16 replies to this topic

[Gerbil367]

Hi guys, strange thing occurred yesterday. The point i have used on my inner wing bracket to earth my spot/fogs and the heater got hot yesterday while out for a quick run. I disconnect the battery each night, so when I connected it again today (just sat still) the bracket at the earth heated up again - tested it for any circuit but no current going through it - any ideas why it would do this? Should I disconnect each thing from power and see if it continues? Appreciate any advice!

[sledgehammer]

Global warming apparently

 

or

 

fit another earth cable 

 

make sure connection to body is good clean steel

 

find a  nice place clear of rust

 

resistance = heat

 

ps - are you sure the heater is earthed on the inner wing ?

 

mine is the other side of the  bulk head

Edited by sledgehammer, 18 April 2015 - 05:58 PM.

[Gerbil367]

Cheers Slegehammer, Mine didnt have a heater when i got it, fitted it last year and used a clean point on inner wing at the time - it has been fine until yesterday, everything works ok, but know it cant be good especially with long trip to L2B next month. Will try a new cable and clean the earth again.

[KernowCooper]

You have a connection where the heat is with a high resistance as pointed out by sledgehammer above, strip and clean the contact points and do the same with the earth  strap in the engine bay

[Gerbil367]

Roger dodge, will do

[Gerbil367]

OK - after cleaning up all my earth strap points, earthing points on the body work etc, I finally found it wasn't that causing the heat!!!  Problem is I don't know what the part called that is that is heating up!!!

 

 

 

Its the gold corrugated cardboard looking thing!!! What is it and should it be hot just when I connect the battery up??  Can anyone see something wrong?

 

Cheers

[Alex_B]

Thats the dim/dip resistor, fitted to satisfy some euro reg that never actually came into force so can be removed with no ill effects. I cannot speak for how it operates and whether it would be getting hot with nothing switched on, I suspect not. Or what you need to do to remove it as it does need some wiring mods but I don't know them off the top of my head. There are threads on it and how to remove it however.

[beakerthemuppet2]

thats a power resistor... dont have one on my mini but a mate of mine has one, honestly i dont know what it is for.

 

we use them at work on occasion. they are resistors that operate at high current. and are only slightly resistive (often between 1-15 ohm) and when they get a decent amount of current passing through them they heat up, hence the corrugated fins to aid cooling (once got one so hot that the wires de-soldered ). so this kinda component is expected to heat up within reason.

 

as i said i dont know what is is used for in the car. if you have a multimeter or voltage tester maybie try switching on different things and seeing if a voltage appears at the terminals?

[beakerthemuppet2]

ah beaten to the draw!

[Gerbil367]

Thanks guys, thing gets hot as soon as i reconnect the battery and nothing switched on! Oh Bu**er! Im crap with electrics too . Guess I best break out the multimeter and start probing!!!

[sledgehammer]

this may help -

 

http://www.theminifo...t-problem-help/

[Gerbil367]

Thanks Sledgehammer, I will take a look tomorrow to see if I can figure it - not great with electrics but if i take my time, who knows

[Gerbil367]

My full beam doesnt seem to work now when I push the indicator stalk forward - could this be where the issue causing the heating has been?  Works fine if I pull back to flash only. 

 

So going by the attached thread by Sledgehammer, I can bypass the bulkhead resisitor just with a bridging wire/connector in the pink relay under the dash?  After that if the full beam still doesnt work, probably an issue with the indicator stalk?  Sorry - I did say Im crap with electrics!!!!

 

Cheers 

[Gerbil367]

Scrub that!  Im removing the relay and bridging the points located on the connector - Right?  And I repeat, CRAP at electrics!!!!

[Gerbil367]

Thanks guys. With regards the high beam issue,  I traced the blue/white wire back and there were no problems in the wiring or bullet connectors, but I cleaned up the connectors in the switch on the stalk, did the wiring mod and lights worked, no heating  .  Of course it wasn't that simple!!! I then tested indicators and they didn't work!!  As I had the ignition cowling off, I jiggled the indictor a little and they started working so I guess my light/indicator stalk/switch is a bit faulty.

 

I did find a weird bodge when I took the dim/dip relay off - the brown wire had a break in it and had just been joined together wire to wire with no insulation or tape covering the bare wires!!  Done a quick fix for now until I get another connector to make it safe.  Third wiring bodge found so far!! 

 

Thanks again for the guidance.  Im still crap at electrics though