Yellow Triangle Warning Light

Rob_N

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Hi... Car is a 2007 C200 auto diesel avantgarde, now on 112K miles.

This morning the yellow triangle warning light came on whilst I was on a very busy A road - couldn't get off for a mile or so. No other warning lights came on and there were no other apparent problems. I stopped when I could and turned off the engine. I restarted the car and the warning light has gone off -everything seems normal.

Reading through the various threads on here it seems that this light shows problems with the traction control system but there was no question of slipping and sliding this morning... it was wet but the A470 is a good quality road.

Obviously I will keep a close eye on this but in the meantime is it something I should be worried about? Pleased to hear and as always most grateful for any advice.

Rob
 

Naraic

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When it came on did it stay on? If yes then it is indicating a problem in the system...not that conditions were slippery.
 

television

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Do not worry about it, it just kicked in and did not self extinguish, the restart did it and it may never do it again :D
 

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I call it the "idiot light" if you're driving like one then it's there to remind you...;-)

That is if it comes on when your pressing hard on the loud pedal or trying to knock a few tenths off of your best lap time. If however it stays on then as per above you have an issue that needs looking at.
 

television

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If the lamp comes back on he has an issue, and not before that, many of these things can latch and cannot reset with out a restart, more so in wet weather.

At this stage I still say it a no issue thing, all of mine have done similar things, only to never do it again.
 
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Rob_N

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Thanks, all. I like Blobcat's reply.... Hahaha! But I'm too ****** mean to go fast with diesel at six pounds a gallon!! A nice steady 60 is my normal A road speed. I will keep a close eye on it.

Rob
 

whitenemesis

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If the lamp comes back on he has an issue, and not before that, many of these things can latch and cannot reset with out a restart, more so in wet weather.

At this stage I still say it a no issue thing, all of mine have done similar things, only to never do it again.

Your cars do seem to suffer numerous one-off errors Malc (from reading your posts in the past) :shock:
 

Naraic

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Thanks, all. I like Blobcat's reply.... Hahaha! But I'm too ****** mean to go fast with diesel at six pounds a gallon!! A nice steady 60 is my normal A road speed. I will keep a close eye on it.

Rob

It's not the driving along that will get this lit...just starting from a junction will do it if there's mud about.

Anyway as TV says, don't worry unless it happens again...then get the codes read.
 

drmw

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I had several one off, never to be repeated warning lights, messages & oddities - bizarre ABC message, comand switching itself off - I honestly cannot recall but there were quite a few more, none of them ever to reappear.

I suspect Microsoft had a hand in the design as a reboot (as in restart the car) made them go away as is often the case with Windows in all its demonic guises.
 

star

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We had a customer who reported the same triangle warning as this, turns out that he was pushing the traction button at the same time as the locking button on the dash.
 
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television

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Your cars do seem to suffer numerous one-off errors Malc (from reading your posts in the past) :shock:

I have replied to many on here with the same answer on "one offs" and I think that in everyone that I have answered this has been the case :D

Yes I have had some messages in my time lie distronic not available, ABC, parking assist, in every case all in very wet conditions, again as with anything digital normal service cannot be resumed till a power down (switch off)

I just hate it when members are told they must have the codes read out with no real foundation for saying so, or lacking the knowledge to know how these faults can clear.
 

Naraic

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I said get the codes read...if it happened again. Problem?

Of course if you'd rather we left all tech queries to you...fair enough...fill your boots.
 
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television

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I said get the codes read...if it happened again. Problem?

It was not directed towards you, perhaps out of place here, but this is so often the answers that come up ;)
 

EmilysDad

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We had a customer who reported the same triangle worming as this, turns out that he was pushing the traction button at the same time as the locking button on the dash.

EmilysMum has done the same thing in her Smart ...... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Her car had had problems with the brake light switch which lit both the ESP & ABS lights, so when the ESP 'just came back on again' she just assumed that there was a fault still. :roll:
 

television

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I said get the codes read...if it happened again. Problem?

Of course if you'd rather we left all tech queries to you...fair enough...fill your boots.

Not at all and you know that, I just said leave it and see, hardly technical was it, just basic
 

whitenemesis

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Anything that brings up a warning light on the dash will have an error code stored for it. It may well be a one off but if you don't know what that error was how do you know it's only happened the once? There are any number of conditions that could trigger a given light, they may be related but not always the same.

Personally I would want to know why the light came on. With that knowledge I would then decided if I should do anything about it.
 

television

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Anything that brings up a warning light on the dash will have an error code stored for it. It may well be a one off but if you don't know what that error was how do you know it's only happened the once? There are any number of conditions that could trigger a given light, they may
be related but not always the same.

Simple the lamp will come on again if there is a real fault

Personally I would want to know why the light came on. With that knowledge I would then decided if I should do anything about it.

I will answer as politely as I can :D

I have spent a life time in electronics, and thanks to folk like you I have taken a lot on money from those with little understanding of what can happen, the cure and what can be done.

Cars these days contain more electronics than actual car components, with almost every part electronically controlled in some way. Digital things are great when working, but so many unanswered questions, sure we know the cure, that is to power down. I think that I can say that on the last 50 post of this nature my answer has been "ignore it for now it may never do it again" and I have not so far been proved wrong to my knowledge on this.

Strange how a radio or comand can lock up, and I give that answer without members having any concern that it may do it again, for again they have not done it again.

Lets say as in your case you want to know, well not everyone wants to spend the £40 to £100 to find out, plus the time spent in doing so. Take this case and you plug the car in, STAR can only tell you part of what went on, for in all STAR read outs you must be able to read between the lines. STAR will not tell you exactly, so sensor ? ASR ECU? if it is a poor connection STAR cannot tell you that, and to this end we get so many post saying "my car has just been into MB and they have replaced XXX and YYY but it is still the same.

Sure my SL drove me nuts with the ABC message "visit workshop" the car drove fine with no ill effects at all, but being digital it had locked up and you could not use the buttons till a restart was done. Now in this case it was not a 1 off, it could happen at any time going weeks at times and then every trip on others, sure I fixed that but the fault was not what STAR said by a long way.
Some 3 years later it did it just once, just like many members cars, I have told them the same thing "see if it does it again" and still no one has come back again with the same fault.

I will give you another example with my CL. In very wet conditions it may flash up parking assist unavailable, am I bothered, No. I know that water has got into a sensor offside front. This is not the parking sensors but the system that guides you into a parking slot, as far as I am concerned the fault can stay there till I have the wheel line off for some other reason.

The fault in the OP's car is not life threatening, hardly any danger angle to it, and the car will keep going without any damage taking place if the fault comes back.

So be happy and an optimist like me :D
 

whitenemesis

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I'm not bothering to read your missive as you have completely missed my point,as demonstrated by you bold text in my quoted post.
 
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television

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I'm not bothering to read your missive as you have completely missed my point,as demonstrated by you bold text in my quoted post.

Thats fine by me as you wrote it out contradicting your self :D
 


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