely to be inside the cabin.
Outside the cabin isn't affected by not using the car (apart from close to the engine) but inside the cabin is. My door switches and leads to them were as clean as new.
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hope so. glad it might be sorted.
thought you were selling it ? is this the silver one with pimples !
Scrapping it, not selling. Yes, the one with paint bubbles.
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as does changing the battery every month ;)
But a necessary evil during the pandemic ;)
Remember once you let a lead acid battery heavily discharge, its oppsed. Bust. Kaput. Shagged. Buggered. Screwed. You may be able to get some charge into it to make it possibly appear otherwise, but its still oppsed. Bust. Kaput. Shagged. Buggered. Screwed.
And no amount of Ctek* conditioning will make it anything other than oppsed. Bust. Kaput. Shagged. Buggered. Screwed.
Did I mention that heavily disaharging a car battery leaves it in a state of oppsed. Bust. Kaput. Shagged. Buggered. Screwed.
Additionally, leaving a car battery partially disacharged for long periods (couple of weeks) leaves it oppsed. Bust. Kaput. Shagged. Buggered. Screwed.
*Other better brands available that claim similar, but once you have a battery to this state, its oppsed. Bust. Kaput. Shagged. Buggered. Screwed.
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To test if its the actual door switches, remove them all and waterproof them as best you can and tape them to the A/B pillars for a week. Does the situation improve?
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as does changing the battery every month ;)
But a necessary evil during the pandemic ;)
Remember once you let a lead acid battery heavily discharge, its oppsed. Bust. Kaput. Shagged. Buggered. Screwed. You may be able to get some charge into it to make it possibly appear otherwise, but its still oppsed. Bust. Kaput. Shagged. Buggered. Screwed.
And no amount of Ctek* conditioning will make it anything other than oppsed. Bust. Kaput. Shagged. Buggered. Screwed.
Did I mention that heavily disaharging a car battery leaves it in a state of oppsed. Bust. Kaput. Shagged. Buggered. Screwed.
Additionally, leaving a car battery partially disacharged for long periods (couple of weeks) leaves it oppsed. Bust. Kaput. Shagged. Buggered. Screwed.
*Other better brands available that claim similar, but once you have a battery to this state, its oppsed. Bust. Kaput. Shagged. Buggered. Screwed.
We've been trying to explain this to a friend who does about 4000miles a year spread across three cars. It's not uncommon for none of them to start due to battery faults.
She can't accept that the best thing to do would be to get rid of two of the cars, and won't accept her use is why she's killing new batteries. She claims to be a chemist, but I suspect she was actually one of the worst sort of managers: no practical ability and a closed mind.
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The Barge clearly doesn't leak ekectrickery at the rate an Omega does... Or it's got a magic self charging ekectron box ;D
Three days unused was about the limit of the Omega ::)
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The Barge clearly doesn't leak ekectrickery at the rate an Omega does... Or it's got a magic self charging ekectron box ;D
Three days unused was about the limit of the Omega ::)
My Omegas have always lasted about 4-6 weeks before flattening the battery enough that it struggles to start. Any car not managing 4 weeks has a fault.
Obviously, you don't ever want to do this, as you will shag the battery.
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I have exactly the same issue on the daily. I know the car is suffering from damp issues as the same rust is evident as others have seen. Originally problem was dashcam staying on (it's hard wired to the rear 12V socket) so obviously the multi-timer wasn't timing out, this has got slowly worse with alarm triggering (no PS so not a problem really!) at random times and now I have the same courtesy light and dash rheostat problems as others.
I've checked the door and boot switches (both terminals) and they all check out ok for continuity and are dry so i've just done the same as others and just disconnected the courtesy light for now, car will be scrapped when it approaches the next MOT (Nov) so i'm not precious about fixing it but would like to get it to 250K (7 to go LOL) just because.....
I suspect when the car is fully dried out the problem will go away, but would be interested to check out the blue wire cam.in.head has mentioned just by way of diagnosis - i've not looked at the loom yet but presume it's the only blue wire there? or are there other blues with traces on them?
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hi.
it was the solid blue wire that went up into the drivers door connector plug. i actually disconnected mine where a bunch of them join up behind the passenger footwell( just in the loom above the big connectors)they all terminate there for some reason other than to waste wire !
that was on mine and has been fine since.( its still disconnected actually but everything works !)
obviously yours may not be the same but it was on mine.
various suggestions were offered to me which i went through and i found it in the end.
this 'blue' wire tells the ecu that the door is open so can have various effects on things that go live when the door is open and should 'time out' when its shut. if it has a partial short due to damp it can be enough to make the car think the door is opening and closing at various times !
if you remove your drivers side kickpanel trim you should see the wire and be able to produce enough slack so you could try cutting it .( rejoin it again if it isnt the fault !) if you want.
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Cheers, if it's not raining at the weekend i'll take a look :y
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let us know what you find.
im curious as a few people have recently had the same issue
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Mine must be drying out a little as the seat has now started working again and we appear to be staying ahead of any battery drain.
Still a little confused about it all ,puddle lights don't come on when first open door unless car is running,but come on when you stop and get out.
Still left the bulbs out.
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Floor is wet on both sides of mine so think best place to cut is where you have cam.in.head. Difficulty is tracing which blue goes to drivers door
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If you've a water leak, that might be more of a priority :-\
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If you've a water leak, that might be more of a priority :-\
Not for this car, it'll be scrapped if anything fails (*) which I can't repair free / cheaply by myself before the next MOT (Nov) and it won't be presented for the next MOT anyway, it's served it's purpose now :)
* Including catching fire through a short circuit, acts of God, Perils of the Sea and Air, acts of terrorism, freaks of nature etc etc. ;D
Agreed the only long term / car preservation solution is to fix the bulkhead rust issues that all these cars are now seeing so I guess i'll be looking into that on at least one of the other two over the summer period to see if they are suffering and what can be done. I also had the drivers door card off to check in there and that was quite damp (heavy rain last night) but accessing the blue wire in there is limited.
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Identifying the correct wire at drivers kick panel area (Not fussed about this car so happy to scrape the insulation off the cable), I was too lazy to take the door loom plug off ;D
(https://i.ibb.co/87JvVjd/20210313-115718r.jpg)
Identifying the correct wire at passenger kick panel area
(https://i.ibb.co/tDMYNL7/20210313-115615r.jpg)
Some crappy soldering while the weather decided to hail on me :(
(https://i.ibb.co/Z13FWrV/20210313-121612r.jpg)
Heat shrinked and tucked away again
(https://i.ibb.co/c3MdyR3/20210313-122229r.jpg)
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You didn't need to cut it at both ends if it was just the section up to the door but the question is .......... Did it sort it ? Or is it another issue ?
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You didn't need to cut it at both ends if it was just the section up to the door but the question is .......... Did it sort it ? Or is it another issue ?
It's not actually cut at both ends, just the insulation peeled back at drivers side so I could check for continuity to identify the correct blue at the passenger side :y
So the interior light now goes off, the buzzing when adjusting the rheostat has gone, i've popped the fuse back in the hardwire (off the rear 12V socket) for the dashcam and that has gone off after the multi timer has timed out so will keep an eye over the next few days and see if the dashcam powers back up at random intervals etc.
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Thats great news .so it sounds like yours was also damp either in the door or the connector same as mine.
Obviously it's not a cure but it certainly works as a temp measure / permanent one ! Lol
Glad my issue has helped you out .
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One observation - The lights on warning buzzer is no longer triggered when the door is opened, not a big problem but could catch you out.
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mine still works as normal.
you did disconnect the blue wire that goes to the door connector didnt you and not the one that goes to the door push switch.
the blue wire from the push switch is linked directly to the lights on buzzer amongst other places so no reason why it wouldnt work ? ?
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Yep definitely, push switch still functioning. :y
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no idea then. checked mine again this morning. warning buzzer working as it should. maybee yours is wired different. my blue wire goes directly from drivers door plug across to passenger side 'bundle' of blue wires.the blue wire to the warning buzzer is still intact and working.
if its not a problem leave as is.or if not reconnect at passenger side and disconnect where you saw the wire going up to the door plug.