Flickering dash and electrical problems
 

So my dashboard illumination started flickering on idle a little while ago. The other lights appear normal. There is no battery warning light.

I've had the battery replaced as it is a halfords one in warranty. Their battery test indicated it was the battery at fault. It worked fine for a bit then the same thing. Again it was replaced as the battery test indicated it as the cause. My local garage has tested the alternator which is good.

It seems to start OK.

Yesterday, however, the alarm went off when I started it and didn't disarm for ages. It's not done this before. I had a similar problem with my MR2 when the battery went dead in the snow and I had to get a garage to kill the alarm.

Is there something shorting somewhere to drain the battery and cause these electrical problems? Has anyone had anything similar?

First thing to check is that both battery connectors are on tight and the earth strap is securely bolted to the car. Give everything a right good wiggle and see if anything comes free in your hand.

Most weirdy electrical issues tend to be caused by a dodgy earth in my experience.

:iagree:

:stupid:

I used to own FIATs...

You might also want to check the bundle of earthing straps bolted up the driver's footwell, if it's purely dash-related.

Thanks for the tips. I suspect it is the grounding.

Funnily enough mines has the exact same issue on idle the speedo lights flicker not sure what it is will check when I get my car back from the detailers

My dash has just started flickering too!!

Where in the drivers footwell are these serving straps? If I pull back the carpet, is it obvious?

These earthing straps are behind the plastic cover on the right hand side of the drivers footwell next to the ECU. You have to remove this plastic cover to locate it which is easy but tricky. There are many earth points-joins in the car. I do not know if the one in drivers footwell is the one responsible for your flickering dash problem

Passenger side foot well for a UK car? Otherwise they're next to the fusebox if it's the drivers side.

They're next to the Ctrl+Alt+Del button.