8 replies to this topic

[seahuston]

Hi All,

 

I've just purchased a gorgeous 1978 Mini 1000 and start my first of many repairs...the front left indicator light.

When I started the project, the side and rear indicator would work but blink very rapidly. The hazards also worked.

Many hours later I'm farther from a fix than when I started.

 

The main problem that I could determine was that the ground connection to the bulb holder was broken so I soldered that back on. 

After playing with bulbs and accidentally trying a few dead bulbs it looked like it was going to work. Without everything put back together, the bulb was lighting just fine. 

Fast forward and everything is back on. I go to turn on the indicators and the entire left side is dim. I can hear the ticking but the bulbs are barely lighting. The right side works fine. 

Now, when I press the hazard switch it buzzes a bit and then the inline fuse (number 67 I think) blows. 

 

I've hunted around for a problem quite a bit so maybe all my probing caused a short? I'm not quite sure what could have caused that. 

I'm not quite sure what I can do to help check the problem but I'm up for trying whatever. Here is what I have tried:

• Taking the bulb out of the left socket: No change, the left side still blinks dim and not any faster. This (to me) says that I messed something else up while under the hood or is the socket bad?
• Replacing the inline fuse: At first it blew immediately again when I put it in but I put another in and it is fine. I think if I hold down the hazard switch it will blow again but the buzzing of the switch kind of worries me. 
• Checking the main fuse box. Low resistance across all leads.
• Checking the brake and reverse lights as I understand there are on the same circuit: both work.

 

Thanks for any guidance, I'm looking forward to conquering my first Mini repair job.

[adampat84]

I had a simular problem with my passenger side bulb (Side nearest the curb). with a mulit-metre is was only getting 1 volt from the live which was not enough to light it. I trace the wite back to where the feed for the rear/front and feed from the hazard switch meet mine was under the windscreen panel it is the very bottom set in this picture (green with red stripe):

 

 

from here the cable that runs to the front can be located i first tried cleaning the contacts, then replacing the contacts however it turned out the cable was shot so i ran an new cable from the same point and hazaa it worked..

 

I also had to fit a new earth cable as this was also rotted through..

 

Hope this gives you an idea of where to look.. i also found this on't internet which helps simplify things:

 

Edited by adampat84, 05 August 2013 - 07:48 AM.

[seahuston]

Thanks for the tips. I'm a bit hesitant to try the new wire but I suppose it isn't really that hard of a task though I'm not sure the best way to attach the live to the socket. Those diagrams are very helpful. That definitely explains why I can get dim bulbs but not blow a fuse until the hazards are on.

How did you measure the live voltage? Just while it was flashing?

How did you determine the wire was bad?

Doesn't it seem odd though that the same thing happens when the bulb out. It seems to me if the circuit was "open" the wire and such wouldn't affect it. 

 

Thank You!

[adampat84]

I measured the voltage while the unit was flashing.. got spikes of 11 volts on the drivers side only every got a max of 1.7 volts on the passenger side. trace it back to the flasher unit where i had 12 volts, then to the joint pictured above where i also had 12 volts..

 

cut them apart and used a piggyback spade connector to make new connections still had low voltage at the front.. identified which was the front connection by unpluging one of the 3 cables till i had the right one then made up a short lead plugged that onto the piggyback terminal and ran it to the positive side of the indicator.. Indicator worked so made up a longer lead and put it in permanently.

 

It took me ages to get it right how they should work in my head.. once that was figured out it made fixing them much easier!

 

Hope all this helps.

[domdee]

it could be an earthing issue! check the earths in and around the area

[seahuston]

Tracing the ground wire for this light is become quite a challenge.

Is there any issue with attaching it to a different ground point? I don't think there would be but I'm not sure.

I think I will probably go ahead and replace the wire, it isn't really too bad of a task and hopefully it fixes it.

Is there anyway to tell if the socket is bad?

 

The one thing that bugs me is that I get the same results even if I take the bulb out which should open that end of the circuit and remove any bad wire on that end from the equation? That is what makes me think that it is a short somewhere.

[spaulwill]

this looks more like a bad earth offering too much resistance, check the lamp earth as a starter

[KernowCooper]

Just a note switches that emit a buzzing kind of sound is usally arcing due to dirty or weak contacts

[seahuston]

All,

 

Thank you for the help. I finally got the time today to look at this. 

Before going into the project too deep I worked slowly backward and solved it pretty quickly. 

The light worked when the socket was not screwed to the car but the dim lights occured when I put the screws in. 

I tried eliminating the screw that goes through the ground tab on the socket and the problem was solved so i insulated the ground tab (nylon) and put the screw in. Hazards and indicators work beautifully!

 

Thanks for the help!