10 replies to this topic

[Raggie]

What the actual (insert sexual inference here)? My wife just drove Camp Freddie for the first time (Mpi Cooper Sport) as our modern family car died and until the new one is delivered on Tuesday she needs to know she can drive it in an emergency.
Brought it back and the lights are on permanently (key removed from ignition and all switches off) and the headlight selector switch now seems to trigger the windscreen washers!
Apart from never letting Wendy drive the car again anyone know what happened? I’ve disconnected the battery and poured a very large scotch.

[Quinlan minor]

Did she use the headlamp flasher aggressively?

I'd be looking at the column switches and a, possibly coincidental, loose cable on the column.

Edited by Quinlan minor, 16 March 2025 - 06:58 PM.

[Raggie]

Swears blind used no switches apart from the indicator. The headlight selector switch is on the dash.

[Designer]

Hi,

 

Quite simple Camp Freddie was expressing his feelings about being driven by someone other than you Raggie.

I am sure if you give it a couple of days he will come out of his huff and start working again.       

 

Paddy

[Steam]

While I could make some clever sexist quip about female drivers, I would suggest looking very quickly for burnt wiring and shorted, specifically around the light switch and stalk. Anywhere that the two circuits are in close proximity.

[MikeRotherham]

On an MPI aren't all the headlight controls on one of the steering column stalks?

[Steve220]

Its back earthing through the point behind the expansion tank. You'll need to remove it, clean it right up and Refit.

[Steve220]

On an MPI aren't all the headlight controls on one of the steering column stalks?

Yeh, the opposite one to the wipers 😆

[viz139]

If I read this correctly the "headlight selector switch" on the dash( Headlight levelling switch) is operating the windscreen washer.  The reason that the headlights are on permanently may be that the actual  Headlight selector switch on the end of the stalk is actually in the on position! 

[Gaz66]

Strip it all out and Autograss it.
Boll**KS to the lights 😁

[Blumeanie]

My first car was a Fiat. Towards the end of my ownership, the wipers would come on if you honked the horn...

 

It also fully locked-up the rear brakes on me twice while driving along with one foot on the throttle and the other on the clutch (Manual gearbox) - meaning neither foot was anywhere near the brake pedal!

I assumed the thing was possessed, and I got rid of it. - That worked to eliminate the problem.

All this started after I suffered a fairly dramatic rear end hit by a drink driver, as it turned out. - He did not care to stop so I chased after him (as one does when in the teen years). He was quite a bit faster, but I kept pressure on him... he eventually crashed into a wall while avoiding hitting police in the middle of a road at holiday sobriety check point... I visited him in jail the next day.

Back on topic;

I second @Steve220 above: The MPI headlight controls are on the stalk. The only headlight related control on the dash is the headlight levelling control knob (labeled only with numbers).

The fog lights and driving light (if supplied) controls are in the pod above the heater box.

I would confirm the position of the stalk switch vs the wiper switch on the other side...

I cannot explain the wiper issue otherwise - except... (See above reference to 'demonic possession' - but I would not get rid of the mini!)