mystery! opel corsa dashboard failure..all dials drop down

easyontheeye

Hi,
Has any one had the problem with their corsa, where the dashboard just dies, firstly the handbreak light comes on, then all the dials just drop and the power in the dash is gone, it comes back alive after a few mins. I also notice that if i turn off the engine while the dashboard is dead, the engine will cut out immediately until the dashboard comes back again ...has any had similar problems?? need advice on this
thanks

Kimbot

What year is it?? How long have you had it etc??

crosstownk

Could be a loose connection behind the dash - best to get it looked at unless your competent at these sort of things - could also be a faulty dash. You might be able to see these connections by dropping the panel below the steering wheel.

slade_x

If its convenient i would suggest you find a *free* replacement/test panel

When i bought my corsa the plastic on the panel was cracked in the corner so i had a friend pick up an entire Unit from a wrote off corsa, only problem was it was the old panel (without tachometer/ EPS Light/ etc.) so i couldnt use it

Its simple to replace though, if it is the panel itself

Plug

OK....I didn't want to start a new thread but anyway anytime I start the engine the oil light comes on and beeps 3 times. Sometimes it comes on and goes off, It has oil in it. Its a MK4 golf, anyone else have this problem.

crosstownk

Plug - if its a yellow oil light it means your low on oil - check your levels. If your levels are ok then an oil level sender may be faulty which is not unheard of in a Golf. If the light is red then you should get the pressure checked - its possible that the pressure sender is faulty - again not unheard of in a Golf (happened on my wifes Bora)

easyontheeye

jonny24ie wrote:

What year is it?? How long have you had it etc??

its a 01 and i have had it 2 yrs, its only started to happen in the last month

quarryman

I have a similar thing on my Focus where the speedometer drops to 0 and the traction control light comes on. Strangely it only happens about 10 minutes after starting the car and goes away after another 10.

smash

blown fuse?

Kimbot

easyontheeye wrote:

its a 01 and i have had it 2 yrs, its only started to happen in the last month

Sounds really bad mate!! Ring Opel and see if there was a recall on stuff like that and if not ring an opel garage and ask them what it could be!!

swifty85

easyontheeye wrote: »

Hi,
Has any one had the problem with their corsa, where the dashboard just dies, firstly the handbreak light comes on, then all the dials just drop and the power in the dash is gone, it comes back alive after a few mins. I also notice that if i turn off the engine while the dashboard is dead, the engine will cut out immediately until the dashboard comes back again ...has any had similar problems?? need advice on this
thanks

Did you have any luck solving this problem? My g/f's corsa has just started doing the same thing and now refuses to start at all.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Lucifer

If your dash clocks are coming and going, and also an intermittent start, the problem is due to a loose connection at the back of the dash clocks. You need to remove the steering cowling, and panels to remove the clocks to fix it. When you have the clocks out, the block connector will stay mounted in the dash. To fix the problem, remove the block connector and put 2 small pieces of foam or something similar at the sides where the block connector sits to keep it pushed out a small bit. Refit the clocks and this will solve your problem. The reason it fails to start when the clocks are not working is that the engine ECU has to recieve a signal for the immobiliser which comes from the clocks.

If you had a similar problem where you were just losing the rev counter, and intermittent non start, it is a problem with the Crankshaft position sensor. Usually will start when cold but when it heats up it will not start.

Vertakill

swifty85 wrote: »

Did you have any luck solving this problem? My g/f's corsa has just started doing the same thing and now refuses to start at all.

Any help greatly appreciated.

I had this problem recently.

Randomly my dials on my dash would just drop to the bottom and the whole dash was useless.

I tested the alternator and it was grand so was running out of ideas.

Turned out to be a loose connection. The wiring in the wiring loom under the steering wheel (Nissan) had an issue with the wire that was responsible for the alternator/battery.

So basically, the car was draining the battery and the alternator wasn't recharging it as it drove.
So as soon as the battery ran out of juice, the dash would die and so would the car eventually.

This meant that whenever I turned the car off it wouldn't start back up.

This was due to the previous owner messing with alarm installations and making a balls of the wiring.

That's the basics of my problem anyway, as it was a friend (who is a sparks) who resolved it in the end for me thankfully!

Super-Rush

I have a 99 Omega and about a week after i bought it the same thing happened. All dials would drop and the light on the dash would get weaker and weaker. I checked fuses,alternator, battery and any wiring i could see and i couldn't find a problem. The guy i had bought it from was on holidays so while i was waiting for him to come home i decided to install the new stereo i bought. I took out the radio and the wiring behind it was in ribbons. I sorted out the wires, installed the radio and i've never had that problem since. Now i'm not saying its your radio but it sounds like a bad wiring problem somewhere.

Lucifer

The first thing I would check is the block connector, trust me, ive prob fixed over a hundred of them with this problem!

mle1324

easyontheeye wrote: »

Hi,
Has any one had the problem with their corsa, where the dashboard just dies, firstly the handbreak light comes on, then all the dials just drop and the power in the dash is gone, it comes back alive after a few mins. I also notice that if i turn off the engine while the dashboard is dead, the engine will cut out immediately until the dashboard comes back again ...has any had similar problems?? need advice on this
thanks

had the same problem with punto,all i can say it will cost you alot to fix.

hope your problem is not that bad though:)

swifty85

Thanks for the prompt and detailed replies!

Someone near me at work just heard me grumbling about the problem and guessed it was a corsa and what the problem was. Couple that with the fact that Lucifer has fixed over a hundred corsa's with this problem, think we may have the answer!

Cars currently with the garage we bought it form (under warranty),so see if they find the problem.

Muddy_Boots

I've had the same problem on and off for a few months now... all dials and meters drop to zero occasionally, but the car keep running fine except that the indicators don't work. If you stop the engine while the dials are in this state, it won't start for a while. Local garages have been perplexed and talked about replacing the engine management system.

Thanks for this advice, Lucifer... easy to follow instructions and hopefully it will have fixed the problem... so far so good!

Angenique

Can anybody help me with a wiring diagram for the dashboard

lilp4130

i'd just like to thank boards.ie and 'lucifer'

my girlfriends '03 opel corsa 'c' has had this intermittent dash failure
for about a month now,she left her car into a main opel dealer in dublin
for her annual service (same place the last 4 years)
as soon as we mentioned the speedo the guy at the desk finished our sentance!! so this must be a very common fault.
we asked them to ring us with a price for any extras before doing them to make sure,
they told us that to fix the speedo fault we
"needed a new speedo wiring loom at a cost of €180"
we decided not to have it done at this time,

long story short i checked boards.ie
came across this thread,decided to give it ago meself,
only to find in a little over an hour i had the dash back together and the problem fixed! WOOHOO!


JUST A WORD OF WARNING TO ANYONE WITH THE SAME PROBLEM
there is no "replaceable" wiring loom for the speedo
the speedo plugs directly into your cars main wiring harness!

a main opel dealer were going to charge us €180
for a part that doesnt exist!:mad:
so i can only assume
they wanted €180 for what would take a qualified mechanic
about a half an hour which is scandalous!:eek:

as above thank you boards.ie and thank you 'lucifer'

Lucifer

Your welcome. Glad to help. Just as a matter of interest would you send me a PM which garage that was.