[Winston968]

I am having an odd behaviour with the central warning lamp (the "!" in the instrument panel).
It flickers on and off when I hit a bump. I've noticed it when driving in an underground carpark with speed humps.
The strange thing is, it only seems to happen when the steering wheel is off centre.
If I go over the speed hump straight on, the lamp doesn't come on.

The only change I've made recently is putting in custom floor mats. With the custom shape, the handbrake lever didn't sit right down on the floor when disengaged. That's when I noticed the problem.
I've since folded the mat under so the handbrake sits where it used to. But the problem with the lamp was still there.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

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[banditsc]

I have seen that when I hit some hard bumps like a pot hole or something. My guess is it was a connector or something loose somewhere. I cleaned all my grounds and checked all the wires and it hasn't come back, but I try to avoid holes. My ref sensor on the back of the distributor has a pretty bad connector, I suppose if that disconnected while running it might also flash the light.

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[DaveN]

There is a dubiuos connector under the brake handle that can get bent and such. Since you were having problems after your carpet install I would check that spade lug. Does your ! and brake light flash at the same time? If it does then it's probably that connection. My car is off the road till spring so I can't recall but I think there is a separate dash light if the hand brake is on.

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[rustech]

Before I even finished the first post I would have said hand brake. Yes it's lit "!" with the handbrake. My second thought was oil pressure, but hopefully it's the hand brake [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img]

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[Winston968]

Thanks for those suggestions. I'll check those connections.


I haven't noticed the parking brake lamp coming on when the "!" lamp flickers. I'll double check that.

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[Winston968]

Did a bit more investigation. Only the central warning lamp comes on, not the handbrake lamp.

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[flash]

in order to rule out a blown bulb there, does the handbrake lamp come on with the handbrake?

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[Winston968]

quote ... in order to rule out a blown bulb there, does the handbrake lamp come on with the handbrake?

Yes it does. When I engage the handbrake, both the central and the handbrake lamps light up. And they both go out when I disengage the handbrake.

It's only the central lamp that flickers.

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