EPC?

[Peteridd117]

My car has been sat unused for a few month, there is a bright yellow EPC warning light when engine is running. There is also a engine oil warning light that has faded and is blinking (you can just say see it, EPC and handbrake light are bright) any ideas what it could be? I recently had the rear lights off and put back in to put a new rear bumper on, Can’t think of anything else? I had a mechanic come out he said there’s a short somewhere, nothing wrong with oil pressure and it’s full just been serviced. He tried the diagnostic machine and no major faults came up he said it could be anything. Someone must be able to help me out! Cheers

[GreenV8S]

Peteridd117 said:

engine oil warning light that has faded and is blinking (you can just say see it, EPC and handbrake light are bright) any ideas what it could be?

Suggest you start by working out what the warning lights are for i.e. when they are supposed to come on.

You should be able to do this fairly easily since you know what car it is - rather harder for us since you haven't given us that information.

I expect you'll find that the oil warning light is a low oil pressure warning lamp operated by a pressure switch at the engine. The ones I'm familiar with are single wire switches which work by connecting the negative side of the warning lamp to ground when the oil pressure is low. Any loom fault which pulled that wire to ground would cause the lamp to come on. You could diagnose that by finding the location of the pressure switch and seeing whether the switch itself was grounding the wire, and whether there was 12V on the wire when it was isolated from the switch. This would tell you whether the problem was in the switch, or somewhere upstream of it.

The handbrake warning lights I'm familiar with come on when the handbrake is applied and work by a switch operated by the handbrake lever which grounds the negative side of the warning lamp when the lever is operated. Same deal here - check whether the lamp is coming on because the switch is connecting or because the wire is being grounded elsewhere.

I don't know what EPC means on your car but it might be an Electronic Power Control warning light - Google will tell you what causes that to come on.

Given the diverse symptoms it's tempting to think they're connected and you could have a damaged loom. A competent auto electrician should be able to diagnose that for you, but it should also be possible to diagnose it for yourself if you have basic electrical skills and are willing to work out how these various electrical systems work.

[Peteridd117]

Cheers for the info appreciate it. The handbrake light is fine I was just mentioning that it’s bright and the engine oil is blinking and is faded. It’s a seat ibiza fr, EPC is exactly what you just said. The mechanic took out the engine oil switch on the engine bay inspected it cleaned it and inserted it back in and nothing happened I haven’t got a clue with electrics on the car.

[E-bmw]

Shock-horror! Mechanic did nothing & nothing happened!

I think you need a new mechanic mate.

Did he not do the more important job of seeing if there is any oil pressure there or not?

[Peteridd117]

He said the oil pressure was fine, I’ve just read the EPC could have something to do with braking lights or something. But still don’t know why the engine oil light is faded and flickering

[JohnMcL]

[quote=GreenV8S]

The handbrake warning lights I'm familiar with come on when the handbrake is applied and work by a switch operated by the handbrake lever which grounds the negative side of the warning lamp when the lever is operated.

This warning light is mainly there to warn about low brake fluid level. Coming on with the handbrake lever is just a check that the warning system is working. I suggest checking fluid level, that the switches at reservoir and lever have not shorted to ground and that the float in the reservoir switch is actually floating..

[a7x88]

EPC in my two VAGs stands for Electronic Pedal Control. I.e. the drive by wire stuff. I doubt fiddling with the rear lights would affect it

Edit - it is power not pedal. But it is still mainly related to the drive by wire. Typically "When a fault exists with the throttle pedal, throttle body, traction control and cruise control, the EPC warning light illuminates."

Edited by a7x88 on Saturday 16th December 10:36

[Peteridd117]

Looks like I’ll have to get it to a garage. Cheers