Multiple warning lights! HELP
Discussion
It seems my 03 cooper knows it's christmas and as such has given me the delight of 4 (YES 4) warning lights on the dash in the last 2 weeks 
It has ABS, Tyre pressure, Handbrake and just yesterday the seatbelt light decided to join the party and is now on!
The car is driving fine, is it a case of sensors s
tting themselves at once? or something worse?
Cheers.
It has ABS, Tyre pressure, Handbrake and just yesterday the seatbelt light decided to join the party and is now on!
The car is driving fine, is it a case of sensors s
tting themselves at once? or something worse? Cheers.
Get it looked at and stop driving it. For a start if you have ABS and brake warning lights on together you have a serious problem with the braking system and at the very least you have no ABS (also probably no ASC/DSC/EBD etc.). You might thinjk it's driving fine but only because you haven't had to do an emergency brake on slippery cold wet roads yet.
It might just be a warning system fault but you should always assume the worst when it comes to braking systems, you really do not want brake failure!
It might just be a warning system fault but you should always assume the worst when it comes to braking systems, you really do not want brake failure!
MX-5 Lazza said:
Get it looked at and stop driving it. For a start if you have ABS and brake warning lights on together you have a serious problem with the braking system and at the very least you have no ABS (also probably no ASC/DSC/EBD etc.). You might thinjk it's driving fine but only because you haven't had to do an emergency brake on slippery cold wet roads yet.
It might just be a warning system fault but you should always assume the worst when it comes to braking systems, you really do not want brake failure!
You sound like a school teacher, I'm not going to be ragging it around knockhill. It's booked in for Monday just wondered if anyone had any experience of this before it goes to the garage, Having looked on a few mini sites the sensors are a very common failure of Minis of the age so fingers crossed.It might just be a warning system fault but you should always assume the worst when it comes to braking systems, you really do not want brake failure!
Thanks anyway.
I'm not a school teacher - I'm not even a parent 
Brake warning lights should always be taken seriously though. The ABS light can just show a problem with a wheel speed sensor and the brake warning light might just be pad level or low fluid warning but both together makes it a lot more serious. Hopefully it will just be a sensor problem but I just wouldn't take the risk other than driving it to a garage to get it looked at.
Like I said, it might just be a warning system problem and the car might otherwise be absolutely fine but with brakes it's just not worth the risk.
Brake warning lights should always be taken seriously though. The ABS light can just show a problem with a wheel speed sensor and the brake warning light might just be pad level or low fluid warning but both together makes it a lot more serious. Hopefully it will just be a sensor problem but I just wouldn't take the risk other than driving it to a garage to get it looked at.
Like I said, it might just be a warning system problem and the car might otherwise be absolutely fine but with brakes it's just not worth the risk.
GG89 said:
It seems my 03 cooper knows it's christmas and as such has given me the delight of 4 (YES 4) warning lights on the dash in the last 2 weeks
It has ABS, Tyre pressure, Handbrake and just yesterday the seatbelt light decided to join the party and is now on!
The car is driving fine, is it a case of sensors stting themselves at once? or something worse?
Cheers.
My ABS and tyre pressure ones pop up quite often - a quick tyre pressure check and reset and they are fine for another few weeks. They sometimes even turn off by themselves. I am loathe to let the BMW service monkeys near it though as the car handles and brakes fine, even when the warning lights are on!!It has ABS, Tyre pressure, Handbrake and just yesterday the seatbelt light decided to join the party and is now on!
The car is driving fine, is it a case of sensors s
tting themselves at once? or something worse? Cheers.
You have it booked in on Monday anyway - but I would guess it is the sensors playing merry hell with the weather recently.
Would have thought an ABS sensor could be at fault, the tyre pressure system (flat detection) is RPM based through the ABS sensor.
Occasionally these can clean up if its just dirty. It'll need the codes cleared though otherwise it'll probably keep pinging back.
Not sure why the airbag light would be connected to the above though - would need further investigation. There is a setting in the diagnositics though on the rev counter that can turn all of the warning lights on and off (along with lots of other options such as self locking, fuel levels etc) - have you been 'fiddling' with it?!
Occasionally these can clean up if its just dirty. It'll need the codes cleared though otherwise it'll probably keep pinging back.
Not sure why the airbag light would be connected to the above though - would need further investigation. There is a setting in the diagnositics though on the rev counter that can turn all of the warning lights on and off (along with lots of other options such as self locking, fuel levels etc) - have you been 'fiddling' with it?!
GG89 said:
You sound like a school teacher, I'm not going to be ragging it around knockhill. It's booked in for Monday just wondered if anyone had any experience of this before it goes to the garage, Having looked on a few mini sites the sensors are a very common failure of Minis of the age so fingers crossed.
Thanks anyway.
Hi my mini cooper has the exact same problem. have you managed to get it sorted? what was it and how much did it cost you? Worried about spending a lot on repairs.Thanks anyway.
Thanks
My wife has a Mk 2, so I’m not sure if this applies to earlier cars. The car will throw up warnings based on estimated need for replacement of parts.
For example it allows for 37K miles between brake pad changes if the wear indicator hasn’t triggered first. It will then throw up warnings to have things checked, even if there is nothing wrong.
So, IIRC.
Put the key fob in slot. Don’t touch the brake or clutch because you don’t want the engine to start. Press the starter button until the dash lights comes on.
Immediately press both buttons on the tachometer and hold them down until the display changes. Then release the right button only for about a second and repress it.
Hold both buttons until the whole dash enters self-test mode. Every light will come up and the tacho/speedo dials will sweep 0-max-0.
The little box display at the bottom of the tacho will change.
Release both buttons on the tacho and press the button on the end of the indicator stalk to cycle through the various symbols on the tacho. When you get to the symbol you want just hold that button.
It should then say reset?
Hold the button a few seconds to reset it.
So, for example suppose you have a brake warning on the dash and the check symbol. The check symbol is a car up on a ramp.
You enter the menu and find a mileage against the front pads. It may be a positive number between 0-37K miles showing how many miles before the front pads should be replaced. Or it may show a minus number. Once you reach the minus number the dash shows the check symbol.
You can’t make the check symbol go away until you tell the car you have fitted new pads, even though it has a reset.
So you go to the front brake symbol and do the reset. Once it shows 37K before replacement the check symbol will allow reset.
The same procedure applies for the back brakes, mileage to oil change and the rest.
So, if you change brake pads yourself without resetting the mileage counter for the pads it will throw up an error when the mileage counter runs down to 0.
Or something like that. I’m working from memory, so you may need to experiment a bit.
For example it allows for 37K miles between brake pad changes if the wear indicator hasn’t triggered first. It will then throw up warnings to have things checked, even if there is nothing wrong.
So, IIRC.
Put the key fob in slot. Don’t touch the brake or clutch because you don’t want the engine to start. Press the starter button until the dash lights comes on.
Immediately press both buttons on the tachometer and hold them down until the display changes. Then release the right button only for about a second and repress it.
Hold both buttons until the whole dash enters self-test mode. Every light will come up and the tacho/speedo dials will sweep 0-max-0.
The little box display at the bottom of the tacho will change.
Release both buttons on the tacho and press the button on the end of the indicator stalk to cycle through the various symbols on the tacho. When you get to the symbol you want just hold that button.
It should then say reset?
Hold the button a few seconds to reset it.
So, for example suppose you have a brake warning on the dash and the check symbol. The check symbol is a car up on a ramp.
You enter the menu and find a mileage against the front pads. It may be a positive number between 0-37K miles showing how many miles before the front pads should be replaced. Or it may show a minus number. Once you reach the minus number the dash shows the check symbol.
You can’t make the check symbol go away until you tell the car you have fitted new pads, even though it has a reset.
So you go to the front brake symbol and do the reset. Once it shows 37K before replacement the check symbol will allow reset.
The same procedure applies for the back brakes, mileage to oil change and the rest.
So, if you change brake pads yourself without resetting the mileage counter for the pads it will throw up an error when the mileage counter runs down to 0.
Or something like that. I’m working from memory, so you may need to experiment a bit.
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