Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

If you mean heater panel bulbs, any car parts shop will sell them.

They are standard 12volt, 1.2 watt clear capless bulbs. Type 286 rings a bell.

They are expensive for what they are, from Halfords, so it is better to shop around.

Im only seeing the reply now. Didn't know it was on page 2. Lol. I need a few. Mite as well do it all now.

286 are standard 1.2 watt bulbs.
These are fitted to -
the heater panel,
cigarette lighter and
Clock,
dual info display or
fuel computer
dependent upon what you have fitted

If you are doing the instrument panel illumination, then the three bulbs in green holders are a different higher wattage unit.
From memory these are 2 watt items.

The alternator / charge warning bulb is a bigger 3 watt bulb.

All other dash warning bulbs are the "standard" 1.2 watt 286 bulbs.

All switches are illuminated by miniature soldered in bulbs.

I think that is everything in and around the dash panel.

Bought bulbs the day along with a radio harness and hazzard light switch.

Fingers crossed that i have found a few more problems with the cooling fan and heating fan. Seems to be no power getting to either which leads to the ignition switch.

The lights on the instrument panel seems to dim down the slightest bit when anything electrical is switched on ie, the brake switch. Would this be a bad earth somewhere

Just want to say thanks to all for the help with the topic.

The illumination dimming could be any of the following -
A weak battery.
Bad earth-
Loose terminals on the battery, alternator or starter.

It is quite normal for panel bulbs to dim if a high powered device is operated - usually hazards, power steering on full lock or heated rear window demister.

As said though - check battery voltage output.
Engine not running - 12 to 13 volts.
Engine running - 13.5 to 14.9 volts.

And check that the battery terminals are clean and securely fitted.
Don't forget the earth strap from the gearbox or bell housing.

It sounds to me that the whole car needs a good dose of checking and cleaning every connector plug and their pins as you go along.

As for the fans...
The obvious comment is to check the fuses.

And if it is the heater blower fan, are you able run the fan on top speed setting.
If yes, then it could be the resister pack on the motor itself under the scuttle panel
At the centre rear of the engine bay.

There are some brown earth wires also located under the scuttle panel a little left of centre for the window wipers and blower motor.

If you are fitting an aftermarket radio,
Remember that for some bizarre reason, 90% of looms need the battery live and ignition live wires swapping over.

Cavalier ISO pin 2 is black, which is ignition live.
On after market looms pin 2 is permanent battery live. (Often a red wire.)

Cavalier ISO pin 4 is brown, which is ground / earth / chassis.
On aftermarket looms pin 4 is still ground / chassis but instead the colour is often black.

Cavalier ISO pin 8 is red, which is permanent battery live.
On aftermarket looms pin 8 is ignition live.
(Often orange or yellow wire).

So in simple terms - to fit an aftermarket radio - swap over the wires on pins 2 and 8 on one socket only.

Goin to check everything as i go along. A bit if good news tho that i found the problem with the blower fan and tye cooling fan. I checked the ignition switch and ther was no power coming out of the black cable that was leading to the fans so changed it and all the fans started to work.

Cooling fan coming on about 97 degrees wud that be right.

That's about perfect, anything between 95 and 100 is ok.

Yep sounds about right for correctly functioning temperature sensor and gauge.

Some gauges can be a bit out, making it look like the temperature gets as high as 103 before the fan kicks in.

The first time it came was bout 103 then in around 97 mark. Probably hasnt be on in bout 7 years.

Thought at one time that the car was never going to be going right

Maybe worth replacing the temperature gauge sender, if you think it's not accurate. The radiator fan works off a different sensor so even if your temperature gauge isn't reading correct, it should still kick in as normal.

Prob will change all sensors threw time. Hopefully goin to put dash back in next week.

Starting to get feed up looking at wires.

Still on the hunt for why the dash lights are flickering. Tho its a very faint flickering.

If your dash lights are flickering, look for loose or damaged wires.

Damaged instrument foil (the plastic sheet with the copper circuit tracks on it)

Or a loose connector.

Now as you say that ther was a repair on the instrument foil but seems ok.

Its just wen something has been switched on. Im probably not right in saying that they flicker, they more just dim the slightest bit. Maybe thats just the way it is.

Hmm - maybe.

I would still say check earth tags.
also your car battery for overall charge and it's condition and the battery cables for being clean and securely fitted.

If it is a high power item such as heated rear window demister, blower fan on high or your stereo kicking out some serious decibels that affects the illumination, then that should be normal.

But most items should not affect illumination if they are well earthed and the battery is in good condition.

Was just looking at the battery of the car a think it mite be a bit small. Its a brand new battery.

Wud this dim the lights a bit.

Its says on the battery 12v , 50ah , 450h.

It should be an "063" battery.

It sounds like a normal battery.

If you want more oomph, then you'd fit an "065", which is the heavier duty version often used for diesels due to the current drain from glow-plugs.

A better indication is checking the voltage from the battery with the engine off and with the engine running.

Normal battery voltage should be 12.5 to 13 volts with the engine off.
And 13.5 to 14.9 with the engine running.

If the voltage is low at rest, then the battery may be getting weak.

If the voltage is low when the engine is running, then there may be an issue with the alternator.

Although both can be affected by dirty, loose or corroded battery terminals or connectors.

Checked the battery last week and it was doing what you said there.

The battery is very small looking as well. Might try a heavier battery and one that fits the battery tray a bit better.

Going to put dash back in hopefully Saturday. Alot of patience will be needed.

Definitely try a bigger battery, as Robsey said. Even a good second hand battery from a scrapyard, I bought a Bosch 065 I think, for my old auto years ago from a scrapyard down the road for £20, my mate still has it in his hatchback to this day and it's working well. Small under-powered batteries can cause issues when running electrical equipment, always go for biggest is best.

Just n update on the wiring and it ain't good.

So took dash out check everything which i have learnt alot about, thanks to this forum i have fixed problems that i didnt even know that was a problem.

Plugged every thing in and checked through every stage of building the dash back together and everything was good until the last.

Back to square one but now turn anything electrical on i.e. light switch, fan switch or even the touching the brake pad, seems to turn to be the fuel pump.

Mite re wire the loom of the car.

Is fuse 11 okay.
That is the fuel injection and pump side of things.

Maybe need to check the wiring between there and the connector below the engine ecu.
You can't miss it as it is the only proper relay in the footwell.

If turning something else on pulls the power from the pump relay, it either has to be a bad earth or another dodgey wire.

Wiring is a bit messy on Cavaliers.

There are two red wires from the battery direct to the fuel pump relay.
A 4mm csa wire and a 0.75mm csa wire.
This is wired within the main engine injection ECU loom.

A separate wire comes in from the Engine ECU loom.
A blue-red wire in a small square connector below the ECU.
this goes then goes upto fuse 11

Then across the back of the entire dash and down to the passenger footwell to connector X6. (Pin 17)

Then from there back to the fuel pump.

Hope that helps.


I would be tempted to run a 1.5mm csa wire direct from fuse 11 to the fuel pump connector.
And then try a fresh earth wire from the pump to the chassis.

I must try this tho have a few things to try first. Simple things like I mite have put a screw through the dash and maybe has caught a wire plus i done a bit of soldering which miten be that hot. It only happen after the soldering was done.

Is the wiring loom in behind the dash on all cavalier models the same.

There are some minor differences dependent upon -
Fuel type - petrol / diesel.
With or without air-con.
Wirh or without check- control.
Model Year - 88/89, 90/91 and 92 onward.
And Trim Level - Classic, Envoy, Expression, L/LS, GL/GLS, CD/CDX, SRi, GSi, Diplomat, Turbo and so on.

The most common is probably the 92 onward LS spec.
The higher the spec, the more toys can be fitted in the car without modifications to the wiring.