[Hodgy]

I had to go from Leeds to Newcastle today, about 90 miles up the A1, It was a very uneventful ride except for a torrential downpour that lasted about 10 minutes.

When I got into the car to come back, as soon as I switched the engine on, the dipped beam headlights came on (I could see the reflection in the back of the car I was parked behind) They were not switched on on the stalk and the dash lights weren't lit. I tried turning them on and off, but they wouldn't go out, so I thought it must be a dicky switch and I would look at it when I got home.

After driving about 5 miles through traffic, the car suddenly started locking and unlocking the doors! Then the info display started beeping and lots of random messages came up one after the other, brake failure, bulb failure, doors open... Then the hazard flashers switched themselves on and the main beam headlights started flashing in time with the hazards! I pulled into a tesco car park, switched the engine off and removed the key, everything stopped except the dip beams remained lit. I switched the engine back on and everything went mad again!

To get the car home I removed the fuses for the main beams and took the flasher relay out of the fuse box, the car has driven fine all the way home, although it kept popping up random failure messages on the info centre, but the engine runs fine with no lack of power.

Once home I have disconnected the battery as the headlights won't turn off.

I can only imagine the rain has got in somewhere and caused a fault? Any ideas where to start looking would be great.

I've had the car 18 months it's a 2003 147 JTD and this is the first problem I've had with it

Any help on what could be the problem would be grately appreciated :thumbs:

Thanks

 

[andypj]

New battery would be top of my list first - or at least check the security of the terminals.

 

[CJO]

147 electrics are know to get a bit random if the battery starts to fail

 

[Hodgy]

Battery?

I hope it's that simple, but the car is starting fine, the battery doesn't appear to be sluggish starting, and the engine was already running when the worst happened, so would the alternator not be putting out the correct voltage and overcome any low battery voltage issues?

Thanks for the replies so far, and I do hope it's just the battery :thumbs:

 

[CJO]

I think Halfords can check the battery - with the engine running it should give 14.1v (if I have remembered this correctly)

 

[lupos0_1]

Alfadiag can see the voltage of the battery too if I remember correctly.

 

[DeeJayB]

I had similar, tho not as crazy, problems the other day. Gave the battery a full charge over night and everything is back to normal, in fact better. Just got back from a rather 'enthusiastic' drive and it was awesome

 

[Hodgy]

Update

I've swapped the battery for the one off my van which i know to be good, replaced the fuses and the flasher relay and...

The main and dipped beam are coming on as soon as the ignition is switched on.

The hazard flashers, indicators and front and rear fogs are all not working.

When I switch the ignition off and lock the car, the nearside tail and sidelight are illuminated.

I've checked all the fuses in both fuse boxes, all are ok.

As it started with the hazard flashers going mental and the main beams flashing in time with them, could this have caused a problem or killed a relay?

 

[Dickymint_156]

sounds like a knakerd earth m8, check all the earth points and straps ect

 

[andypj]

Could also be a faulty body computer.

 

[Hodgy]

Well I've spent 2 days going through the connections and earths on the lights, battery, fuse boxes and anywhere else I can find, but it's still the same!

The only thing left seems to be the body computer, how can I check this?

If it is this that's gone, I can't afford to take it in to have a new one fitted, so will probably end up stripping the car and selling the bits on Ebay

Any one else got any brain waves before I take this drastic action?

 

[06gt]

Get a priest to perform an exocism