The Brava has been relegated to spare car status and spent the winter parked up waiting for the missus to pass her test.

Had to get the alternator reconditioned, but everything else seemed to be ok till this morning when the dashboard lights and indicators went at the same time.

now no indicators, no lights on the dash apart from the handbrake light (good to see that sodding airbag light go though!). no speedo, no mileage, petrol tank (1/2 full) registering empty.

bit wierd that they went at the same time? got the old Haynes out and dont find a commom fuse, but I am useless with those diagrams.

any ideas on a fix?

99 1.6 petrol brava

first things first check all the fuses but sounds like an earth point has majourly failed the car has 7 in total

the handbrake light is powered and the handbrake light switch earths it hence it's still on with that kind of failure everything else is earthed from the dash common earth point and maybe the indicator stals aswell on same one it's most likely the one on the drivers side a pillar near the bottom just under the carpet just lower than the dash if you have a scout around

thanks for that - bloody computer went down as well so havent been back on... will look into that tonight...

May seem extreme to some but first I would try giving the dash a fair wollop with an open hand. The dash in the Brav's is notorious for connection issues but for most a swift slap on the top of the dash resolves, at least temporarily. If not it's binnacle - out time and contact cleaning / checking.

Ozric-Al said:

May seem extreme to some but first I would try giving the dash a fair wollop with an open hand. The dash in the Brav's is notorious for connection issues but for most a swift slap on the top of the dash resolves, at least temporarily. If not it's binnacle - out time and contact cleaning / checking.

Click to expand...

When this problem arose with a marea, a friend who was used to driving older cars with faulty dashes thought no more as he done this. A small resistor at the back got knocked out but after that was found to be the cause of why it stopped working completely, the cause of the inconsistent dash was no more than a corroded wire near the bulkhead. A similar problem happened to me where i was able to drive the car but the speedo wouldnt work was caused by a blown fuse. That was 2 miles unrecorded Be careful if you attempt the clout method though.

last time i jumped started my car.Non of the dash lights would work.All lights such as Lights,Handbrake,indicators etc all came on on ignition..BUT when i went for a drive,the speedo,rev counter and mileage didnt come on.

Now,my battery has had it,due to the x amount of times ive jump started it.could it be down to the battery u think?
*Just to add,when i put new engine in,i used a battery charger overnight to charge it and everything came alive when i test drove my car the next day*