3200GTA Reverse Lights

[luisabel9090]

Hello all,

Long time since I do not post here, truth be told not too much time to enjoy the 3200.

Keeping she current, today the car failed the MOT check due to the reverse lights not being lit when selecting reverse.

I would like to avoid driving the car to the specialist in Madrid (100+ kilometres away) just for this, so any ideas would be very welcome.

Best Regards.

Luis

 

[CatmanV2]

Hello all,

Long time since I do not post here, truth be told not too much time to enjoy the 3200.

Keeping she current, today the car failed the MOT check due to the reverse lights not being lit when selecting reverse.

I would like to avoid driving the car to the specialist in Madrid (100+ kilometres away) just for this, so any ideas would be very welcome.

Best Regards.

Luis

Well start simple. Does it use bulbs and next: are they on the trunk lid?

C

 

[safrane]

It may well be the switch in the reverse selector esp if the car has not been used much.

Do a test for current at the lights with the ignition in the MAR position and the car in R - (Not with the engine running though!)

 

[luisabel9090]

Thanks very much for replies.

I checked the fuse and changed it. Then back to normal. MOT check was then OK.

Just came home, and while parking realized the lights are again off.

The fuse for reverse lights has also something to do with katalysator temperatures, so maybe more serious job is required. Specialist in Madrid will have to deal with it.

After all, is a 20 year car.

 

[luisabel9090]

Further on this issue, I changed the fuse a second time, hoping for an "easy fix", unexpected in a car like the 3200.

I have made some progress, at a price, which is to be determined.

After the second fuse change, the reverse lights work well, but now the amber "Check Engine" sign is also present in the dashboard.

Seems to me now that the fuse change is related to the Katalysator temperarutes in some way.

I feel the car working well, so I assume a faulty sensor might be sending wrong information, and hope my family-beloved 3200 will not need a Katalysator change.

The car used to work prefectly when it was used for the occasional long distance travelling, but since early 2020 it is rarely used, and I blame this "lack of excercise" for the problem.

As always, any shared experiences and suggestion will be very much appreciated.

 

[davy83]

i have not looked into this but I am thinking the catalytic convertor temperature is not measured? The O2 sensors are the only thing that measures the catalytic convertors directly. I am just wondering what trigger this catalytic convertor temperatures error? Do you have the code that the ECU is actually reporting?

 

[luisabel9090]

Thanks for your comment.

I am afraid I do not have a code.

The said fuse is, if I remember well, number 13, 25 amps, in passenger compartment (for left hand drive) floor.

Since the 3200 seems to work OK, no plans now to use it more oftenly, and I do not feel like spending one of my few days off at home to take the car to the specialist in Madrid, I will wait till the next inspection, in principle scheduled during the summer, to have this issue solved.

 

[luisabel9090]

I will now continue to tell my experience.

Once at home for my monthly days off, went to start the car, this time parked for two weeks, planning to excercise the car more oftenly, occasionally visiting the high end of the RPM counter thinking that having become a garage ornament is doing no good to the systems of the 3200.

First start I see the amber check engine light going off as normal. This was unexpected so selected reverse to check if the reverse lights were on, meaning, as told before, the fuse related to the kalalysator temperatures was still OK. And so it was.

Then, this meaning the 3200 is back to normal conditions, used the car a few days for "excercise" and though I do not believe on "easy fixes" on such a complex car, evidence now is that specialist will be visited on schedule just for routine maintenance.

Maybe this experience proves that using the 3200 is actually needed if we intend to keep the car as well as possible.

A problem if due to being over certaing age one starts to find uncomfortable going in or out of the car, and for the same reason has become more lazy to clean and wax the car after every use.