XM - not the big red light of doom but what is it?

[DSdriver]

There is a little red light on the left hand end of the row of switches with the hazard lights etc. 

I only noticed it because it is now on whereas before it wasn't. My diagnosis of this has got as far as the fact that I let my wife use the car without telling her not to touch anything that looks like a switch. 

I checked my (now loose leaf) owners manual and all the pictures of that part of the dash just show a blank panel.

I suppose that Citroen head office must have subcontracted the publishing of the UK version of the owners handbook to our dear friends at Haynes.

Why have a warning light without any indication of what its purpose is? Yeh, because its a Citroen.

If you haven't got a clue either, just let your imagination run riot and we can all have a giggle.

[vulgalour]

That's a warning light to tell you everything is fine, a cause of consternation with a Citroen.

[Pillock]

It's the light that illuminates to show the light on the left hand end of the row of switches with the hazards lights etc is working.

[richardmorris]

Does it have a symbol on it?

[FakeConcern]

Do you mean this?

[DSdriver]

Yep that's the one 

[cort1977]

Alarm tell tale blinker type thing?  

 

Does the car run OK?   If yes, masking tape?

[FakeConcern]

Alarm.

 

Turn on ignition & quickly press the button next to it. Maybe.

[DSdriver]

Cheers. I'll give it a go tomorrow and report back!

 

 

Does the car run OK?   If yes, masking tape?

 

I was thinking of something more permanent 

[forddeliveryboy]

I've had Xantias, it could be someone has activated the internal sensors for the alarm which could be cancelled either by pushing a button or running through a daft sequence of events with the key and other buttons and so on.

 

Check with the FCF - someone on there will tell you more than you ever wished to know about it, but you'll learn how to get rid of it without pulling the thing out and causing potential elecrtonic PSA paroxysms.

 

I hate all alarms, especially when they're hard-wired into ECUs as on some older Audis (and perhaps many later ones too).

[dollywobbler]

It is the alarm tell-tale. The reset procedure needs learning. I've had to do it a couple of times on mine, but can't actually remember what the process is now.

[beko1987]

Yep, alarm telltale. My ZX has one built into the clock binnacle

[stuboy]

self destruct button

[Pillock]

[rml2345]

It's to indicate that you have awoken a tiny Frenchman who lives in the dashboard and survives entirely on mints and Ginsters crumbs. Expect some sort of occasional ridiculous outburst like "Overheating" when the engine is off or "Suspension failure" as you're doing 70 on the motorway. 

[brownnova]

It could be the pre warning light warning light. The one that comes on to tell you that a warning light may come on imminently to warn you of something you need warning about, but is not yet at a sufficient level of alarm to warn you off exactly what the warning will be about.

[spike60]

I didn't realise alarms were deemed necessary on Citroens.

[purplebargeken]

It has illuminated because it just wanted to perturb an English person. 

[purplebargeken]

A French person would just go Pfffttt!

[babydriver]

A Bullshit alarm, The wife has had some girlie friends in the car talking about expensive handbags and how to convince hubby it was 10p in a charity shop.

[Pillock]

I didn't realise alarms were deemed necessary on Citroens.

The light comes on to show nothing else is broken, and the car is at risk of being stolen.

If any other warning lights are on then the red light goes out because the other warning lights act as a deterrent.

[Partridge]

A lot of '90s cars seem to have similar tell tale lights for the alarm. Mine has one which works when it feels like it...Not sure if the alarm works or not when the light is off, but nobody is going to nick mine...

 

This thread can be summed up with two words: Because Citroen.

[DSdriver]

A Bullshit alarm, The wife has had some girlie friends in the car talking about expensive handbags and how to convince hubby it was 10p in a charity shop.

 

You could be closer to the truth than you ever imagined.

 

BrownNova This is brilliant

 

 

It could be the pre warning light warning light. The one that comes on to tell you that a warning light may come on imminently to warn you of something you need warning about, but is not yet at a sufficient level of alarm to warn you off exactly what the warning will be about.

[DSdriver]

OK, the ignition on and press the button next to the light didn't change anything so I disconnected and reconnected the battery and then locked and unlocked the doors (with the key because the plipper isn't working this week) and that seems to have sorted things out. It also gave me the chance to set the clock to BST and reinsert the radio code. Hopefully that completes my maintenance schedule for this year. 

[DSdriver]

Thread resurrection because it's done it again. Only this time the disconnect battery and lock/unlock routine hasn't worked and whenever I open a door the headlamps flash. Could this be caused by low battery (I have just driven 20 odd miles so it should have charged up a bit) or the fact that a helpful friend tried to put the jump leads on the wrong way around?

[martc]

It's a warning light to tell you that in approx. 1 year 4 months time your headlights will flash when you open a door.

 

Surprisingly for Citroen it was remarkably accurate in it's warning.

[Bren]

It comes on when no other idiot lights are illuminated.

 

It a reminder to enjoy it while it lasts.

[beko1987]

The zx did this when the alarm was going off (but the sounder had been disconnected so no siren)

 

It means the electrical cheese is getting low, feed it some more...

 

(i live in fear of this now I've got the complicated xantia now, I get around the issue by never locking it...)

[Rod/b]

Do these have a key switch on the slam panel hidden under a blanking plate for disabling the alarm like on the ZX? There's one on my Volcane but i'm scared of actually switching it in case it's actually le sweetch disablameunt du voiture permeunantaimant. Because Citroen.

[Rocket88]

Oh FFS, just drill a hole through the bastard thing................................