Hi - hope someone can help. Have just bought a pre-owned 1991 Mini after 20 years without, and am rediscovering the joys of Mini electrics.
Headlamps and instrument lights were working OK; I used the full beam switch, and (almost) all the lights died.
Still working: brake lights, indicators (including via the hazard switch); reversing light, horn, ventilation fan, interior ceiling light.
Engine still starts and runs fine; alarm circuit seems unaffected.
Not working: instrument lights, sidelights, headlamps, rear foglamp, front spots.
I've checked the handbook, and it doesn't look like there's a fuse failure which would take out this group of things. I believe the front spots were fitted by the previous owner; don't know what they are wired up to, or which fuse they are on.
Any suggestions gratefully received!
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RG
Has this one got the Metro-style lighting switch on the left-hand stalk? If so; check for a broken wire between stalk and column switch. They come away from the solder.
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Hi - thanks for your reply: the dip/beam switch is on the left stalk (along with the horn and indicator controls), but the actual headlamp switch is a rocker on the dashboard. I'll check the wiring on the stalk anyway. (Next stop, purveyor of Haynes Manuals...)
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I had a mini which did something similar. My lights went out as I was driving down the A5 one night, fortunately just as I entered a lit section or road.
All fuses were fine, turned out to be a common feed wire to the fusebox for both affected circuits had broken off inside its connector at the fusebox.
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OK - thanks for that. We're just going over the wiring at the moment. Have not yet ruled out the auxiliary driving lights as a possible cause, but the Haynes Manual is regrettably sketchy on the subject of their wiring.
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Check the wiring to the rear of the main lighting/rocker switch.The main power lead will be brown followed by the red cable for sidelights and blue for headlight circuit.It is possible that the pins have overheated and expanded and thus cause a poor connection to the switch.hth
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Many thanks. Haven't worked on it since Wednesday, but will get back to it tomorrow (after all, what are Bank Holday Weekends for...? ;^)
That rocker switch might well be a good candidate: it's obviously not the original one, and strangely, it seems to be wired upside down. That is, a bit of work with a multimeter suggests that when the bottom of the switch is pressed in, everything is Off, and when the top of the switch is in, everything is On.
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>>That is, a bit of work with a multimeter
Beware using a high impedance multimeter to check power circuits. Far better to rig up a test lamp using a bulb holder and a 21W bulb (a seperate front corner indicator unit and a length of wire from a scappy is an excellent test lamp).
The reason is that a high resistance connection in your wiring will not show up if you're only drawing the tiny current used by a multimeter, while you stand more chance of getting some voltage drop across the fault if you use a reasonable sized test lamp.
I've seen mechanics waste lots of time going round in circles because of exactly this effect.
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I get a feeling here that some of the problem might be an incompetent previous owner making electrical changes that can make fault diagnosis very difficult. It might be best to strip out all that wiring first of all so you can get back to something that resemble sthe original wiring diagram.
My neighbour has a Peugeot motorcycle with lots of wiring amendments, Goodness knows why, done by twisting wires together and covering with insulating tape. The only advice I've been able to make is to improve the quality of the connections, because they defy logic and any wiring diagram.
Sounds like a case of the "the lights are off but somebodies in".
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 26/05/2008 at 21:02
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