Rear fog light symbol

Mervyn Skidmore

Hi. I recently had a mechanic replace my instrument cluster as the original was defective. He sourced another one and all seems fine. Anyway, this morning i was the first time i had to use my rear fog lights and the symbol didn't illumimate. Checked the light and it is working though. The car is due an nct soon and looking at the manual this will fail? Am i right? It seems bonkers when it is actually working. The car is a Honda civic 2006 1.4 dsi hatchback. I'll be raging if i have to fork out for another instrument cluster over this.

Dravokivich

You need to know when it's on. What's bonkers is, the guy who got you the instrument panel, didn't test it. You now know 1 thing is wrong with it. Why is that and what else could be an issue?

kirving

I see from a previous post of yours, that the previous cluster was throwing up engine warning lights, and you changed it for a new one that doesn't show lights.

Call me a cynic, but I wouldn't trust a mechanic for electrical issues in particular, who can't (or didn't bother) to set the odometer correctly.

I know it's an old car, but personally, this is one for a either a main dealer, or well regarded auto electrician.

Mervyn Skidmore wrote: »

Quick question. My 2006 civic 1.4 dsi instrument cluster was throwing up engine warning lights. Local mechanic installed a 2nd hand one for me. It's now reading a lower milage (presumably the milage of the donor car). Any way to get this changed to the proper milage without incurring much cost? Car isn't worth a whole pile but i wouldn't like to be accused of falsifying anything if i were to sell it. I presume the NCT certs will look strange now.

colm_mcm

The engine warning lights on these also come up on the multifunction display as a message.



To say a mechanic not changing the odometer reading (which is a specialist service) is wrong - fitting used parts on a 14 year old €1500 car and not going to Honda for a bill for €2000 is the correct course of action. Bit of perspective needed.

kirving

colm_mcm wrote: »

The engine warning lights on these also come up on the multifunction display as a message.

To say a mechanic not changing the odometer reading (which is a specialist service) is wrong - fitting used parts on a 14 year old €1500 car and not going to Honda for a bill for €2000 is the correct course of action. Bit of perspective needed.

Fair enough, didn't realise that it also showed up there.

Bit of perspective needed of course, but in my experience, it's sometimes it's actually cheaper to go to a main dealer who will be familiar with common problems, than repeated visits to a local guy who might swap part after part rather than root cause the problem.

Right now, OP is looking at another visit to the mechanic, and maybe a visit to a "mileage correction" service at the very minimum.

Believe me, I don't go running to the dealer for anything and everything, but electrics/comms are one where I'd want to be extremely sure of an indy's diagnosis before going ahead.

colm_mcm

I needed anti roll bar bushes (which are attached to the subframe) for my FK Civic. Honda told me I needed a new subframe as they don’t do the bushes on their own. Parts were €1600 plus vat plus fitting. This was an 07 car last year.

Got the bushes aftermarket. Honda are great quality but their parts are very expensive and dealers have to do things by the book.

OP just needs to document the clocks change. It’s a €1000-1500 car so it doesn’t affect the value of the car.

This will be an easy fix for a mechanic.

Atlantic Dawn

Do you know the source car the cluster was taken from?

Mervyn Skidmore

Thanks for the replies. I'm not worried about the odo reading now. I'll drive this for as long as i can. What i don't want is to fail the nct for the rear fog lamp dash light. Don't want to put much money into the car.

colm_mcm

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Do you know the source car the cluster was taken from?

Ref JDM models. These were all built in Swindon and as far a I know the only ones that ended up in Japan were Type R which had a different cluster.

Mervyn Skidmore

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Do you know the source car the cluster was taken from?

Nope sorry. Just left into mechanic and collected it fixed

Spook_ie

Autoelectrician should be able to put an led lamp onto the dash somewhere connected to fog lamps.

Don't think it has to be the original warning light working just a light that warns you, if he doesn't notice it. I would have thought it would be under a free retest when you tell him which warning light to look at.

Mervyn Skidmore

Ok, so i watched a video of a guy putting the instrument cluster into testing mode online. I copied it and all the symbols lit up including the rear fog one. Any ideas?

Mervyn Skidmore

So I've tried the fuses and bulb but no joy. Working fine but dash indicator not working. Anyone with any idea?

kirving

I'm borderline guessing as I don't know the specifics of the car, but sounds like the previous comms problem remains.

On older cars, the indicator light on the dash would be hard wired to the fog light circuit. In newer cars, the light controller will communicate to the ECU and dashboard via CAN, requesting A) to turn on the fog light, and turn on the indicator light.

TheW1zard

Disconnect the battery for 10mins, see if it resets

TheBoyConor

colm_mcm wrote: »

I needed anti roll bar bushes (which are attached to the subframe) for my FK Civic. Honda told me I needed a new subframe as they don’t do the bushes on their own. Parts were €1600 plus vat plus fitting. This was an 07 car last year.

Got the bushes aftermarket. Honda are great quality but their parts are very expensive and dealers have to do things by the book.

OP just needs to document the clocks change. It’s a €1000-1500 car so it doesn’t affect the value of the car.

This will be an easy fix for a mechanic.

Guarantee you that if they thought they'd get away with it they would tell you that and bill you for it and then just go and get the nastiest cheap spurious bushings from a motor factor and get their thickest cross-eyed apprentice to beat them into it sideways.

Main dealers, despite what they'd have you believe, are not all by the book. I worked for one as an apprentice years ago and they were the biggest shower of chancers and misers ever. I helped mechanics change timing belts on newish expensive SUVs for example - the dealership didn't even have the manufactuerer's tools to do the job and we were doing guess work with tipp ex marks on the pulleys and judging the belt tension just by what felt right by hand.

Another main dealer I know locally for another brand was caught rotten a while back pulling a stroke on servicing cars - instead of fitting a new filter he had them clean the dirt of the old one and leave as is....until a punter who was wise to the craic made a discreet mark on the filter then came back and challenged the dealer or his lying shyster anitics.

Anyway, I would suggest that if the light cannot be got working the indy could wire in an additional warning into the dash that will come on with the fog lamp and while it won't be original or pretty, it should fulfil the requirements of the NCT and you will be away with it and can take it out again after.
2006 car, it is not worth shít let alone justify the grossly inflated cost of bringing to a dealer.

TheBoyConor

I suggest hard wiring the fog light circuit to small auxiliary warning lamp that you can have stuck into the dash board. When the NCT is done, just take it out again.

Del2005

Mervyn Skidmore wrote: »

Ok, so i watched a video of a guy putting the instrument cluster into testing mode online. I copied it and all the symbols lit up including the rear fog one. Any ideas?

Sounds like the mechanic didn’t wire in the cluster correctly. Bring it back show them the dash light not working when the rear fog is, show them the dash light working in test mode and let them sort it out. That's the benefit of going to a business, they have to fix it. Check if other lights and things aren't working before you bring it back.

colm_mcm

It’s a plug for the cluster. There’s no other wiring involved.

Mervyn Skidmore

colm_mcm wrote: »

It’s a plug for the cluster. There’s no other wiring involved.

Thanks. So basically, there's probably a plug not inserted at the back of the cluster? Maybe I'll run it through the nct, when that gets up and running, and see if it fails. Then go bavk to mechanic if necessary. Don't want to go at the minute over just that.

colm_mcm

No, There’s one plug for the whole lot.

TheBoyConor

No, mostly the days of things being hard wired are gone.
There is a plug at the back of the cluster that carries data to the cluster. It world be more like similar to a hdmi type setup carrying data over CAN bus rather than specific wire in the plug going to each light.

It could be that the cluster came from s car that didn't have fog lights and it's internal software doesn't recognise that this car has them and so doesn't illuminate the dash light.

Mervyn Skidmore

colm_mcm wrote: »

No, There’s one plug for the whole lot.

Ok, so problem is not at the back of the dash so if most of the lights work.

Mervyn Skidmore

TheBoyConor wrote: »

No, mostly the days of things being hard wired are gone.
There is a plug at the back of the cluster that carries data to the cluster. It world be more like similar to a hdmi type setup carrying data over CAN bus rather than specific wire in the plug going to each light.

It could be that the cluster came from s car that didn't have fog lights and it's internal software doesn't recognise that this car has them and so doesn't illuminate the dash light.

Thanks but I'm pretty sure the 8th gen civic hatchback is a European model only therefore surely all would have rear fog lights?

TheBoyConor

Probably not, but it is still no harm to double check.

I would say it is more likely to be software related. Dash might have to be paired to the car so that it is set up to show the appropriate warnings and symbols relevant to that particular car.

Mervyn Skidmore

Just an update. Tried everything within my limited capabilities. No luck. The mechanic is closed for foreseeable future, don't blame him.

TheW1zard

Try crossing the battery terminal cables for 30 secs. Cowboy stuff but it can clear faults

newmember2

TheW1zard wrote: »

Try crossing the battery terminal cables for 30 secs. Cowboy stuff but it can clear faults

What the...

TheBoyConor

Nice way to get the battery to explode in your face and end up in A&E with acid burns. Or set the car on fire.

What kinda mad idea is that?

CoBo55

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Nice way to get the battery to explode in your face and end up in A&E with acid burns. Or set the car on fire.

What kinda mad idea is that?

He means disconnecting both leads from the battery and joining them together, not shorting the battery..

TheW1zard

CoBo55 wrote: »

He means disconnecting both leads from the battery and joining them together, not shorting the battery..

Yes this, have seen it done to clear warning lights, in reputable garages!
Dont shoot the messenger!

Mervyn Skidmore

I have an autel code reader. Hooked it up and nothing unusual.

Del2005

CoBo55 wrote: »

He means disconnecting both leads from the battery and joining them together, not shorting the battery..

Just as easy and safer just to disconnect the battery for half an hour. By not supplying power you can reset some ECUs, what does removing the battery from the circuit do apart from removing the power?

CoBo55

Del2005 wrote: »

Just as easy and safer just to disconnect the battery for half an hour. By not supplying power you can reset some ECUs, what does removing the battery from the circuit do apart from removing the power?

Woah there horsey, I was only explaining what another poster meant by joining the battery leads I've never done either as I've never seen it work.

colm_mcm

I would be shocked if this method would make the fog light warning start working.