By which I mean the "Lights" warning light on the dash - mine is on all the time, and has been since I got the car (SWB NA).

The previous owner told me it was a "turn your lights on because it's getting dark" warning with a dodgy sensor (hmm), & I thought it might just be a duff bulb. But I've since replaced the headlight bulbs with J-specs, and all the other lights seem to work fine.

 

So, any ideas? Today's spate of Hicas topics has got me nervous - I don't have Hicas, so what light will come on to warn me of low PAS fluid levels, etc? The "Lights" light??

I don't think there are any sensors in the 300zx that tells you its getting dark. Unless it's some kind of after market kit. My guess is that this light is on because when the car came over here it needed to have a rear fog lamp fitted in order to be legal in this country. A lot of people do a bodge job ad wire the fog lights into various 12v supply's around the car. I would check the wiring for this light (usually the right hand side reverse light). It may be a case that this has been wired up incorrectly and therefore your car thinks that the lights are on when they actually are not.

 

As with Hicas the steering will tell you when to top up before the light comes on. You will feel a very slight vibration when turning the wheel, in extreme cases the wheel will wine at your whilst truning almost in full lock.

 

I always know when I need to top up my Dextron as my steering wheel will give me the tell tale sign. You will get you know your cars requirements over time, before the car actually tells you itself.

Stupid question but its not the "door open" light is it?

Mine always had this light on even when the door was closed, just a little adjustment on the drivers door catch and all is well.

 

Sorry if im just bein too stupid:rolleyes:

Someone had a picture of the dash with all the lights labelled...?

I used it myself ages ago.

Its not cos its an import and the bodge that was done to do rear fog lights for UK regs has used the inner red lamps is it? I heard that the warning lamp circuit for failed bulbs needs to "see" all the bulbs and if 2 are taken out of the circuit to re use as fog lamps it thinks they're blown and gives a warning all the time.

 

Could also be total bo&&ocks I am talking

Sounds like dodgy wireing to me. When ever I hit the brakes my lights light lights up.( hope that made sense) But all brake lights are working fine so I assumed someone made a slight bodge of the fog light mod!!

Hmm, it's sounding like it's the rear fog light... what I have is one of those ugly Halfords hung-off-the-bumper jobs, with an equally ugly switch on the dash. Come to think of it, this is one bulb I haven't checked, so it might be the wiring or the bulb.

 

Robtor: No, it's not the door open light - I know what that looks like ;) It just says "LIGHTS", and it's red and on the far left.

 

Anyway, I guess it must be the fog lamp then, I'll have a look this weekend. Thanks for all your help :)

 

Oh, A2XGO, I don't know if this is relevant, but my old Celica did that once, and it turned out to be that one of the dual filament brake/rear light bulbs had gone, and the stray wire from one filament was touching the other one. My mate's S13 did the same thing (except his lights would pop-up too, I think - maybe he was lying about that). Might be worth checking (assuming Zeds even *have* dual filament bulbs at the back... sheesh, I know nothing).

didnt even know the zeds had bulb failure monitoring :rolleyes:

 

any way, if its like the merc system, then even the wrong wattage bulb will cause it to detect a fault, ie 10w sidelight where it should be a 5w etc, or a poor contact. also check the "condition" of the bulbs, one that has gone black or silver can affect the current draw too.

 

hth

baby ice dog - I don't think that it will be your fog light bulb. The reason I say this is because I have exactly the same problem. All my bulbs are running the right watage and they are all working.

 

However, just out of curiousity, do you have the centre brake light in your spoiler working?

It won't be the fog light? Bugger.... Yes, I'm sure the brake light in the spoiler is working. I'll check it, but I'm pretty sure. My gf should be coming to visit this w/e, so she can stand in the rain watching what lights come on when ;)

 

Originally I'd assumed it was the UK spec headlight bulbs (with their *very* dodgy earth wires) that were causing it, but like I said, I changed them for a pair of J-specs from Leigh, and there was no change. The fog light sounded hopeful, because I don't think I've even used it yet, and it *does* look a bit manky :/

 

At least it's nothing to worry about, I guess... but it's still distracting having that warning light on all the time :(

baby ice dog - Mine is a UK spec. However, I didn't mean that your centre brake light might not be working but that you actually have it wired up. As someone has correctly stated, the light should appear when there is a problem with a bulb or if there is a brake in the circuit.

 

The only thing I can think of is that if the spoiler light is an after market thing, the extra wiring/bulb is throwing the overall circuit watage out.

 

Aside from knowing the difference between + wires, - wires and signal cable, I don't really know that much about electronics.

Ohms, watts and volts - It's all Greek to me.

 

I haven't yet spent the time to investigate whether my theory is correct but if I do before you do, I'll let you know what my finding are....Because being as I am such an electronics expert, I will know what I am looking for.

 

Any auto sparkies out there with any ideas?

 

Apologies if my theory is b0ll0X!

baby ice dog - Mine is a UK spec. However, I didn't mean that your centre brake light might not be working but that you actually have it wired up. As someone has correctly stated, the light should appear when there is a problem with a bulb or if there is a brake in the circuit.

 

The only thing I can think of is that if the spoiler light is an after market thing, the extra wiring/bulb is throwing the overall circuit watage out.

 

Aside from knowing the difference between + wires, - wires and signal cable, I don't really know that much about electronics.

Ohms, watts and volts - It's all Greek to me.

 

I haven't yet spent the time to investigate whether my theory is correct but if I do before you do, I'll let you know what my finding are....Because being as I am such an electronics expert, I will know what I am looking for.

 

Any auto sparkies out there with any ideas?

 

Apologies if my theory is b0ll0X!

Um, ok... I've got a spoiler brake light, & I'm sure it's wired up & working. The spoiler's a stock rubber one, so I assumed the light was stock too (or are they all aftermarket? See me flaunt my ignorance).

 

I'm the same with electrics - understand the basics, but real-world application of it is beyond me. I'm terrified of batteries, always expect them to explode (actually, same goes for the TV whenever I plug anything new into it, so maybe I'm just paranoid). Hmm, actually, I'm like this with *anything* practical, come to think of it :/

I'm guessing I can get correct bulb info from the online manual (sorry, starting writing this before I thought of it), so I'll check that this weekend (I'm getting all paranoid that my rear lights look a little weak), along with the rear fog light.

 

Oh, confirm something for me please: This warning light is supposed to come on when you have the headlights on, is it? And also comes on if it detects a problem with the lights? Or is it only supposed to come on when there's a problem?

AFAIK it only comes on if there is a bulb not working, and only the rear bulbs - it doesn't have any connection to headlights/foglights/sidelights..

Thx, that's some useful information there... now I know it was stupid to think it was the headlights, eh? hehe Seriously, that's narrowed it down - I think I should check what the rear fog is wired up to ;)

I seem to remember that there is a box of tricks in the back somewhere that works the 'lights' light on the dash - and yep a fog light wired in could set it off, though there is a way of wiring around that problem..

 

I seem to recall that if you use different wattage to standard, then the light comes on as well..

 

I wouldn't know, I had no HICAS bulb (or bulb holder!) as the place that imported it pulled the lamp to stop the fault light from showing up due to the cacky speed convertor, so I swopped the lights bulb into the HICAS spot and have to rely on the old fashioned way - actually checking your own lights :D

I ve had a new mod done to my dash lights...its called a chequebook warniong light....lol.....Has been coming on a lot latley!

 

 

Chris:D

That's the one with the green $$ sign and the accompanying "cha-ching!" sound, is it?

Thats the one!!....Has a Nissan UK price detector built in too...

 

Chris :D

baby ice dog - Mine is a UK spec. However, I didn't mean that your centre brake light might not be working but that you actually have it wired up. As someone has correctly stated, the light should appear when there is a problem with a bulb or if there is a brake in the circuit.

 

The only thing I can think of is that if the spoiler light is an after market thing, the extra wiring/bulb is throwing the overall circuit watage out.

 

Aside from knowing the difference between + wires, - wires and signal cable, I don't really know that much about electronics.

Ohms, watts and volts - It's all Greek to me.

 

I haven't yet spent the time to investigate whether my theory is correct but if I do before you do, I'll let you know what my finding are....Because being as I am such an electronics expert, I will know what I am looking for.

 

Any auto sparkies out there with any ideas?