Rear Lights And Indicators

[Guest danny_samb]

Hi all, having a bit of a nightmare, all lights and indicators were working fine. The front lights work but rears don't, and only the side repeaters work on indicators, checked all fuses and can't see any loose cables, any ideas?

Thanks

[megadodo]

You probably need to check your earth points, in all my years of working on car electrics it is by far the most common and "unexpected" cause of circuit failure. Where are the rear lights earthed, is it a good solid chassis ground? Is the main earth for the battery and loom in good order? it is amazing what will work via something it shouldn't giving the impression you have a good earth! Do some multimeter measurements between the battery earth and all the other earthing points.

[Guest danny_samb]

The thing that puzzles me the most is I have not even touched the wiring since it was working and the side indicators are working but not the front or rear

[megadodo]

Things can work loose, become corroded over time, gremlins are amazing creatures as well. I have the tool gremlin in my garage, you know, the one that moves the tool from where you left it last. Seriously check those earth points, the power must be there 'cos your repeaters are working. The only other thing it may be is a big multi-plug in the loom somewhere that has come loose but I can't imagine where that would be as it wouldn't be standard in most looms.

[Guest danny_samb]

Have tried everything and still no joy

[megadodo]

Are you anywhere near Cambridge?

[Guest danny_samb]

No mate sorry, Iv tried the earths all seem ok, maybe some moisture has got in somewhere, just seems really stranf that everything was fine then nothing

[Guest JimMearns]

As megadodo says it is likely to be the earths. Try taking a spare bit of wire from the neg battery terminal and touch it on the earthy side of one of the non-working lamps when it should be on. If it comes to life - there is your problem.

[Guest danny_samb]

I have tried taking a wire from the -ve of the battery and touch it on negative of front indicator when the hazards are on, the side lamps flash but still nothing from the front or rear

[Guest danny_samb]

Got the indicators working, just the rear lights can't get them to work but the brake lights do, any ideas guys I'm stumped

[Longboarder]

Stop guessing. Stop hoping that Fred whose lights went out had the same problem and work through each circuit separately and systematicaly. Remember it must be a full circuit when on. All the way from the positive pole of the battery and back to the negative pole.

So say consider the front side light. Battery pos to fuse in, through fuse to fuse out to column switch in, through switch to column switch out to side lamp in, through bulb to side lamp out to earth on car body through car body to earthing strap and back to battery neg.

You can switch on and test your way round the circuit at each junction point to see how far the lectric runs. Either with a meter or a low wattage test bulb. Check bulb and fuse first to make sure they are good. If the light does not come on there is a break somewhere. Find where the lectric gets to and somewhere between there and the next junction is your fault. Remember the column switches can develop a fault.

 

Nigel

[Guest danny_samb]

Thanks for the reply I will try that, I dropped the multi Meter on the bulb holder and got a reading, but bulb didn't light, I connected a wire from the front lights to the back lights and it lit the bulb but put the full beam light on, on the dashboard

[Longboarder]

I connected a wire from the front lights to the back lights and it lit the bulb but put the full beam light on, on the dashboard

There are four wires in 'the front lights' and more in the back. What did you connect to what? What switches were on or off? Was ignition on or off? What did you hope to achieve? How did you intend interpreting the possible results? The only thing I can say is current was flowing to earth from somewhere through the main beam warning light. I can't guess from where.

I think you should find a systematic logical approach will be easier to interpret than that.

 

Nigel

[Guest danny_samb]

I think the problem is the red cable that goes to the rear lights, I touch a wire from the +ve on the battery to this cable and it lights the light so I think it's the cable going to this, but the cable looks fine, very confused