Intermittent warning Light

[Key Walshe]

It's not the first time I've seen this light, the little red (!) icon. The first time was for my PAS pump which blew a seal around 2yrs back, and when the fluid level came too low it came on, and stayed on.

However this time it's intermittent, and it comes on around 10seconds after start up, bleeps on & off around 5 times, not to be seen again. And it doesn't do it on every start up either. And it doesn't seem to matter whether the engine is hot or cold, or whether it's been stood for a short or long time.

I've checked Paul's S2Central website to check out his list of warning lights, and I can't find anything similar on there. Coolant levels are fine, and not too high, oil level's are fine, pressure is up, as is power steering fluid and brake fluid levels.

Anyone got any suggesions as to what this intermittent warning light can be?

[ericd]

It's not the first time I've seen this light, the little red (!) icon. The first time was for my PAS pump which blew a seal around 2yrs back, and when the fluid level came too low it came on, and stayed on.

However this time it's intermittent, and it comes on around 10seconds after start up, bleeps on & off around 5 times, not to be seen again. And it doesn't do it on every start up either. And it doesn't seem to matter whether the engine is hot or cold, or whether it's been stood for a short or long time.

I've checked Paul's S2Central website to check out his list of warning lights, and I can't find anything similar on there. Coolant levels are fine, and not too high, oil level's are fine, pressure is up, as is power steering fluid and brake fluid levels.

Anyone got any suggesions as to what this intermittent warning light can be?

check the pas fluid level, remove the cap/reseat, sometimes it gets gunk around it and fires the warning you're getting,also check brake fluid level, have a quick search I'm sure there's a few other causes/symptoms well discussed in here

[Key Walshe]

Cheers Eric, will check the PAS fluid cap, it's been removed several times in my ownership alone so hopefully it'll be something simple like that. All the rest of the fluid levels seem good, lke the PAS fluid, brake fluid, coolant & oil. Will carry on trolling through the archives to see what I can find

I hope your Nothelle's still running good. Saw one for sale on PH the other day, which was a rare sight to see

[Error404]

have you done the bomb test? i'd check that first

[johne]

It's old age - there's several of us on here living with the same problem

The PS pump is marginal at best and the combination of wear and an aging bomb reservoir mean that when Autocheck checks the pressure sensor 10 seconds or so after startup the pressure isn't quite there so off it beeps. As it's marginal and if you've moved the steering in the first 10 seconds all help contribute to it being inconsistent.

Personally, I don't worry about it and am ignoring it until the "!" symbol comes on at other times as well as just after startup.

John

[Key Walshe]

The 'bombs' less than 2 years old, and the PAS pump is around 18month old so they should be ok, hopefully! I'll check all the fluids again and the PAS filler bottle today, very frustrating having a warning light when most of the relevant parts are new

[Rocco]

brake acumulator?

[johne]

The 'bombs' less than 2 years old, and the PAS pump is around 18month old so they should be ok, hopefully! I'll check all the fluids again and the PAS filler bottle today, very frustrating having a warning light when most of the relevant parts are new

True, but a couple of other things to consider. Even from new the system is very marginal at idle as Audi fitted a bigger pulley on the S2 pump to avoid overspeeding the pump at 7000+ RPM with the inevitable consequence of reducing output at idle - but all is fine in normal use once you get off idle.

Also the brake fluid level switch is wired in parallel to the pressure switch so gives the same warning. On my car the level switch started giving false warnings 100,000 miles ago so I've just unplugged it.

John

[ciaranthemurph]

I get the same light coming on in 'stop-start' traffic in town a lot. I had it into a garage and they said it was all ok then on the drive home it started again. All the levels seem to be ok. Any ideas?

[johne]

I get the same light coming on in 'stop-start' traffic in town a lot. I had it into a garage and they said it was all ok then on the drive home it started again. All the levels seem to be ok. Any ideas?

Unplug the connector on the brake master cylinder reservoir and see if that stops the light coming on. At least then you'll know if it's the brake fluid level sensor playing up - I'm assuming you're not actually low on brake fluid

John

[ciaranthemurph]

Unplug the connector on the brake master cylinder reservoir and see if that stops the light coming on. At least then you'll know if it's the brake fluid level sensor playing up - I'm assuming you're not actually low on brake fluid

John

Cheers, I'll give that a bash.