24 replies to this topic

[KnightOwl738]

Hi guys, need some help in diagnosing the fault here. The car is a Rover Mini 1992, 1275 spi. 

 

The car was starting and running fine before I touched it! On the front of the car there are 4 spot lights, only the centre two work so thought what could possibly go wrong.

 

Removed the grill and disconnected all the spot lights, connected the one outer light to the known working cable, turned the full beam on and it didn't work. Disconnected and all the lights went off and came back on again. 

 

Now I don't know what I've shorted but the car doesn't even turn over now.

 

 

 

I checked the fuses and one glass fuse had blown, I've replaced that but still the same issue.

 

 20191231_141148.jpg   41.61K   0 downloads

 

Here is a video of me turning the car over.

https://youtu.be/oCQP-bA63qs

 

 

Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks in advanced.

 

Edited by KnightOwl738, 31 December 2019 - 05:58 PM.

[Pops_Guild]

Ok so first up on a factory fitted 4 spot system 2 are for spot/main beam and 2 are “fog” lights. They not wired to come on all 4 altogether because, as I understand it the wiring cannot handle the load.

I’m not sure 4 lamps was a factory option on that year of mini but same logic/ care needed. If they’re an addition to the car then it will require additional wiring to handle all four at the same time.

Do you have a separate front fog light switch in addition to your rear fog light? If so then you could have a factory fit system which means the 4 is already setup to work as full beam and fog via relays.

Unfortunately it’s quite likely that by adding the 2 non working lamps you’ve fried a wire somewhere. You’ll need to look over your loom visually and then start working through the logical wire paths to look for the problem .

[Pops_Guild]

My suggestion would be to undo the additional wiring you’ve added to get back to square one, when your car worked.

[KnightOwl738]

Thanks for the comments, there is an internal front fog light switch to the right of the dashboard. Never occurred to me that the two outer would be the fog lights. 

I have put all the wiring back to how it was and it still won't start. Annoying as I was trying to fix something which wasn't broken and broken it! 

 

I'll have to take the front grill out again, disconnect all the lights and visually look over the wires as you've suggested. 

 

Thank you. Will post back once I've done that., 

[KnightOwl738]

My suggestion would be to undo the additional wiring you’ve added to get back to square one, when your car worked.

So I haven't added any additional wires, all the lights where already wired up, just the two outer lights weren't on with full beam. Thanks though, as stated above, will undo everything and check the wires.

[KnightOwl738]

I've plugged everything back in as it was and the car is still dead. Think I'll be calling the RAC out to have a look. Are there any other fuses (behind the dash) which could cause this?

Edited by KnightOwl738, 01 January 2020 - 12:54 PM.

[KnightOwl738]

Could it be the relays which I've blown? 

[Pops_Guild]

There are some inline fuses on some models of Spi. Could do with a full engine bay photo without the air filter housing on so can see which variant you might have.

Could be a knackered relay yes, could also be the in the light/indicator stalks where the issue is, it all runs through them too.

[KnightOwl738]

Ok thanks. I'll take some photos later and get them posted. Thanks again for your help.

[KnightOwl738]

Here is one photo

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[KnightOwl738]

Bulk head fuses

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Edited by KnightOwl738, 01 January 2020 - 04:25 PM.

[KnightOwl738]

Without the airbox

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Edited by KnightOwl738, 01 January 2020 - 04:29 PM.

[MikeRotherham]

Is the battery fuly charged?

 

Is there an inertia fuel cutout on the SPI? If so does that need reseting?

Edited by MikeRotherham, 01 January 2020 - 05:03 PM.

[KnightOwl738]

Yeah it has an inertia switch which I've pressed. It clicked.

The battery has been on charge over night. When the ignition is turned all lights come on and you can hear things clicking

[Pops_Guild]

Thanks for putting up pictures. This may take a while...When you turn the ignition on but don’t try and start the car, do you hear the fuel pump priming at the rear of the car? (It’s inside the petrol tank). If you hear that, that means the power is getting there and the fuel pump relay is working.

That block of fuses behind the air filter is an aftermarket change to replace the standard nest of inline fuses that are usually there. It can be a sensible modification but it means you’re likely going to have to get familiar with the wiring diagram and work out which fuse does what for yourself. Do you have a Haynes manual?

I can see what looks like an additional relay on the left hand side of your engine bay. One looks to be on the factory fit mounting which would be to work 2 standard spots. The other relay will likely be to run the other two lights. It’s possible that relay too could be wired to come on with flash/main beam or as I previously mentioned as front fogs. When working correctly you will hear them click on and off when flashing your headlights.

Did you say whether you had any additional light switches inside the dash? Trying to work out if the additional lights are wired as fogs or spots.