Two weeks into ownership, after persuading myself and the wife that its all A Good Idea, my new 89 C4 is suggesting it needs big money spent already!

Could anyone supply any thoughts on this scenario?

Past few days Differential and main '!' warn light has stayed on for maybe 10 seconds longer than the others at start up. Then last night/today light is staying on and sounding warn buzzer - and self cancels as soon as the car is driven away.
Car drives normally/light doesnt come on whilst driving.

I know from the PPI that there is "non serious oil seepage from front diff." and so phoned OPC to ask if warn meant low diff oil level. BUT told there's no 'low oil' sensor in the diff, and problem much more likely to be an obscure switch or connection fault - which they will happily try and track down (at £60 per hour!!)

So anyone else any experience with this? My local independent 'hasn't seen this before', and is busy for 2 weeks.

I also know that the transmission earth strap is broken - would this trigger the warn? I'm sure THATs something I could fix (was on the list anyway).

Finally should I avoid driving the car? (I'll need sedating...)

Thanks Guys - I know I'm being needy, but I'm at the early stage of NRCDS (964 repair-cost dread syndrome) where I panic at EVERYTHING...

Cheers
Johnny Graham

'89 C4 Slate Grey Metallic
'69 912 Polo Red FOR SALE
'00 Subaru Impreza Sportwagon
'83 Citroen 2CV Beachcomber
'85 Citroen 2CV Special

 

The same problems happens to my '90 C4. ABS and diff light stay on for some seconds after start and sometimes trigger the alarm but they disappear after an acceleration in idle. I know I have a faulty lateral-g sensor which triggers when I take a fast corner to the left.
There's no concern with diff oil ( no sensors on it ), but watch out for brake fluid level. Low level lights brakes pluss diff warning light. If you have your car checked, check central diff lock piston. Mine has been replaced twice because it was leaky.

Hope this may help. I think you can drive your car without problems. Just make sure the ABS works. On my C4 when transmission warning lights the ABS seems to be deactivated.

 

Thanks Emanuele
I should specify there are no other lights showing - just differential and '!'. No ABS warn shows...

 

I have got exactly the same problem as Johnny.

The ! light plus the dif. lock stays on for about 15 secs longer than the other lights after startup.

They never come while driving. As I never experienced driving/braking probs I thought it was the normal startup procedure !

Guess not! Should we worry ?

Thanks.

WSP964 also suffering from NRCDS

 

Hi,
A few months ago I had problems with my diff and ABS lights staying on after start up. They didn't go out with time - but with revs, staying on until about 2.5K rpm. In my case it was the clock believe it or not, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same for at least one of you.

In my case, my garage got a new clock on sale or return (£140). I'd recommend trying a new clock before you go the full trouble-shooting route.

Dave
90 C4

 

Hi,
One thing I forgot to mention. When the car is totally cold, it is normal for a couple of the lights to stay on longer, because the system needs to re-pressurise. I can't remember which ones it is and forgot to look this morning, but I think it is diff light + brake light. They will take 20-30s to go out from a totally cold start (i.e. first thing in the morning). If you start the car when warm (or even up to half a day after the first start), all lights should go out straight away.

Dave
90 C4