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#1 rob mini

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Posted 15 October 2004 - 04:58 PM

Right i was on a country lane last nite in the fog and handily my headlights stopped working on dipped beam so i had to drive with sidelights on very very slowly. i then played with the stalk and found i had main beam when i pulled the stalk as to flash my lights. So this mornin i came to fix it - put a new switch on and it sorted it but when i checked over the wiring the brown ( i assume to be the earth ) has got most of its plastic coating melted off and when i was putting the switch back it touched the mounting plate in the middle of the dash followed by lots of sparks and some smoke. please help!

rob

#2 cowboy

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Posted 15 October 2004 - 05:53 PM

first thing you want to do Rob is disconnect the negative lead on the battery before you do any work on the electrics on your mini....

sounds like the switch shorted out the wire, don't forget to get it changed..

#3 rob mini

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Posted 15 October 2004 - 05:58 PM

right just fixed it as far as i can see....

replaced the switch and cut out the section of wire that has the plastic casing melted. have i done right?

rob

#4 Dan

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Posted 15 October 2004 - 10:27 PM

Sounds alright, but do check as much of the loom as is practical for further melting damage. Brown is direct unfused live off the battery in a British Standard car wiring scheme (yes it is a real British Standard) so I'm not surprised you had big sparks! Brown is earth in German cars like VW's and lots of Vauxhalls (most are re-badged Opels really).

#5 cowboy

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Posted 15 October 2004 - 10:37 PM

sounds like you have, and as dan says have a good check of teh rest of teh loom, for any melting damage

#6 rob mini

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Posted 15 October 2004 - 11:19 PM

to b honist i think the heater has probably doen it due to the way it is and there being far too much slack on the cables. will look when i have some daylight time off

rob

#7 Dan

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Posted 15 October 2004 - 11:35 PM

I doubt the heater is capable of getting hot enough to melt PVC automotive cable. The problem with the light switch is very common because it is only just rated high enough to cope with the circuit. The rocker switches in the Mini are rated 16A, and the main light switch carries about 15 or so most of the time. It doesn't help that the lightswitch is the one used for the longest continuous time. They all go eventually, normally when the car is about 10 years old. And when the switch melts, the internal short inside it can draw so much power that it will melt the cable too. That is probably what has happened here. You can help the situation by shifting the high and low beam circuits onto relays. This drastically reduces the load at the switch.




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