Help wanted

[wyn02]

Hi all. I've got a couple of problems I hope someone an help. 1st is that sometimes the break pad warning light comes on though there's loads of thickness on the pads but I've noticed that when it comes on I loose pulling power, then when it goes out I seem to get power back. Someone in work says that the car goes into limp mode?? What ever that means. Has anyone had the same problem. 2nd the hazards keeps going off after I lock it with the fob and causes the bat to go flat. Can anyone shed any light? Thanks

[hornel Z3M]

Hi Wyn. Firstly there is no such thing as limp mode. the light could be coming on because of a loose or dirty connection by the caliper. There is no way you lose power when the light comes on unless you have a faulty or dud battery. You say the hazard lights are flashing when you lock the car, do they continually flash or flash as they should to lock the car twice.

[Robert T]

Can't help with the first one. I though the brake pad wear indicator was a very simple circuit that just illuminated a light on the dash... It sounds like you have a loose connection somewhere - worth removing the wheels and checking the connections to both the pads sensors and the wheel rotation sensors whilst you're at it.

Second sounds like the siren on your alarm is not working. It has been known for sirens on the later alarm system (your profile says you have a 2000 car) to die. It is quite common for these cars to have alarm problems with the two most common faults being the bonnet sensor followed by the stereo anti-theft switch. If your interior light keeps coming on, then the door switches are likely to be at fault. It us also worth checking for water in the boot, as the tilt sensor is in the bottom of the left-hand well.

Cheers R.

[wyn02]

Thanks for the response, I'll chech all the sensors. When I said I loose power I didn't mean volt I meant speed when putting my foot on the accelerator. I don't know if it's coincidence but I seem to have lousy oomph.

[z3bedee]

I had a very similar thing with regard to the warning lights and lack of power. My brake pad wear and ABS lights came on whilst driving along the motorway and the car slowed down. Turned out to be the front brake callipers had seized. Two refurbed callipers from Bigg Redd and everything was back to normal. In fact better than normal because they had been sticking for some time and it even cured a slight wheel wobble that i had

[John Wilson]

There may not be technically a 'limp' mode, surely this is just a shorthand term used to express the well known effect of the power been cut to some default level when sensors are triggered. This happens commonly from dirty wheel sensors resulting in the ABS light coming on. The result is that acceleration is much reduced, but you can maintain a constant speed, once that has been reached, with no trouble.

[wyn02]

Thanks guys for all your help. Really appreciate.