[Anchorman]

The topic and description pretty much say it all. I drove the car a very short distance this morning, everything was fine. Thirty minutes later, went to use it again and the central warning light - the "!" came on, but no other lights. Anyone know?

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[unknown4u]

Maybe one of the other lights what should go on is broken?

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[John]

Anchorman, the i-light is triggered by any of the following indicators, each having their own light as well:
Parking Brake, Temp, ABS, Oil Pressure, Air Bag, Charge, and Oil Level. Both Brake Pads and Brake Fluid may also trigger the i-light, but I am not at all sure about this. All but Temp and Air Bag are part of the Key-on bulb test. First, though, check your parking brake to be sure it is all the way off.

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[rhudeboye]

Was this a one time occurrence or is it consistently lit now?

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[Anchorman]

It is consistently (and annoyingly) lit. Everything looks right during the bulb test, the parking brake is not on...but the darned light is. At least if it was the airbag, I know how to clear that. I don't have any idea what to do about this unidentified fault. Too bad none of my manuals are accessible - although I don't know if they'd tell me anything different that what John posted.

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[John]

Anchorman, if all the lamps associated with the key-on test are ok, that leaves the two untested ones and the i-light circuit to consider.
The Temp indicator lamp is part of the temp gauge, and is triggered by a switch in the same engine temp sensor that signals the gauge. It is located 2nd from the front, under the intake manifold, the only one having two wire connections. The wide connector goes to the gauge, and the narrow one to the lamp. If the Temp lamp is blown (and how would you know), either of the following could cause your i-light problem:
1) the temp sensor is failed (the lamp could have been blown for a long time, and the sensor just shorted);
2) the wire leading to the lamp (and, incidentally, to an input on the ECU labeled "115degC") could have shorted to ground somewhere.

Here's something to try. With engine cold, key off, remove the narrow of the two wire connectors on the sensor and measure the resistance from the sensor terminal to ground (it should be infinite resistance). Then with engine off, key on, ground the wire leading to the lamp (the Temp lamp should go on, and the i-light should remain off).

That's the easy test. If the i-light stays on, it could mean #2 above, or either of the following.
There could be a similar coincident-fault problem with the Air bag lamp and trigger, but I'm not sure how to test them. It looks like you could test the lamp via Pin 1 on the Diag. plug (but I'm not sure). Or, there could be a problem on the instrumentation circuit board.

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[DaveN]

Time to build the little cct board so you can read the DME [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]
Glad I finally got around to it so I could remove the black tape across the "!"

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[Anchorman]

John, I'll try to follow your suggested test plan tomorrow. Dave, I have the little circuit board that I've used to turn off the airbag light. I'll try it for this problem, but I don't know how broad its capabilities are. One way to find out, though. At worst, I'll be off for another 4-hour round trip to RSBarn and the infamous Bosch Hammer.

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[DaveN]

With the software it should be able to retrieve all the codes, after all it can read the system to get the airbag info and reset that.

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[Anchorman]

Finally got around to connecting the Scantool circuit board. It showed an unknown air bag fault; when I cleared it, the "!" did not go out. A more careful look at the airbag light during ignition on and start showed that that airbag light is never illuminating. I guess this is suggesting a bad bulb? I HATE to have to pull the instrument panel, having done it many times. ARGHH!!!

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[Anchorman]

So - I pulled the instrument panel, tested the airbag bulb, and it's GOOD!

Time to go back to other possible causes, but since the Scantool showed there was an airbag fault, and it's not the bulb, I'm pretty much at a loss. Hopefully RSBarn will have its Hammer at Hershey and we can figure this out. Also hopefully, this will not cause me to fail tech at my track event for which I have to go through tech inspection tomorrow afternoon.

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[94SilverCab]

Didn't you have trouble with the airbag sensor on the passenger side when you did your dash reno?

Jay

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[Anchorman]

Yes - excellent memory, Jay. That had been the cause of my last airbag light episode, but when that happened, I got both the "!" and the airbag light. This time, only the "!" - no airbag light.

An update...everything is reassembled, and I still have the "!" - but now the airbag light is on! I guess, in some kind of perverse way, I accomplished something. Time for the black tape over the "!" - I've run out of time to spend on this issue right now.

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[unknown4u]

Anchorman, you managed to get the bulbs working again. Have tried to reset the airbag after the conclusion that the airbagindicator has light up? The story do not tell this last reset?

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[jimmywhisker]

Anhorman,

I had exactly the same problem a while ago. It only happened when i drove a short distance (say 1km), stopped and started again. In my case I was nearing the end of my service interval. I also needed to replace the valve gastet and rings as there were a few spots of oil showing up. I concluded (rightly or wrongly) that I was just on the limit of optimal oil level. When the car had been driven, but perhaps as the oil still had a higher viscosity due to low temperature, my car was detecting this as low oil level when I restarted after a short wait (say a few minutes). If the car was already properly warm, the same thing didn't happen. When I checked, my oil level was at the low/middle of the suggested range at the time.

I added a fairly small amount of oil (say 400ml to 500ml in my case) and the problem went away. I checked total oil volume and discussed with my mechanic who was not concerned about adding a little bit - even if it took it right up to the full mark.

Also, since my last oil change, it has not happened agan.

My science may be wrong here but the problem went away and has not happened since (6 months on).

Good luck with your situation.

Peter R

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[Anchorman]

Here's the latest...and a further example of "no good deed goes unpunished."

After getting the car back together, and seeing that I now had the "!" and the airbag light, I went for a little drive. There was a new noise in the steering wheel - so, when I had a chance, I removed the wheel again to check things out. This time, though, I didn't have to disconnect the battery and wait - after all, I already had an airbag light. Turned out that the clockspring mechanism wasn't positioned quite right - so I adjusted it and went to reinstall the steering wheel. In the process, I broke the little plastic tabs on the clockspring that position the rotating part with the steering wheel. Not good - and, remember, I don't have the stock 968 wheel, I have a 993 wheel with a 993 clockspring. Located the part at a Porsche dealer 30 minutes away...at a price that reminded me of why I always use Sunset for OEM Porsche parts. Picked up the part, reinstalled...but something still wasn't quite right. Tolerances must have been slightly different, because the rear connector on the new clockspring was hitting the plastic bezel around the instrument cluster in a way that the old one had not. I ended up removing the bottom screws that hold the bezel in place, lifted the bottom of the bezel so that it was laying on the connector, and got everything back together.

So - many hours, and about $250 for the clockspring, later, I now have the car back together and still have the "!" and the (new) airbag light. Time to try my diagnostic tester again - maybe tomorrow afternoon, after I get to the track for race day on Friday.

Sigh...

Peter - my low oil sensor seems to be quite good at coming on when I'm down about 1/2 quart. Parking on a hill can cause it to light a little earlier.

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[jimmywhisker]

<i>[quote name='Anchorman' date='Apr 21 2010, 03:56 PM' post='91610']

So - many hours, and about $250 for the clockspring, later, I now have the car back together and still have the "!" and the (new) airbag light. Time to try my diagnostic tester again - maybe tomorrow afternoon, after I get to the track for race day on Friday.

Sigh...

Peter - my low oil sensor seems to be quite good at coming on when I'm down about 1/2 quart. Parking on a hill can cause it to light a little earlier.</i>

Sorry about your woes anchorman. I understand how hard it is to relax and enjoy a car in such a state.

Thanks for the note about the oil sensor and I am pleased that my car is acting 'normally'.

Good luck,
Peter

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