1.1 Formel E "up-shift" light

where does this light get its signal from? The economy gauge works fine in fourth (top) gear but the up-shift light never comes on, in any gear.

any ideas? Thanks

The up-shift light is for folks that don't know when to shift for max economy by ear…

The upshift switch that I am familiar with was a vacuum switch that was in-line with the Distributor Vacuum on some early Diesels and GTI's that I saw.

It looks like:


As we don't have the MFA over here in the States usually, we did get the "UP-Shift" light.

I can remember reading about it in the 82 Road and Track…back in the day, and well my Brother and I discussed it at length (Both were BL Austin/MG/Rover) owners…He Thought it was a good thing.  I thought it was for folks that were new to Manual Transmissions..

Why? because on the Bug-eyes, Midgets and MGB's (electric overdrive) we could get anywhere between 45, and 55 consistently on highway trips, so we were shifting at the right time and driving it at a steady speed.

Now with the Price of Gas in the 70's over here, we didn't worry too much…. as 3 bucks would overfill my MG, and Bug-eye…what with that 7.2 tank.

Is it nice to see it work? Sure, I always liked Gauges that work.  Is it the Switch that some one removed for nefarious reasoning possibly, it is possible that the Dash Light is out Possible as well.  Look for the Switch to verify that it is installed, you can remove it and suck through it to see if the Switch will move on Resistance of a DVOM to Verify that it is working prior to figuring out where the issue is…but from what I have seen and heard over the years, it is usually either the switch or the wiring to the Cluster (you call Clocks) but I have heard of the rare the Lamp was faulty over here on this side of the pond.

Additionally to the info from Briano, if the same electricery as the 1.8 DX engined GTI there is a relay/logic circuit plugged into the fuse board whichs uses RPM, the vacuum switch and top gear switch to decide to light the LED or not.

On my GTI it used to work very occasionally and scare the beejeezus out of me, this flashing dashboard light. Flashing dash lights usually mean you have a big problem…..

Early-1800 said

Additionally to the info from Briano, if the same electricery as the 1.8 DX engined GTI there is a relay/logic circuit plugged into the fuse board whichs uses RPM, the vacuum switch and top gear switch to decide to light the LED or not.

On my GTI it used to work very occasionally and scare the beejeezus out of me, this flashing dashboard light. Flashing dash lights usually mean you have a big problem…..

Thanks for the heads up on the relay, as I have never had one of them critters, and I don't need a I D 10 T light to tell me when my shifting needs to be done or not.  

Flashing lights scare the bejeezers out of me at any time . Specially in my Rear View mirror.  

thanks guys,

my little 1.1 certainly doesn't have that vacuum switch present. Whether is was there originally or not is another question. There is a redundant 2-pin plug on the loom not far from the distributor that *could* be for it, if it was part of the original equipment.

Because there's a light on the dash that's not working as it should, I'd like to get it sorted and working again. It's bugging me that it's not working!!

I was at a classic car show today and saw another car with the same engine as in my Golf. That vacuum switch was present and plugged into the two-pin plug that's lying idle in my engine bay.

So obviously I *should* have that switch on my engine.

thanks for all the help