13 replies to this topic

[d4v1dtyler]

Having an absolute nightmare with my 1998 mpi mini at the moment due to various electrical problems. The electrics where working ok, but the car has been sat in the bodyshop being restored for the last 3months and now dont. Because i dont know what has been touched or disconnected etc. I think the safest option is for me to presume that anything is possible whether it had been working previously or not.

These are the symptoms (All of these tests were carried out with the ignition turned on but engine not running):

Sidelights or Headlights on - The wipers start going (wiper switch is turned to off)
Right Indicator switched on - The wipers start going, and the right brake light also flashes
Headlights turned on aswell as the right indicator - Wipers start going, Indicator and Brake light flash very quickly

Any ideas will be very greatly recieved as the MOT is next weekend so ill be working on it this week to try and get the electrics ready.

Thanks, Dave

Edited by d4v1dtyler, 04 January 2009 - 11:38 PM.

[Sprocket]

I would pull the loom and be looking for melted wires

Welding - heat - melted wires??

[Shifty]

What was actually done to the car whilst in the body shop?

[d4v1dtyler]

Scuttle panel, wings and top dash rail replaced, then it had a full respray. Ok, could it be possible that its is a bad earth issue?

Cheers

[Asphalt]

Electrics acting weird - bad earth?

There should be two earth conections on an MPI; left/right in the engine bay (black wires).
Plus one behind the dashboard (middle) and two in the trunk and under the rear seat,
plus the one between engine & bodywork (which most probably isn't involved).

They'r prone to corrosion.

Edited by Asphalt, 05 January 2009 - 12:39 AM.

[Shifty]

Personally I'd start by checking the bullet connectors to the front lamps / indicators etc have been put back in correctly

Why can't you take it back to the body shop and get them to sort it?

[d4v1dtyler]

Yea i will check that but would that cause the wipers to act up? I would rather fix them myself than take it back. I hate leaving the car with people and not knowing what they could be doing.

[ZED]

take it back to the body shop and tell them to sort it out. you paid them right? and putting the car back together properly was part of the deal!
don't let another body shop get away with shoddy work.

Z

[d4v1dtyler]

Disconnected the earth cables on the nearside of the engine bay (as this was the earth location that all the electrics causing the problem are earthed). Checked to see if there was any voltage from any of the earth wires. On Two of them i am seeing around 1volt. The other four are seeing about 0.35volts.

Absolute nightmare!

[Tomf]

Just take it back to the bodyshop and make them sort it out.

Not being rude, but if your coming on here asking questions on what could be the problem then its best you just take it back to them, as i presume you paid for a job to be done and it wasnt done properly.

You dont want to start an electrical fire now and burn out your mini...

Edited by Tomf, 05 January 2009 - 10:46 PM.

[d4v1dtyler]

Its a forum, am i not supposed to ask questions? I am more than willing/capable to start pulling the loom apart, but thought id ask on here incase someone has had a similar problem and could tell me where to look straight off. The place that done the work are very very good and reliable, but they are only a bodyshop and not auto electricians, so personally i would prefer to spend sometime and do it myself for my own piece of mind.

[BLUE ITALIAN JOB]

if the car has had the skuttle and top rail out they would have to remove all or part of dash and colunm , as all the faults seem to be controlled by the stalks might be worth having a look at the connecter plug/sockets for wiper/indicators/lights and see if a few of the leads have not been pulled out of plug/socket and but back in the wrong place ,
can you get another car alongside and check plug for plug , or a copy of a circuit dia , or just take it back to the body shop and give them hell .

[DaveRob]

Note Sprockets reply

I would pull the loom and be looking for melted wires

Welding - heat - melted wires??


If you have had the scuttle and dash rails replaced then I would ask the welder what he did to protect the wiring loom that goes up the pillar on the passenger side. both the scuttle panel and the dash rail get REALLY close to this loom. when I replaced mine I cut the loom and pulled it all back through. I would suspect that the wires have fused together as Sprocket says and as these are the parts you have replaced its a good chance that if nothing was done to protect the loom, its prob melted together in the passenger pillar.
Just my thoughts

Rob

[s1xpr]

as mentioned before it sounds like the fault could be linked to the column stalks / wiring in that area, quite possibly caused by the welding melting wiring and causing a short somewhere.

get hold of an mpi wiring diagram, a continuity tester and test the wiring going into the column switches to see if there are shorts anywhere - if so it is then a case of tracingit back along the loom until you find the damaged area. - its also worth checking that the wires are in the correct position in the multi-plugs.

if you're not too far from me (Northampton) and want to borrow a column switch or anything else then let me know.

good luck!

ps - at risk of repeating previous posts, speak to the bodyshop that did the work as they should really get it sorted (especially if they are a mini-friendly).