intermittant electrical fault , help pleeease !!!

[viper2day]

Hi All
My Viper has developed and intermittent electrical fault that's driving me mad !!! hoping for some electrical wizard to guide me in the right direction
Had my Viper for a while and just about trouble free motoring , but recently electrical problems have emerged .most of the time all dashboard light out with no problem ,
but now the brake and abs came on ( indication of abs sensor fault , changed sensors , lights still come on ) but now i also get the red airbag light come on , when it does , i lose brake lights , indicators , blower fan , radio , mirrors and hazards only flash on one side , nothing seems to set this off , it just does it randomly ,but the car still drives normally , then suddenly all lights go out and back to normal
sorry electrics are not my strong point so not sure if any of these are linked in any way
hoping for the huge amount of knowledge here may help me . please any help of where to start would be very much appreciated
cheers all
Les
( have also posted on vca forums )

[Viper]

How is your battery ? A dodgy old battery is known to cause random electrical issues

[viper2day]

thanks for reply
ok i think , same battery since i had car so probably 10 years old, but same every year , when i get car out after winter break , charge battery and drive it !!!!!!
cheers

[Viper]

at 10 years old that's junk, well worth swapping, I'm sure then some of your issues will disappear

Edited by Viper on Monday 11th June 13:16

[deVAS]

My car started doing some peculiar things and that was down to a battery, put in a new one and bingo all sorted..

[viper2day]

thanks guys, i will changed the battery , but curious if battery why would it be intermittent ????
anyone have preferences or model types on uk stocked batteries
cheers

[Dr-Bob]

As stated above change battery first if it is that old ... And see if that solves your problems

Baz

[viper2day]

update :

swapped out battery , no difference , only thing now which might make things easier is at least its no longer seems to be intermittent , the dash lights are now permanantly on with all the same electrical faults , so at least i can start metering everything

Thanks again

[deVAS]

I feel your pain, find a good auto electrician,a good one can save hours and cash..

[Ginja]

It may be no help but I had some strange gremlins on my old E39 BMW. It went back to BMW 3 times one winter as it was reporting something to do with an engine fault and putting the car into limp mode. The dealer replaced various parts in the engine and the last time I went to pick it up they were certain they had fixed it, brought the car round. I jumped in and it promptly reported the problem again. The end result was that after spending days looking at it their head technician discovered that the actual plug connection to the ECU was corroding. The pins were not connecting correctly in cold weather, but fine in the warm. He cleaned it up plugged it back in and it was fine from then till when I sold it years later.

My point being, perhaps looking at some of the connections into the ECU (Its fairly exposed after all), and under the dash might expose a poor connection or a short somewhere.

Mark

[fatboy18]

Pull all fuses and clean them too.

[vaughan watkins]

I have a gremlin too in mine that’s driving me mad, I will lock the car with the fob and at some point over the next day or even a few hours it will unlock itself, car has new battery, new battery in fob, I’m careful that the fob button it not pressed when storing the keys but guaranteed it will un lock itself, not good as the car lives outside 😏

[Viper]

maybe worth checking the wiring between the body and the door itself, with open/closing the doors wires have known to short circuit and even get chopped in two

[viper2day]

I FINALLY SORTED IT :-)

cheers everyone for all your comments and help ......... but at last SORTED !!!!!!!

It turned out to be a faulty ignition switch , the car started fine and drove perfectly but when the key returned to its position after starting the car the contacts were burnt so not always getting full contact ,hence no power to the auxiliary items that require power to work, windows , indicators, wipers, blower, brake lights etc
ordered new ignition switch , swapped ignition key cylinder , fitted new ignition switch and PERFECT !!!!!!! ONE HAPPY VIPER OWNER