Engine Management Light

[Kal Choudhury]

Here we go!!

So I have noticed the EML on but very faint. If you are driving the car during the day you cant even see it, only during the evening in the dark you can. Almost like its half on and half off. The light isn't as bright as any of the other lights on that section e.g. the handbrake light.

Its very strange plus the car doesn't drive as if with any faults. Does anyone have any idea why this could be? Has anyone had this issue?  Pic Below

[cruisermark]

Hi Kal

There is many reasons why the light comes on - its best to read the code and find out whats causing it.

I stand corrected here but if you can find out the history of the light i.e if it was there before you bought the car or if the bulb has been tampered with then you can take this up with the seller.

[Texas]

Yes, may be some shenanigans going on with that lamp as it should be an ON or OFF situation, hopefully not but if light is ON a previous owner may have tried to obscure its presents for some reason! like I said hopefully not but a strange one for sure!

As above try to get any codes read.

paul m.

[Hangie]

Never seen anything like that. It is not pregnant test when line is there and isn't at the same time :)

It should be clearly on or off.  There is a possibility someone has tried to tamper with it. Best option would be to connect some basic OBD scanner and see if there is anything. As far I remember you were complaining about some high fuel consumption which could be cased by some problem which is detected by EML.

[Upex]

Agree with all, should be lit properly or not at all. 2 reasons for partial lighting spring to mind, 1 p.o. has tried to obscure a properly lit light as previously suggested, or 2, there is current leakage on the board that houses the lights, ie a tiny bit of current is 'jumping' from a live (or ground, depends on which is 'switched' by the car, g or l) to this circuit, so the car is not providing power to light the eml  hence not fully lit, but this bit of bleed current is allowing a small flow and thus partial lighting.

Guess there is a third option, in that it's lit, but there is a non p.o. obstruction blocking most of the light, ie dead fly or bug etc. Does the eml light up fully when powering on through test cycle? If so, this rules out options 1 and 3, leaves current bleed.

If it doesn't light up properly when turning on or via test cycle, it's looking like 1 or 3, or a fault with that circuits power and or control.

Let us know what you test and find out etc, it's interesting.

Edit, wonder how light is partitioned between lamps within the cluster? Perhaps rather than current leakage, it's light leakage from another source?

[Jaybrammer]

On 28/02/2018 at 7:07 PM, Upex said:

Agree with all, should be lit properly or not at all. 2 reasons for partial lighting spring to mind, 1 p.o. has tried to obscure a properly lit light as previously suggested, or 2, there is current leakage on the board that houses the lights, ie a tiny bit of current is 'jumping' from a live (or ground, depends on which is 'switched' by the car, g or l) to this circuit, so the car is not providing power to light the eml  hence not fully lit, but this bit of bleed current is allowing a small flow and thus partial lighting.

Guess there is a third option, in that it's lit, but there is a non p.o. obstruction blocking most of the light, ie dead fly or bug etc. Does the eml light up fully when powering on through test cycle? If so, this rules out options 1 and 3, leaves current bleed.

If it doesn't light up properly when turning on or via test cycle, it's looking like 1 or 3, or a fault with that circuits power and or control.

Let us know what you test and find out etc, it's interesting.

Edit, wonder how light is partitioned between lamps within the cluster? Perhaps rather than current leakage, it's light leakage from another source?

This is very good advice in particular if it lights up on start up lets us know how you get on.

[Kal Choudhury]

Hi guys,

Thank you for your responses. On start up the light DOES NOT light up. Have ordered an OBD2 reader to plug in and see what is going on. Car runs beautifully other than that.....

[ColinBarber]

6 hours ago, Kal Choudhury said:

Hi guys,

Thank you for your responses. On start up the light DOES NOT light up. Have ordered an OBD2 reader to plug in and see what is going on. Car runs beautifully other than that.....

It certainly looks like it has been covered up, but whatever was used has slipped slightly.

The MOT tester should check the presence of the MIL lamps with the ignition on, and that they go out once the engine is started. Covering it up therefore isn't a good way to get passed the MOT, but not all check, and it often isn't checked dealers/public when selling a vehicle.