2 replies to this topic

[grrrth]

i've just spent the last 2 days repairing "previous owner" damage to the wiring loom and many other parts on the car. so far all has gone perfectly including relacing 20 odd "twizzled" and uninsulated connections, bypassed fuses and resulting melted wiring!!!

i have managed to get all systems working as they should bar the front lights.

when on the sidelight setting, i get dipped beam on the front and tail lights.
when on dipped or full beam settings i only ever get dipped. this seems to be independant of whether the ignition is on or off.

one wierd quirk is that i get a flash of full beam when i slowly change from dip beam to full beam on the stalk. (just as both contacts are open?)

the problem i have is that the loom was butchered beyond recognition before i started and i've not even seen the setup working correctly! there are still a few areas that have confused me on the loom - near the distributor there are 2 white / black wires popping out of the loom and these have been linked together which seems odd but i don't know if it's related. the green / red wire (sidelights) is connected up to the dip beam wires currently, though when connected to the full beam wires it stops the lights doing anything!!!

any ideas? this is beginning to drive me insane!!!!

[Dan]

Disconnect the sidelights from the dipped beam for a start, they should not be connected anywhere except through a dim-dip relay on a 1988 or later Mini. This could be causing all the problems. Side lights should only bring on the side light bulbs at the front along with the tail lights and instrument lights, not the dipped beam.

As always, how old is this Mini? Nobody ever says how old their car is or what model. All Minis are not the same.

2 white/black wires near the dizzy are the LT dizzy to coil connection and the tacho trigger feed.

[grrrth]

thanks dan. the mini in question is a E reg 998cc Jet Black though it's had a replacement shell at some stage but this is E reg too.

The odd thing with this car is that there are no sidelight bulbs or provision for them in the wiring and headlamp assemblies, thus i assumed the sidelights used the dip beam somehow...?! i take it this is wrong?

I've been outside again to investigate symptoms more (as it's getting dark making it easier!) and it seems that i am in fact getting a transition between a dipped setting and full beam setting though in sun it was hard to see. they don't seem very bright though. there is a bright pulse when changing between dip beam and full beam settings and i can't make out if it's just that both the sections of the lamp are powered or whether there is more to it than that. the light seems to be a lot "whiter" when it does this pulse.

strangely i can get dipped beam and full beam on the sidelight setting but only when the ignition is off, when the ignition is on, i only get dipped beam. odd.

regarding the white / black wires, they're not connected to the coil or distributor, just about 2" long out of the loom and then they're crimped together. this would make sense if it was purely for the tacho signal as i have no tacho so it wouldn't have shown up!

Edited by grrrth, 09 April 2007 - 07:11 PM.