8 replies to this topic

[Cooperist]

My car is a 99 Rover Mini Cooper MPI purchased a few weeks ago. First issue was a faulty fuel gauge which either read full or empty and I was suspecting the voltage stabilizer until reading the topics on the forum which state that if the VS is faulty the temperature gauge will also vary wildly. My temperature gauge seems to be OK therefore I was going to check the sender unit.

Had the car out on Sunday for its first long run. Fuel gauge reading went to full on refueling and after 100 miles seemed to start working normally.

We then hit one of those very heavy rain/hail storms and with both headlights and wipers on full speed I started to get a smell of an electrical component getting hot after about 10 minutes. Everything still seemed to be working OK but I turned off the lights and the smell disappeared after a mile or so and the storm eased. I thought it was either a fault in the lighting or wiper circuit at first and since I had the wipers on intermittent with no smell I then tried side lights again and the smell of something hot started to reappear. I am stripping the dash out to investigate and found water had entered behind the dash which i am still investigating but I am wondering if the Voltage Stabilizer could have been the problem even though the gauges were reading 'normally'. Could a VS that has been stood for a long time overheat?

Are there any other components behind the dash which could overheat in such circumstances?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Carlos W]

It's possible the rain has caused something to short and get hot.

[firstforward]

I thought the MPi has at least one fuse box inside the car. I would check the fuses first for correct rating and to make sure none have overheated themselves through bad contact. Then check out each circuit from there.

[KernowCooper]

Have you checked the back of the light switch for signs of over heating and smell the switch could help identify where it came from.

[carbon]

Check the scuttle for corrosion under the windscreen rubber.

 

The larger windscreen rubbers on late models seem to trap moisture and very common to see corrosion. Then you get water leak, typically drips onto the radio and causes this to fail...

[Cooperist]

First a thanks to those that responded. On removing dash I found the problem. The bulb on the clock had started to melt the surrounding holder. That is why, even with just side lights on, the smell of hot electrics came back. It appears the previous owner had a similar problem and had just applied tape to the bulb holder.

 

If I can't find a replacement ( views on likely suppliers welcomed ) I will reassemble with no illumination.

 

PS All fuses checked and correctly rated. Thanks again.  

[gazza82]

Bulb shouldn't get that hot unless it too is the wrong wattage

[Cooperist]

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[KernowCooper]

Have lots of plastic gauges exactly the same as yours in the rubbish bin, the supplied bulb get way to hot for the plastic body,  the manufactures are using the wrong bulb and fitment for the gauge, its right across the Smiths new range of Telemetrix gauges with the plastic bodies