Seat Belt Warning Light - Estima Lucida

[hatpro]

Hello Folks!

I hope someone can help me our there - I've had a phenominon! (well. when you get to my age).

I'm bowling down the autoroute in central France at squillions of KPH and suddenly a red light on the dashboard blinks on! "Oh bother", I thought, "I've blown up my engine!" But no - it was the seatbelt warning light?

Well, I was wearing mine and so was my wife. We fiddled with the catches and clicked them in and out a few times but to no avail. So in the best traditions of British technological know how - I ignored it.

Now we're back home and I've been fiddling around under the driver's seat to see if I can fix it. (took me a while to find the little yellow lever). Lo and behold there is a wire dangling from the underside of the seat with a two pin plug on the end! I traced it back and it appears to come from the seat belt catch - but where does it go? I've looked everywhere within reach of the wire and cannot find anything to plug it into! Does anyone know where I should look? Perhaps it's been pulled back or something. If I knew where it came from perhaps I could re-trace it's route?

What beats me is why it should become suddenly disconnected in the middle of a French motorway?

[hatpro]

Hello Folks!

I hope someone can help me our there - I've had a phenominon! (well. when you get to my age).

I'm bowling down the autoroute in central France at squillions of KPH and suddenly a red light on the dashboard blinks on! "Oh bother", I thought, "I've blown up my engine!" But no - it was the seatbelt warning light?

Well, I was wearing mine and so was my wife. We fiddled with the catches and clicked them in and out a few times but to no avail. So in the best traditions of British technological know how - I ignored it.

Now we're back home and I've been fiddling around under the driver's seat to see if I can fix it. (took me a while to find the little yellow lever). Lo and behold there is a wire dangling from the underside of the seat with a two pin plug on the end! I traced it back and it appears to come from the seat belt catch - but where does it go? I've looked everywhere within reach of the wire and cannot find anything to plug it into! Does anyone know where I should look? Perhaps it's been pulled back or something. If I knew where it came from perhaps I could re-trace it's route?

What beats me is why it should become suddenly disconnected in the middle of a French motorway? 

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[hatpro]

Right, well I've had another look for this darned wire.

You know the big lump that you sit on with the two engine access flaps in it - well does the big lump come off too? I found a couple of wires coming from the door pillar on the driver's side, heading toward the right, rear hinge of the driver's seat. Trouble is that they then dissapear through a non existant gap between the floor pan and the big lump! I'm wondering if a not-so-vigilant mechanic has at some time removed the lump and trapped the wires when replacing it. This could have shorted out the wires to earth and extingiushed the warning light maybe? Perhaps me wriggling about with excitement when the speedo hit 100, severed the wire and un-shorted the connection to earth? I'm grasping at straws now aren't I?

(Incidentally, when my speedo hit 100 my wife was quick to point out that the GPS was only registering a paultry 84).

I'd really appreciate it if one of you Lucida owners out there could just pop your seat and take look at where the wire goes and let me know - thanks.

RH

[hatpro]

Well, thanks for the underwhelming deluge of help on this one! I guess I'll just have to resort to my usual method and talk to myself. I can't beleive that 34 people read my query and not one of you could be bothered to just tilt back your driver's seat and tell me where a wire was heading!

Just in case anyone else has a similar problem (although I doubt it), I found the cure. I have just returned again from France where I was confronted with a brake warning light to add to my collection. I checked the fluid and have just checked the pads and linings to find that they are all fine. It's a nice day so I decided to take a look at the seat again. This time I decided to remove it completely to get a better look. The rear right bolt was a swine to undo because there was a cable all chewed up around the thread. It turned out that I was correct about the trapped wire. It was the same one that dissappeared beneath the engine housing. After loosening a few bolts I managed to withdraw the cable and found that the end had been completely melted away after dangling into the engine compartment for twelve months. That answered the seat belt warning light problem. I imagine that the yellow and white wire had shorted together under the seat where they were trapped. I also found that the wire for the handbrake warning light had been trapped too - so I expect that it has been shorted to earth, thus illuminating the brake warning light on the dash.

Well, that's it. Thanks for all your help. Maybe I'll write again, the next time I feel like talking to myself.

RH

[kelv1969]

sorry you had no response from the other members on here. I know how disappointed you must feel about this forum.

I have just joined it.

My 1995 Estima (jap import) is starting to play up.

There is a warning light that I don't understand. It is orange. the first one on the left. looks like a heating element. perhaps it is something to do with the air conditioning (which does make strange hissing noises sometimes).

Also I am having problems starting my car. Once the starter motor initiated and wouldn't stop cranking (even when I removed my key). I thought it would drain my Battery but the cranking stopped after 30 long seconds. When I tried to start the car, everything was fine. Since then, when I turn my key, about 1 time in ten there is just a subtle click sound and the engine doesn't turn over. When I turn the key for a second time, however, the engine starts. That has been going on for a few months and hasn't really caused any trouble. But things are getting worse. Could the Battery be to blame or could the starter motor be acting up? What do you think?

[DenB]

Well, thanks for the underwhelming deluge of help on this one! I guess I'll just have to resort to my usual method and talk to myself. I can't beleive that 34 people read my query and not one of you could be bothered to just tilt back your driver's seat and tell me where a wire was heading!

Just in case anyone else has a similar problem (although I doubt it), I found the cure. I have just returned again from France where I was confronted with a brake warning light to add to my collection. I checked the fluid and have just checked the pads and linings to find that they are all fine. It's a nice day so I decided to take a look at the seat again. This time I decided to remove it completely to get a better look. The rear right bolt was a swine to undo because there was a cable all chewed up around the thread. It turned out that I was correct about the trapped wire. It was the same one that dissappeared beneath the engine housing. After loosening a few bolts I managed to withdraw the cable and found that the end had been completely melted away after dangling into the engine compartment for twelve months. That answered the seat belt warning light problem. I imagine that the yellow and white wire had shorted together under the seat where they were trapped. I also found that the wire for the handbrake warning light had been trapped too - so I expect that it has been shorted to earth, thus illuminating the brake warning light on the dash.

Well, that's it. Thanks for all your help. Maybe I'll write again, the next time I feel like talking to myself.

RH

Just joined and picked up your thread, sometimes the bset way just to ferrit away until u get the answer. On your KPH, i assume that you still have the original KPH speedo and havent converted to MPH. I found that mine was overly optimistic too, and found that by taking the speedo needle off and resetting it i got a more reasonable reading, well withing 10% anyway. All trial and error stuff.