Hi all,
So, not really had chance to get out and look at our misbehaving 2004
50k mile Meriva 1.6 8V as yet.Recap, after neatly 2 years of fault free service, 3 weeks ago it wouldn't start (believed to be spinning over, just not starting). Apparently on the short journey home the ignition light came on and the instruments (temp, revs and speed) dropped out for a couple of seconds. Alternator charging ok, battery replaced anyway, actually runs fine if it starts and it generally starts when cold or hot but sometimes not when warm (spins over but doesn't even try to fire up).
Anyway, I did a couple of 10 mile trips today and during both said instruments were more off than on, the ignition light was on but the fuel gauge was fine.
Trip one was only a short stop so it restarted ok (engine still hot), Second stop was a good few hours (engine cold) and it started ok.
The ignition light seems to come on pretty quickly, well before the engine is at working temp even.
Tonight, I was monitoring the revs, volts and engine temp and whist sitting at some lights, I watched the rev counter and temperature gauges taking it in turns to work (a few seconds of each)! The same variables were constant on the Torque Pro App.
Now, I think I read somewhere the suggestion that the immobiliser might be in the instrument cluster and if that was so, and considering what I saw on the instruments, could that now point closer at the connector on the back of the instrument cluster? Is the info being displayed coming in over different actual wires, or are they sent intelligently / digitally via some sort of bus?
I've still got a long list of things to check (suggested by the panel here, Google and elsewhere) but I thought I'd just run this latest thing past you in case it helps point the finger. I believe to take the instruments out I have to remove the airbag / steering wheel and half the dash trim and I'd rather do that when the odds are pointing that way (and I don't need to use the car for a bit).
At one point on the way home I thought I saw a relationship between engine load and the instruments cutting out (accelerating knocked them out, engine braking brought them back on again, suggesting an engine loom / connector issue) but then it just seemed pretty random again. ;-(
Cheers, T i m