[cliogen]

Hi everybody, My name is Tony I live in U.K. summer and Spain in winter.
I am 75 years of age and have owned my girl with the big bum for 17 years, her name is Shadow 11 1981 in Willow gold and ivory.
She is fairly well behaved but now and then like all females she has to kick up a bit to show who is boss and that is what she is doing at present time by refusing to light up her warning lights when the key is turned on.
She teases me by lighting up as the engine is cranking though, thank goodness.
Recently I spent £3,500 on brakes and air con service but the garage who did the work didn't bother to bleed the height control system so now the body doesn't rise like it used to when the engine was started up. She isn't sagging at the rear though. Would bleeding the points on the rear cross member rectify this ,since it worked ok before the service. I can't take the car back to have them see to it because we are in Spain now. Do you think the warning light problem is a relay and if so where is it located.
Apart from these minor problems, my girl gives me immense pleasure when ever I see her and I am in heaven when she lets me drive her.

Browsing through the posts, I think this is a friendly and very supportive community with very knowledgeable people contributing and can see that I will be visiting regularly.

 

[guyslp]

Tony,

It sounds like your brake/hydraulic work was done well/correctly. As a general rule the rear should not need to rise up when the car is started unless it's been sitting for a relatively long time and the system has an internal leak that's allowing the height control rams to depressurize. If your car has the correct standing height and no saggy rear springs you should be fine. If the car is unusually low then you probably have sagging rear springs which calls for either replacement or the use of rubber spring spacers. Bleeding the height control rams couldn't hurt, but this part of the system is self-bleeding (although that process can be very long and slow if the system isn't activated, and if you don't routinely have weight in the rear it probably isn't). I posted the full brake/hydraulic system flush & bleed directions earlier on the "There may be trouble ahead" thread.

You can find the entire workshop manual for your car, and this includes information on how to formally check the standing height, in the RROC-Australia Post-War Technical Library, SY (Shadow & Derivatives) section.

My Shadow II has never routinely had all the lights light up except briefly when I'm cranking the car. If you are able to see them all light up at any time when you're starting the car I believe the bulb test is working just fine. Let's see what others may say.

 

[cliogen]

Thanks for the reassuring info Brian, the car has been stood for a long time unused whilst I was away.
I will have a look at the aussy site you recommend - thanks a lot
Tony

 

[eurofreddy]

Tony,

Brian is right.. To check your suspension try putting the car into reverse and drive.. It should adjust to each gear's pre set height.. If the car has sat for a long time drive it and warm up the suspension and it should take care of its self.. Also make a note to check around the rear wheels for any brake fluid towards the center of the car.. If one of your rams is leaking it will be best displayed there more than likely.

As for your lights I am not sure how they act normally on a Shadow II.. As long as they come on sometime during pre cranking or cranking I wouldn't worry about it to much. If you have further concern try removing one of the sensor wires and see if your dash lights up.. That will indicate if everything is working properly.

Like always if you have any problems just post..

 

[rollmech]

new member with

warning lights in panel should all come on when cranking

 

[jeyjey]

I don't like feeling "rushed" into trying to check the warning lights while cranking. What I do every 3rd or 4th outing is put the car into D or R, and then turn the ignition key to the crank position. The interlocks will keep the starter from engaging, but the warning-light-test-circuit will still come on and light everything up.

If it doesn't, check the relays. There are three separate relays for the various warning lights: one for the washer fluid in the passenger footwell, one for the coolant level and one for everything else. The coolant level relay gets its power from the "everything else" relay, so they both must be working for the coolant warning light to work. They are both located on a board under the center of the dash top-roll (along with a dimming relay for the ice and low-fuel warning lights, which dim with the running lights on). It's rather difficult to get to the board (particularly the back mounting screw, which is under a large wiring loom). When I had mine out recently I had to cut a slot in the back mounting bracket so I could replace the screw back there first (but leave it loose), and then push the bracket in under it. With the board in place I couldn't see enough to get the screw in.

Jeff.

PS: if you ever have the windshield out, it would be a good time to give all this stuff a look as its then easy to get to.