Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

I would appreciate some advice please.I was driving down the motorway today and the warning light came on for the brakes along with the battery light.I have looked at frond pads and they both seem to be alright,plenty of meat on the pads.I did replace the back shoes about 3 weeks ago for the MOT.

Could this warning light be related to the rear barakes or is it for just the front brakes?

I don't have ABS on my Cav TD.

The brake wear light should come on if the pads are too low, I believe it's only for the front brakes, as I'm not aware of rear discs having wear sensors on them.

Battery light is un-related, did the warning lights stay on for a while or flash, or anything?

It didn't flash.Battery light and brake warning light just came on and stayed on,they won't go off.

There is alot of meat still on the pads.

The pad warning light is orange and the brake fluid low light is red. What one is on?

Greig

I'd be suspecting the alternator to be at fault then. Are you getting charge to the battery? It's not un-common for a dodgy alternator to flash up the dash lights, but in my experience, every single warning light had a combined mind of their own when my old alternator failed once.

This is the light what is on along with the battery light
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=bra ... ajaxhist=0
I don't know if this helps,i put new brake shoes on the rear about 3 weeks ago for the MOT.Car failed the MOT bc rear shoes were binding.I fixed this problem and while i was driving it back to the MOT centre the seatbelt light came on and went off.It is still coming on and off while driving bc i never got round to fixing it.

I put new Mintex front pads on the front on today (been meaning to put new pads on) bc the previous pads were rubbish.The brake warning light,battery light and seatbelt light are still on.

( ! ) is the symbol for the brake fluid level warning.

( O ) is the symbol for pad wear

( P ) is the symbol for parking brake.

What else have you worked on?

Although I didn't see the logic in Andrei's question - I have heard of such a scenario -
Are you running on a weak battery or poorly alternator.?

Logic tells me that there is a significant wiring issue.
Some of the culprits could be -
Part of the instrument panel shorted to earth.
A dodgy check control module.
A whacky earth issue.

I can have a quick look when I visit tomorrow afternoon if you like.

Hmm, so you've done some recent work on your brakes

Don't rule out the possibility that you've left your pad sensor wiring hanging over the spinning disc.
If you weren't careful to re-house the wiring into all those clips on the strut, there is a very good chance that the disc will have cut into the sheathing, followed by the earth mesh followed by the signal-bearing medium and the resulting short will be tricking the sensor into reporting worn pads.

Check pad sensor wiring both sides for signs of damage.

£14.00 a side last time I looked

Indeed Colin, but that wouldn't illuminate the seat belt and charge lights.

More chance that the charge light wire has been snagged on the alternator... which could give Andrei's theory.

No mention of working in or around the instruments or dash....

Issue 1
Seatbelt light keeps coming on and off while driving.This only happened when i fixed the rear brakes after car failed the MOT due to brakes binding.

Issue 2
Brake warning light and battery light are constantly on.This happened while i was driving down the motorway yesterday.

I have never touched the front brakes (only bled them after fitting rear brake cylinders and shoes) prior to issue 2 happening.I was going to fit new front pads bc the previous ones were cheap crap,so i decided to fit them yesterday to try and eliminate Issue 2.

I remember (my memorys like a seve) slackening off the bottom bolt on the altenator about a year ago but may not have tightened it back up properly.I will try and rectify this today and see if this solves issue 2.

I have not done anything else to car prior the above problems happening.

Battery is still under warranty.

I cannot see any brake pad sensors on my Cav.Did they have them on Cavaliers TD 1993 models?

I have found out there's a charging relay behind the panel in the drivers footwell.I took it out and lights went off,put it back in and lights came back on.Is this the charging relay? What is it for,lowering voltage to charge battery ? How would i know if it was faulty?

I have solved the brake warning light and battery light which was down to the charging relay.

I still have the steatbelt light still coming on and off.The light started to come on and off after i had ajusted the back brakes from binding.Anyone got any ideas to what could be causing this.

As far as I'm aware, UK spec Cavaliers never had a seatbelt light. So why you have that coming on I've no idea.

What model is it by the way? LS, GLS?
I don't believe you've ever said.

James McGrath wrote:As far as I'm aware, UK spec Cavaliers never had a seatbelt light. So why you have that coming on I've no idea.

Was thinking that
Perhaps if a pic was posted up next time this light came on

Is a cav 1.7TD gls model.I thought it was the seatbelt light but now i believe it is the airbag light.

I have done a bit of research,i think its down to unpluging the rear leccy window cable (fitted these myself from the door card to fix door bc it failed MOT on rear door not opening.

Would i have to have it reset with Tech1 or is there another way to get it fixed?

There is no air bag wiring in the doors.

Just the fluffy yellow coated cabling than runs across the back of the dash, and down behind the centre of dash behind the radio towards the gear stick and then to the back of the central plastic console...
I have a pic of this in my stripped out cav.
See below.

There should only be two items electronically connected to this circuit.
1 - steering wheel airbag
2 - deceleration detection module behind the handbrake.

Look at this image...

Interesting the detection module is in the centre of the car.
I always imagined it would be at he very front.

I know there is no airbag wiring in the doors.

I read the post below from another forum,this could be the reason why my airbag light keeps come on and going off.I did not unplug lead from my airbag box like the poster did.

'When i was fitting my rar leccy windows i unplugged the lead to the airbag box between the front seats. Completely forgot to plug it back in, so when i tested the windows with the ignition on the airbag light came on. i turned the ignition off and plugged it back in, the light stayed then acted as usual and went off after start up'.

I remember disconnect the leccy window cable from the rear door bc it failed the MOT due to the door not opening.I did forgot to disconnet the battery when disconnecting/reconnecting the leccy cable.What damage could i have done?

I didn't think the airbag wiring could be unplugged that easily.

Suppose you could check that it is still securely connected.
An intermittent connection could give the same issue.

@James,
Yes the box is at the back of the centre console under the cassette storage box or the rear oddments tray ( dependent upon trim level.)
Just in front of the two rear location holes, normally hidden by the rubber mat.

I have had the alternator tested by a friend,he said it was charging alright.I then bought a new charging relay which fixed the brake warning light and the battery light.I went for a drive last night and the new charging relay has packed up.Could the alternator still be faulty?

I put new front and rear brakes on my cav a few weeks ago but they still don't seem to be effective enough.Someone told me there might be air in the brake pipes,i doubt it due to the amount of times i bled the brakes.I read there is something on the alterntor that can effect the brakes,is this right?

Okay - I have been reading about the alternator on the Astra equivalent Isuzu 17 TD alternator.

Apparently, whenever the alternator is touched, it is possible that one of the three pipes going to the back of it could be damaged or detached.

One pipe is the brake vacuum pipe, and so if leaky will cause very poor brake servo assistance.

The other two pipes are oil feed (banjo joint) and return (clip on pipe).

Regarding blowing the diesel charge relay - did the garage spot if the alternator was over charging.
It is believed that over charging kills the charge relays for shits n giggles.

Have a good look around the alternator and check all vacuum and oil connections are okay as far as they can be traced.

I think the vacuum pipe goes to the bulk head..
Oil return pipe to engine block..
Not sure about oil feed pipe.