Amber Warning LIght 83 308 GTSi QV

Hi, I'm very new here, but this is obviously a GREAT forum! This is my first post of many, I'm sure!
I just bought my first Ferrari (1983 308 GTSi QV)! Got it home and found that it had the dreaded Shift Shaft Seal problem. Didn't leak when I test drove it, but 2 days later it does! I bought it on Friday the 13th! Oh well, that will be repaired on Monday!

My question is that I have the Amber light (Left hand side of dash) light up when the car is started and then shuts off after about 30 seconds or so. I have read the other threads and it seems that this should be the "fan warning light". However, the fan is not on when this light comes on.

Now, the "cold engine" light (right hand side of the dash) never illuminates. I have read here that different years had these lights in different positions and that some years had the light on the Right side as a "spare" light. The light on my car is more green then yellow, but it never lights up.

The one on the left hand side (amber) lights up and then goes out after a bit each and every time I start the car. It appears that it is acting much more like the "cold engine warning light" versus the Fan Warning light.

Is there a way to check for sure?
Thank you all so much!
John

 

My '83 US has the amber warm-up light on the right. It goes off in about 3 minutes or 1/2 mile of slow driving.
The left side is yellow & is the cabin fan light showing I have the console fan switch flicked on.

 

Mine too.

 

Thanks guys! It is strange, mine seems to be opposite and it's an 83 model (built in October). I have read that some later models (I think) had the cool engine warning light on LHS and the "spare" light on the RHS of dashboard.

Strange. I checked again. The left had amber light definately lights up when I start the engine and then shuts off after it warms up a bit. The fan switch is off. I even tried to start it with the fan switch on (I can hear it running) to see if the light was off, that might indicate that the previoius owner reversed some wiring or switch or whatever, but the light still operates the same. On for a while then off.

Hmmm.. still stumped. I guess I can trace the wiring back to the sensor (or switch) to see for sure. But I was not really looking foward to doing that right away.

Thanks again!

 

You can always pop the instrument panel off & check the fan bulb. I know my warm-up light has quite a bit of slack in the cables. Probably enough to run to the other side of the cluster. I don't recall about the fan lamp.

For how to pull the cluster, search on Replacing the dim bulbs here & the tech section. It's fairly painless.

BTW: Mine is an October build too.

 

This is the first time I have ever heard of a "cold engine" light. In 1982 the 4 lights on the dash were for the heater fan, defrost, alt. and hazard. In 1984 it was the same (I have an 84 model and also an 82 owner's manual). Was 83 the only year for this cold engine warning light?

 

I have a cold engine light on the right in my 82.

 

I don't see it in the 82 owners manual. What # is it on the little fold-out diagram of the dash description? I don't understand why I am not seeing this.

 

Ditto

March 83 build.

Part of the WUR process.

 

It's listed in the US version 308 OM that use the K-Jet without Lambda system (186/80, 216/81, 260/83 -- all #20) -- is the OM you are referring to non-US?

 

Number 13 (amber fan warning light) number 20 (engine cold warning light). Except again, my #13 seems to be wired for the engine cold not the fan warning. The #20 in my car does not light up at all.

 

Okay, I see it now. I never knew this light existed.

My 84 doesn't have a warm up light. It has a rear defog light instead. Is there a defog on light on the 83 and earlier cars?

 

Nope on mine.

 

Tommy, the rear window defogger switch in my 1976 GTB is a lighted switch.

Barry

 

The rear window defogger in my '79 308GTB is a clean shop rag kept behind the passenger seat! Nothing automatic at all.

 

....which does nothing at all because the plastic rear window never fogs!

 

John Apen once told me that years ago they had a little problem with the rear window breaking from those defog wires strips.

My defog switch is now my oil cooler fan on/off switch.

 

1980 308gtbi

Upper left yellow indicator dash light comes on when the heater fan is turned on via console switch either high or low speed.

Upper right yellow dash light indicates a cold engine which usually lasts 4+ minutes.

I can't imagine any condition whereby the heater fan would automatically cycle for a timed period or any other reason. But I can understand a wiring reversal.

 

Hell, I can't imagine why anyone would actually need a warning light to tell them that the heater fans are on!

 

.......or a cold engine, for that matter.

 

Upper right light is my cold engine light.

Of couse, the fact that it will rev to 2500 when you start it kinda gives away the fact that you're in cold start mode...

 

Alfa Romeo did it too. In fact, the little heater fan light in my 82 Spider even lights brighter when you turn the fan on high so you can tell at a glance what speed it is on. Talk about high tech