Help! Relay click, all clocks drop to 0, then back up, headlights remain on

[jonquigley]

Hi All

Ive got a 206 look 56 plate, 64k on clock.

Recently whilst driving, or stopped at lights, there will be what sounds like a relay click, then all dashboard clocks drop to zero, the digital milage goes out but a second later, the clocks spring back to life, everything returns to normal readings...as if the car was freshly started. after this, the airbag & seatbelt light remain on but otherwise no consequences. The engine note doesnt change during this either. If I stop & restart the car, the airbag/seatbelt lights go off again.

Tonight though, this happened again but when I restarted the car, the headlights remained on even though turned of at the stalk. Even more freaky, when I completed my journey, the headlights stayed on after I had removed the keys & locked it! I waited 5 mins to see if anything happened, tried recycling the switches, restarting engine...everthing else was fine but the headlight still refused to go off. So, pulled the bonnet and scurried in to get a spanner to disconnect the battery. Came back to car 2 mins later and the lights had gone off!

Had car scanned at local garage but showing no codes.

Any ideas gratefully received folks. TIA

[davidireland]

Check the earth strap on the gearbox.

[jonquigley]

Thanks for the reply. Had the earthing strap looked at today, all seems fine there. Any other ideas?

[danielr]

any random fault codes? (intermittent whatever from whatever from example?)


after the headlights went off, was the car in economy mode? or did they just go off on their own?

what about the next time you started it?

[richiepearce]

sounds like comms 2000 issues

[jonquigley]

Hi Daniel

No random codes of any kind. The car wasnt in Econ Mode (i take it this would show on the dash?). The lights went off on their own whilst I was getting a spanner to disconnect the battery. I started it straight away and all was functioning properly! I forgot to add in my original post, that when the relay clicks, there is a loud "beep" sound too.

Incidentally, this morning driving to work I had sidelights on. Sat at traffic lights and the click, beep & reset clocks happened again. Car running fine but headlights had gone to full beam (dipped) and couldnt be turned off on the stalk. They only went off when I switched the engine off at the end of my journey. Started fine later on and headlights behaved themselves again.

Richie: Whats a Comms 2000 unit? Wouldnt that show on a scan? No doubt they arent cheap to replace?

Thanks for your continued help fellas.

[john_h]

hey jon,

does sound like a comm2000 unit fault... this is the unit that is behind your steering wheel it holds and controls things that your stalks do and including the drivers airbag.

they are about £70 for a new, but that is for the basic...obv prices go up if you have auto lights and auto wipers etc.

but they do need planet to calibrate iirc.

[richiepearce]

The comms 2000 is the "ecu" that your lights wiper stereo and poss cruise control are connected to. it also reads the key and sends that data to the bsi.
The last one i changed was £180 inc vat from main agent,the price is dependent on variant. you can get them from motor factors but there are certain items i prefer to get from the dealer.

[richiepearce]

John i got distracted whilst replying so have repeated your post. The unit is plug and play and will not require planet.

[jonquigley]

Thanks for the input guys, sorry I havent had chance to reply earlier.

Whilst it maybe this comms 2000 unit, I'd like to narrow it down before throwing £200 at something that might not be the cause.

Another incident tonight on way home from work, but this time the engine cut out and wouldnt restart. All dashboard lights on, wipers on, rear screen washerer pumping(!!) headlights flashing rapidly and horn sounding intermitantly.

I turned everthing off, got out but central locking not working. Locked up manually, headlights still flashing rapidly, front wiper going intermit and horn sounding every few seconds. pulled bonnet, rapid clicking in time with h/light flashing from relay box next to battery. disconnected battery, reconnected after 10 seconds and all back to normal apart from dashboard clock needing resetting.

this is the most serious incident as the engine has never cut out before. It was a good job I was on a side road & not the motorway.

Any further thoughts chaps? Thanks for the continued support.

John