Put the P38 through the MOT yesterday. Once again passed with no advisories (which I was kind of hoping for given the amount of attention I've been giving it recently!) <br>
Driving it back from the test the Airbag Fault warning pops up in the message centre- not totally unusual as it did occasionally last winter on damp mornings, disappearing again in a few seconds. <br>
This time was different though. Not only did the message not disappear, but the red SRS MIL light came on shortly afterwards. <br>
Time to plug in the Nanocom and see what (limited) direction it points me in, I suppose (I'm thinking connector under the seat for starters, working on the theory that the tester played with the seat position to get comfortable in the car!). It's a TRW MPS (TYPE 1) system on this car. <br>
Anyway my point in this ramble is- is there such a thing as a good time for a fault light? Half an hour before and that light would have been a straight fail. For once, the P38 gods were kind in their timing, so I guess I should be grateful for that!
I'd say EAS lights and messages of any abnormal kind are definitely not welcome when doing 70+ on the A31, on Christmas day, with no laptop or nanocom in the car :)
Bit like the Airbag Fault message when you're just completing the last few yards to the scene of the accident :-) <br>
Just realised that, as I don't have side bags it won't be underseat connectors. Off to plug the Nano in, in the rain, to see what useful info I can glean. <br>
It's completely intermittent though- comes and goes and doesn't "hard fault" and stay locked on. <br>
Edit: Grrrrrr. No faults found on Nanocom!
The dreaded triple beeps followed by all 3 ABS traction control lights and alternating ABS Fault and TC Fault is definitely not welcome approaching Lyon on the way to Nice with a fully restored Series 1 E type on a trailer behind me. Despite the warnings, everything seemed normal as I rolled into the services but after applying the brakes a couple of times, they most definitely weren't. ABS pump Maxi fuse blown, pump tested short circuit so nothing that could be done in the service area. No choice but to carry on and just hope that the fact that the only time I should need the brakes is at the toll booths and I'd get at least 1km notice of those. Failing dismally to find a pump in France (other than one for a Classic for 500 Euros), I had to do the return journey using both feet on the brake pedal every time I wanted to stop. Not saying the retardation was minimal but it wasn't even enough to pull on the over-run brakes on the trailer!