Jump to content


Photo
- - - - -

Lights & Horn Not Working


  • Please log in to reply
6 replies to this topic

#1 brownspeed

brownspeed

    Speeding Along Now

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 451 posts
  • Location: Manchester- Gods favourite city

Posted 21 April 2014 - 04:58 PM

My lads 1990 cooper RSP currently under rebuild- lights and horn worked fine when we bought it.

Now neither are working; the horn is an air horn; I'm going to try changing the relay later this week (as I can hear a slight farting noise when horn push is pressed) but why would this affect the lights? (even the dash lights are out!!). all other systems seem to be working fine.

because its extensively been messed with the wiring doesn't follow any obvious diagrams.

OH! I also checked all the fuses out- they're fine.

AARGGGH!

where should I start?



#2 tiger99

tiger99

    Crazy About Mini's

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 8,584 posts
  • Location: Hemel Hempstead

Posted 21 April 2014 - 05:37 PM

First of all, check the brown, permanently live feeds, which spread out from the battery terminal of the starter solenoid. One of these, possibly via terminals on the fuse box (NOT going through a fuse, and that is important for legal and safety reasons), gets to the incoming terminal of the light switch.

 

If you have a voltmeter or test lamp, check that you get battery voltage (about 13V if well charged, up to 14.4V with alternator charging) at the light switch. Switch lights on, and check that you still have 12V approx. If it drops to near zero, you have a high resistance somewhere in the brown wiring, most likely corroded wires inside a crimp terminal.

 

Please tell us whether indicators, hazards and brake lights work, as we can then do some more diagnosis with respect to possibly failed earth connections.



#3 Captain Mainwaring

Captain Mainwaring

    Camshaft & Stage Two Head

  • Banned
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 1,712 posts
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Local Club: Surabaya Mini Club

Posted 22 April 2014 - 02:31 AM

First of all, check the brown, permanently live feeds, which spread out from the battery terminal of the starter solenoid. One of these, possibly via terminals on the fuse box (NOT going through a fuse, and that is important for legal and safety reasons), gets to the incoming terminal of the light switch.

 

If you have a voltmeter or test lamp, check that you get battery voltage (about 13V if well charged, up to 14.4V with alternator charging) at the light switch. Switch lights on, and check that you still have 12V approx. If it drops to near zero, you have a high resistance somewhere in the brown wiring, most likely corroded wires inside a crimp terminal.

 

Please tell us whether indicators, hazards and brake lights work, as we can then do some more diagnosis with respect to possibly failed earth connections.

 

Oalah.... :-)



#4 GreenMini17

GreenMini17

    Formally known as Chris-G

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 424 posts
  • Location: South

Posted 22 April 2014 - 05:30 PM

I would second this. Check the connections on your starter motor solenoid. I have the older style where the soleniod is mounted away from the starter motor. I had exactly the same problem as you. Thought is wires it up correctly but my lights etc didnt work. There is a diagram/image on the forum somewhere that shows the correct way.

#5 brownspeed

brownspeed

    Speeding Along Now

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 451 posts
  • Location: Manchester- Gods favourite city

Posted 22 April 2014 - 05:55 PM

Right, not enough time for me to check any of the wiring tonight, I'll try & get on it later in the week.

 I did get 5 minutes to check what did and didn't work......

working; hazards, indicators

not working; horn, tacho, fog light, headlamp flash, interior light (to be honest it didn't work when we picked the car up- it may have no bulb in it)

bizarrely the lights worked when I went into the car tonight (including flash, dip and main beam, then when I next tried, they'd changed their mind and joined the not working list.

I think it was wired by stevie wonder- 4 of the 5 wires to the horn relay are of identical colour.


Edited by brownspeed, 22 April 2014 - 05:56 PM.


#6 tiger99

tiger99

    Crazy About Mini's

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 8,584 posts
  • Location: Hemel Hempstead

Posted 22 April 2014 - 10:06 PM

Ok, that is good useful info, so let us try to make a start. The horn, hazards, headlamp flash and interior light "should" be fed from the purple circuit, which is fed by a fuse from the brown permanently live circuit. So, we have an inconsistency, because hazards work. However, that probably tells us that one or more of the brown wires is adrift somewhere like my initial guess, but not the one feeding the purple fuse, and also a purple wire is adrift somewhere. Put a new bulb in the interior light and see what happens, as that will provide more useful information.

 

Fog light, for legal reasons, is wired to not work until headlights are on (although that may not be true if they have been bodged), so it may or may not have a problem of its own, depending on what else is found, so that one can be left till later, once the main lights are all ok. (Actually, long after your Mini was made, the law was changed so that you can now drive in fog, etc, with front fogs, side and tail lights, without headlights at your discretion, and in that condition rear fogs may also be used, as long as they go off when there are no headlights or front fogs, but your car will not be wired that way, although we can discuss that later, when everything else is fixed. I just put that in for completeness, in case some smart alec takes me to task for being allegedly incorrect.)

 

Indicators working says that wiring from the switch to each light, and their earths, is intact, as is the flasher. That is good, one less problem. There have been lots of indicator problems recently.

 

Leave the tacho for now, it may resume working when other things are fixed, but if not you will by then have more information to go on. But in case you have a spare moment, the tacho signal comes from the coil negative via a white-black wire, and there will be another of the same going to the distributor, or the engine will not run. Coil positive should have a single white wire, for unballasted ignition, or white-pink and white-yellow if ballasted, but you never said anything about engine problems, so perhaps I am needlessly digressing. There is also a black earth, a lighting feed (usualy red) and an ignition-controlled 12V supply (white, or more likely green via a fuse), but the details depend slightly on which tacho you have.

 

So the way forward can be to initially examine all brown and all purple wiring (I think there is some purple-orange too, with its own fuse from purple, but I don't have my wiring diagrams right now), which hopefully are still the standard colours. I am very reluctant to suggest purchasing a new loom, and definitely not making one at home (need hundreds of pounds worth of good crimp tools to do a reliable job), so hopefully you will find some simple faults, most likely corrosion at terminals. One thing at a time, and you will get there.



#7 brownspeed

brownspeed

    Speeding Along Now

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 451 posts
  • Location: Manchester- Gods favourite city

Posted 23 April 2014 - 07:47 AM

Ahhh thanks a bunch mate, I shall savour this at weekend rather than enjoying the weather! and if it rains at least I can close the doors.

I really appreciate the time you guys have taken with your help; thanks again.






1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users