Red herring panel light

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:50 am

My BX is telling porkies.

Upon starting it last night for the first time since snowy Thursday, the "idiot" red overheat light and STOP light lit and remained lit - so there's a short or earthing problem somewhere. Where do I need to look for the temp sensor please?

Thanks!

Mark.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:20 pm

I think its round the thermostat somewhere. If you have a gauge there are probably 2 similar looking sensors. May be corrosion if a push on connector but worth checking carefully as this light may save your engine.

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:55 pm

Is it the water temperature sensor or the Water Level Sensor?

eg the Red light that looks like a Radiator with squigly lines on it below the Battery Indicator, In the midle of the dash?

If so thats the Water Level Indicator! You will find it on the Radiator Filler tudbe near the bottom with two wires sticking out. Either you have the old float type probe or the newer two little prongs? probably corroded so Replace it they are cheap enough (unless in New Zealand

)

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:23 pm

No it's the water temp sensor, y'know with the yellow and red warning lights on the instrument panel.

Cheers,

Mark.

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:22 pm

Yeah, like Jeremy says, they're usually located above the thermostat housing, two hexagonal gubbins with wires attatched. Take off and clean connection, if problem persists, fit new senders.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:16 pm

To test:

Start the engine, then get someone to remove the connection from the sensor, the light should be off, connect the spade to earth, the light should come on.

Repeat for the other sensor.

If the light remains on when the spade is removed from the sensor, then there is an earth return from the wire at some point.

If the light is on, and then goes out when the spade is removed, then that sensor is defective.

Good luck.

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:22 pm

Jeremy, Ken, Brian - Thanks for the pointers! I'll go out and check it out when I get the chance.

Cheers,

Mark.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:13 pm

I'm not 100% sure the red one goes out on open circuit - there's some electronics on some which make it flash and it may come on if disconnected. Not sure - but just a suspicion.

This may even vary from model to model.

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:55 pm

Yeah, I thought one of them flashed. I assumed it was the yellow one... will check my manual.

Mark.

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 12:08 am

I'm told this may all be caused by a failure of the black box behind the offside headlamp. What does this do and does anyone have a spare working unit?

I tried removing the wires to the temp sensors, cleaning the spade terminals and spraying with WD40, to no avail.

Cheers,

Mark.

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:40 am

I thought that was the Dim Dip Device for the headlights? The only other one I can think of is a Fan speed control.

Post by **docchevron** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 3:17 am

I think you refer to the black unit by the radiator that controls the low water warning light, it has nothing to do with the high temp lights though??

Cheers
Chris G

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 7:14 am

docchevron1472 wrote:I think you refer to the black unit by the radiator that controls the low water warning light, it has nothing to do with the high temp lights though??

Cheers
Chris G

Now that was the light I thought he was originally refering to

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:51 am

Nada. My low level warning is working fine!

I've vaguely heard about this black box behind the headlamp that has something to do with dim-dip... but does it do anything else?

This has I guess got something to do with the snow we had. The car got covered in it. Next time I started it after the weekend, the red overheat light and stop lights remained lit with the engine running. And they still won't go out.

Cheers,

Mark.

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:46 am

When i took my 16v out the other day it did the same thing when I cained it!