C160SFG - 1986 Series 3

[Hobbawobba]

Buy a red bulb you tight git

Good to see you splashing some cash aye, Ian!

[ian65]

Buy a red bulb you tight git

Good to see you splashing some cash aye, Ian!

I've seen the light

[ian65]

After being encouraged to abandon my quest for thrift by Keith, I've bought some of these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-382-R-RED ... 19e770ff9a

and what a load of b******* they turned out to be.... they look red but the light from them is more orange than red..... looks like I'll have to give them a coat of nail varnish as well

[ian65]

Electrical issues

putting this up just on the off chance that someone has had the same issue.... very long shot I know .....

When I first bought the car and it had come out of it's 20 year hibernation, I bought a new battery and the electrics sprang into life.... well, all except the sidelights.
Whilst testing out the various electrical equipment I tried the electric windows and amazingly they flew up and down.... it was almost unbelievable how fast they were given how long the car had been off the road. The side lights and dash lights however, didn't work. I found a blown fuse but everytime I replaced it and turned the side lights on, it blew. Eventually Ramon and myself spent half a day trying to figure the problem out and finally did manage to get the side lights and instrument lights to work without popping the fuse, although we were unsure how we actually did this.
We then found that the engine was knackered so the car was put away in Keiths workshop for the winter. Next spring, I did the engine swap and got the car Mot'd but the windows have never worked like they did when I first got the car.... the passenger side one won't move at all and the drivers window is very very slow... unusable really.
Tonight I've tried to suss the problem out and reckoned it must be a bad earth. Keith then reminded me that he'd noticed when he had the car that if you operate the window switch, the dash lights come on, even with the ignition off.

I've run another earth from the body to the negative feed to the window switch and the windows are back to normal, flying up and down but then if I switch the side lights on, the fuse to the lights blows again. ... remove the additional earth wire and the lights are fine.
I've obviously got a massive short somewhere but god knows where.....

any thoughts?

[DKWW2000]

After being encouraged to abandon my quest for thrift by Keith, I've bought some of these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-382-R-RED ... 19e770ff9a

and what a load of b******* they turned out to be.... they look red but the light from them is more orange than red..... looks like I'll have to give them a coat of nail varnish as well

Ian,
I have used these type for various vehicles & find them good, they are cheap enough but you have to wait about 3 weeks
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Car-24-Red- ... 5aff654c17

[ian65]

thanks Pete, I may have to give those a go

[DKWW2000]

Just read your Electrical issue, I am thinking that it could be either around the steering column or under the console where a feed may have been used for the radio or some other extra, the other way to test (if not already tried) is to try each side light by disconnecting the power/earth & with a inline fuse from a seperate power feed/earth, thus confirming each fitting is OK?
I had a similar problem with headlights on an old mini where a feed had been taken for something, cut off but not insulated & shorted against the chassis at random times :x

[ian65]

Yes, good points there... I need to investigate further.... much patience is needed which isn't one of my virtues unfortunately.

[codge]

Perhaps a couple of wires crushed together somewhere.
As Pete says, bypass each section one at a time (doing each side light seperately), running first a new live feed then a new earth to each item.

The Haynes diagram is pretty useless for UK S3's except that it does suggest a common body earth - X 13 for left hand front side light and also the power windows. It doesn't point to where that is unforunately. But if the S2 diagram is looked at then the front sidelights earth at X -15 on the lower part of the left hand strut turret. (No power windows on Haynes S2 diagram).

This must be something like a high resistance short in the side light wiring......give it a better return and bang goes the fuse?????
Speculation in all areas of my thinking.......as always.

And then there's the funny behaviour of the dash lights......dooooh.

[codge]

The strut earth point carries a main battery earth as well - looks like it loops on to the starter.