red time and temp

[ross]

Hi once again,
Some of you may remember that I have owned my 2000(W) plate 2.2 td grand Espace for nearly 3 years now and in general it has given me good service. This year I embarked on my biggest project so far, replacing the heater matrix's. It took me 3 months in total, working evenings and some weekends, to complete the job, and I am pleased to report that all in the heater department is working well. Now here comes the strange twist in the tale. Ever since I completed this task the clock and temperature readout on the dashboard has been in red, and not the usual amber colour of the remainder of the instruments. All seems to work fine, but the change in colour of these two instruments is puzzling. Just for historical accuracy, the problem I have had since I bought the car, remote central locking does not work, is still there. Does anybody know if the change in clock and temperature instrument colour is significant ?
Regards
Ross

[Anders Dinsen]

Hi Ross

I could try to say something funny, but I won't

The red backlight usually indicates that something is wrong, e.g. the engine has stalled. The display is usually blank when the backlight changes to red. I think it could be a wire that has broken in the process or a plug. A diagnostic test in a Renault garage could reveal something.

Have you noticed any other strangenesses in the display?

[ross]

hi Anders,
Many thanks for your thoughts on the problem with the colour of my time and temperature display.
The dashboard is working fine, and if it wasn't for the red display on the right there would be no other signs of any trouble.
I am not overly concerned about it as the car seems to be working correctly.
it is just a bit of a puzzle.
I am fairly sure that there is a bad connection somewhere in the wiring, but where, is the question.
As I said it only started after I had put all the dashboard back together after replacing the heater matrix's, so I assume that one of the connectors needs to be wiggled about a bit to make a better contact.
It is getting too cold to mess about with it, if there is no danger of it causing more problems, so it will have to wait until the warmer weather next spring.
Many thanks
Ross

[Anders Dinsen]

Hi Ross

I don't think there's any danger in leaving it as-is. Last week my wife called me desperately, saying that the car complained about lack of oil. She had checked the oil level on the dipstick but wasn't sure whether it was high enough, so she wanted me to come and have a check. I work only 2 km from home, so I jumped the bicycle and rode home to find that the oil level was correct, and the problem went away after wiggeling with the connector to the oil level sensor on the engine.

Electrical gremlins are easy to provoke, but hard to find, I guess.

Cheers,
Anders