AU1 Forte, no courtesy light, no flashing smartlock symbol

[AMB]

Just got an AU1 forte Wagon October 1998 build. There's no courtesy lights at all, fuse is good, bulbs are good, and multimeter tells me that there's no voltage at the courtesy fuse socket. Also I don't see the smartlock symbol flashing when the car is locked up. All other electricals controlled by the BEM are working properly (except one rear door lock is not working). Any ideas or suggestions anyone? First thing I'm going to look at is the BEM sockets and plugs, giggle them around a bit. Is it okay to unplug the BEM with the battery disconnected? Can you reset the AU1 BEM just like the EF one, leave ignition on for an hour or so?

[POELWYK]

i have a 1998 Au1 Forte December build umm the no courtesy light i cant help u with but the Smart lock symble isent flashing i dont think that the AU 1 Forte has that mine dose not flash or anything

to unplug the BEM when the battery is disconnected is ok seeing theres no power in the system

[AMB]

Bugger, bugger, bugger! Been pulling apart the bloody car, and finally discovered the button above the left knee, below the demist button. What the hell's that for? For sneaking around the nieghbourhood at night time, or just to save the battery when you want to leave a door open?

[JC]

Originally Posted by AMB

Bugger, bugger, bugger! Been pulling apart the bloody car, and finally discovered the button above the left knee, below the demist button. What the hell's that for? For sneaking around the nieghbourhood at night time, or just to save the battery when you want to leave a door open?

Is your speedo also in 2km/h increments (most are 5km/h)? If so, you have an ex police car. The light switch is so you can have the interior lights off when the door opens (the police use this, though i don't know why).

[AMB]

Yep, speedo in 2km/h increments! Actually its an ex CFA car, hot chilli red Forte station wagon with the funny vertical slotted front grille. Gees you guys are amazing. So what else can you tell me about this type of car? Maybe i should start a new thread to find out.

[Mr Hardware]

Yep that's a cop pack for sure. I used to know all the differences, there's about 8, lets see how i go:
1. 2kmh increment speedo
2. Calibratable cluster
3. Extra switch for the interior light
4. Electric windows in the rear (so they can lock em)
5. Interior lights above the rear doors (not always)
6. Slightly shorter springs, usually yellow in colour instead of black
7. Can't remember
8. Can't remember
9. No it doesn't have a cop chip they're a myth perpetuated by 13 year olds, same goes with different shift points, 'tricked' diff, blah blah blah.

We did have an ex-cop car as a cab that was different from all the other ex-cop cars, actual genuine ex-highway patrol (yes everyone thinks their general duties cop car is ex hwp but this one really was, not like the rest of em) and it had a shaved head and higher compression ratio, and some other funnyness with the accellerator butterfly which gave it an exceptionally light accellerator pedal for some reason, and we never found out what sort of diff it had, but the wheel studs on the rear were a good 20mm longer than any other car. The V8 beater the cabbies used to call it, mind you this was back in the day when the HSV's were putting out 185kw, big deal.

[AMB]

1. 2kmh increment speedo YES
2. Calibratable cluster DON'T KNOW YET
3. Extra switch for the interior light YES
4. Electric windows in the rear (so they can lock em) ALL MY WINDOWS ARE MANUAL
5. Interior lights above the rear doors (not always) YES
6. Slightly shorter springs, usually yellow in colour instead of black SPRINGS ARE BLACK DON'T KNOW THE LENGTH

[Mr Hardware]

ALL MY WINDOWS ARE MANUAL

haha wut
even in the ye old EL days they had lektrik windaz all round

sounds like you've got a bitza

[AMB]

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

haha wut
even in the ye old EL days they had lektrik windaz all round

sounds like you've got a bitza

dunno. looks mint, all original. Could understand why CFA would want manual windows.

[JC]

Yep, sounds like it's got the old P20 option pack (or part thereof). Nothing special really, apart from the differences you've confirmed already. The speedo calibration is useful if you change diff ratios etc, other than that, if you get pulled over for speeding, you've got no excuse as those clusters are spot on!

[Mr Hardware]

Have a look on your compliance plate and see if it says OPT20 on it

[kcej]

Originally Posted by JC

The light switch is so you can have the interior lights off when the door opens (the police use this, though i don't know why).

Met a cop once who was first on the scene at a night time shotgun murder in Chermside in the early eighties. In telling me the story he mentioned that he parked two doors down and smashed the courtesy light with his magnum before opening the door. Obviously didn't want the extra attention the light might bring as he exited the car in case he was being watched. I'd say the cops would strike this situation regularly and have since included the "kill" switch in the police pack options.

[AMB]

Yep, P20 on the compliance plate. Thanks for the help and info guys, really happy with it. Yeh I suppose its nothing special mechanically, but being not very common makes it a bit special. You wouldn't know how many of these things are made per year, very roughly, few hundred, many hundreds, thousands?

[AMB]

Woops, sorry, meant to write "OPT20 is on the compliance plate"

[Mr Hardware]

I drove a marked up car (a VE, don't hate) with a stealth button - tried it out with full headlights, siren & lights, hit stealth button, everything turned off. not even the blinker would work, no interior light, no dash lights except very faint for the cluster. The stealth button was up near the sunnies holder/maplights area. Very, very cool.

[AMB]

Just went out and tried it, my button just does the interiors.