Motoring Discussion > Checking warning lights on a S/H car Buying / Selling
Thread Author: bathtub tom Replies: 13
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New Thu 12 Jan 12 20:14 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - bathtub tom
I may be spending the weekend as the 'mate' of a second-hand car purchaser.

You know, the bloke that kicks the tyres, sucks on his hollow tooth, calls his mate to one side and whispers in his ear whilst vaguely pointing to something.

On a serious note. Is there any way of checking what warning lights should appear at switch-on for any particular car? The owner may not even know if it's got ABS, EBA, TC, SRS, ESC etc. Different levels of the same model may even have different extras.

I'm trying to spot the ones that disconnect the fault warning light!
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New Thu 12 Jan 12 20:33 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - Meldrew
Get sight of the handbook? Might be possible!
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New Fri 13 Jan 12 13:40 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - borasport
>> Get sight of the handbook?

These days most handbooks are written for all the variants of the model and every diagram or paragraph has some qualifier such as 'dependant on model' so the handbook would not necessarily be that helpful

And what do you do about manufacturer fit switches that don't even get a mention in the handbook ?
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New Thu 12 Jan 12 20:33 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - spamcan61
I can't of one, without tracking down the user manuals online, this is certainly a trickier aspect of car buying than it sued to be!
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New Thu 12 Jan 12 20:37 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - Lygonos
They generally all come on with the ignition, and then all go off within a few seconds of the engine starting.
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New Thu 12 Jan 12 20:43 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - spamcan61
But if you don't know what lights are supposed to be there, you don't know if someone's disconnected one (or more).
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New Thu 12 Jan 12 20:52 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - -
These days i think you are inspecting and judging the seller as much as the car.

If it waddles and quacks there is a fair chance its a duck.

One of my tricks is to examine the tyres and the discs through the wheels.

Good discs and a decent set of not the cheapest carp in the world tyres tends to go with a good approach to car care and servicing, if they are rubbish tyres with manky discs then i either walk or the car will be cheap enough to warrant putting right the neglect.
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New Thu 12 Jan 12 21:07 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - Dave_
ABS was mandatory from 54-registration onwards but fitted as an option on most mainstream cars from about S-registration. Have a look at the master cylinder to see if there are any obvious solenoids or electronic control units attached to it, that should give you an idea. Everything with airbags will have an airbag/SRS light - steering wheel airbags have been standard on virtually everything since the L-reg Mondeo. Most FWD cars with 140bhp or more will have some sort of TCS - some that spring to mind are the Vectra 2.0 SRi and Cavalier/Vectra/Mondeo/406/Xantia V6 models.

Take a smartphone with you (plus a teenager to operate it, if appropriate) and look up the model spec on Parker's or in the other place.

Also, I agree with everything that gordon says about weighing up the seller as much as the car.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Thu 12 Jan 12 at 21:08
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New Thu 12 Jan 12 21:47 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - Alastairw
One way to check if it is suupposed to have ESP/traction control is look out for an off switch - there is usually some means of temporarily disabling the system.
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New Thu 12 Jan 12 22:22 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - Dave_
When I acquired my Escort 4 years ago, the eBay listing stated that it had ABS. It turned out not to, but to be fair I was still up on the deal (a straight swap for a Rover 418TD Tourer) and I'd driven 60 miles to meet the vendor halfway, so I had the car anyway :)
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Thu 12 Jan 12 at 22:23
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New Thu 12 Jan 12 22:26 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - Slidingpillar
Both the landrovers I had with traction control didn't have a switch. I'd not expect one although I know some of the more exotic cars can turn the toys off.
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New Fri 13 Jan 12 11:35 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - TeeCee
My boring old Zafira has a T/C off switch as did an Octavia that I owned a few years gone.

Seems more common than not to have one.
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New Fri 13 Jan 12 11:38 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - Iffy
There's something in the handbook of the CC3 about turning off the traction control, and possibly the ABS, in snow.

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New Fri 13 Jan 12 12:22 
 Checking warning lights on a S/H car - spamcan61
SWMBO's Zafira shouldn't have ESP according to the manual, but the light comes on at ignition on, then goes off, and indeed I've had it flickering once, when cornering in icy conditions. So it looks to me like it has got ESP, so even the manual isn't a sure fire guide - most manuals I've read are full of 'not fitted to all models' caveats as well, which doesn't help.
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