26 replies to this topic

[miniman207]

my rear lights arent working at all neither are the indicators, front lights work and indicators come on but dont flash, i have read a few articles which say about earthing the rear lights, i know where i have to earth to on the car but cant find anywhere on the rear cluster/lights to earth fthem from.

Am i being thick or blind or both????
please help im useless with car electrics and im an electrician!!!

Gaz

[minimadjonesy]

earth them by using the nuts taht hold them in place!

[miniman207]

tried that but lights still dont work, there is a feed getting to the lights but they are still not comming on even when i have tried every which way of earthing them i can think of!!!!!

[miniman207]

all the bulbs are fine also

[minislapper]

If the dash lights still work then it could be a shorting problem which is blowing one of the fuses.

Have you recently fitted halogens or changed the lighting units at all?

[miniman207]

dash lightstill work and there is still power getting to the rear lights so no fuse could hav blown i also checked these just in case.
i have even run a cable straight from both clusters to the negative on the battery but still nothing at all happens!!!

Gaz

[dklawson]

How do you know power is getting to the rear lamps? Have you actually probed the contacts inside the bulb sockets?

I run separate ground wires as mentioned above. I put a ring-terminal on a wire and place that under the lamp housing mounting screw. I anchor the other end to the car body. I' haven't gone as far as you by running them directly to battery (-).

[Dan]

Ideal, except that the lamp housings on Mk2 on Mini's are made of cast plastic, which the mounting screws are mounted directly into. There's a spade tag on the bottom of the lamp housing bulb holder strip which should have a cable fitted to it as part of the loom which runs back to the boot earth point under the petrol tank side lamp housing.

[dklawson]

Plastic housings... sorry.

Well, to provide good ground to a radio antenna I used a worm drive hose clamp (Jubilee clamp?) to hold a ground wire to the OD of the antenna's mounting shell. Are the bulb sockets for the Mk2 and later exposed where you could take that approach? If not, how about soldering a ground wire to each bulb holder? Sorry... I don't even have Mk2 lamps to look at among the spares in my attic.

[GraemeC]

Mk2 lamps don't have the spade terminal tag - these are on the Mk3 onwards lamps (with the reverse light).
The Mk2 lamps are deigned to earth through the mounting screw but it is a little hit and miss - I'm going to attempt to solder earth wires to the bulb holders on mine.

[Guess-Works.com]

MK4 lamps to be precise... and they earth to the bracket.... If the bracket is plastic as inferred above ( don't know myself ) then you will have to do what DK has done and take a spur lead to the body and earth there...

[miniman207]

yea i got a voltage tester and i have a feed to the lamps (took lamps out and checked if voltage was present) i have attached a cable everywhere possible on the lights but i am still not having any luck!!!
Give me a house to wire anyday but ask me to do car electrics its a NO GO!!!!!!

Im completely stuck with what it could be

[pikey7]

Assuming you connected the bulbs up correctly when you ran wires to the battery, I'd say it's not an earth issue at all. What voltage are you getting out of your battery? It may be as simple as a flat.

[miniman207]

i got 11.98 volts at the lights. the front lights work as do the indicators but dont flash tho. my reverse light works (seperate light on boot lid) i am at a complete loss!!!!

[pikey7]

where did you earth the voltmeter to get that reading?