Rear Lights and Periodic Starting Issue

[cheezy_munkey]

Hi,

I'm looking for to see if anyone can give me a started for 10 on how to diagnose rear light problems. If anyone has had similar and has any idea what it may be. I noticed last week that my offside rear wasn't working. I changed bulb but still nothing. I tried multimeter on the terminals and it was getting nothing. I took the lens off my nearside one to compare it and make sure I was testing the correct terminals and the nearside one was showing voltage. During my testing I had my friend in the front turning the lights on and off. On about the 3rd time he did it the nearside one stopped working too. I checked with multimeter and it's no longer getting voltage. The brake lights are both working and on the same but so I assume that that means it's not an earthing problem as the stop light will be using the same earth. I've checked the connections at the switch and they seem secure. Also checked the wire under the car and it visually looks ok. Oh yeah, meant to say, the number plate light is not lighting up either.

The other thing I wanted to ask about was that periodically my car won't start. When I pull the starter button I get a whiring, hairdryer like noise and nothing else. It's quieter that the usual starting noise and I'm pretty sure the engine isn't turning. I can normally fix it by using the starter handle to start it and thereafter the button will tend to work again until the next time. It did it today. That was the first time it had done it in 2 months so it's not exactly really often but would be good to get to the bottom of what it is.

Thanks for all that.
Paul.

[simmitc]

Check all the bullet connections for the lights. You will find them inside the boot, under the wooden floor, on the right hand side. For each circuit, and single wire will come from the front of the car and then one wire will go to the right hand light, one to the left hand light, and one to the number plate light. They should be red. It should be possible to pull all the connectors out from the joint, clean them with emery cloth, and push them back in. They should come out with some resistance, but still easily, and go in firmly. It's worth cleaning the inside of the junction bit as well - or just buy a new one, they are cheap enough. Smear the bullets with vaseline prior to reassembly. Once you have identified the red wire from the front of the car, you can check the voltage on that just to confirm that the rest of the cable and the switch are OK.

Check the earth connections anyway.

Starter - it could be the motor getting lazy, a dirty bendix drive, or a solenoid playing up (solenoid unlikely if the motor is actually spinning). Could even be low voltage from a failing battery. Good luck.

[beero]

Agree with Simmitc, check all the bullet connectors in the boot, renew the sleeves if corroded as it is very difficult to clean them inside. The light switch is okay if the front lights work. There is another bullet connector (red wires) in the engine bay near the offside damper where the rear loom connects to the main loom.
Starter is most likely to be a dirty/oily bendix as suggested. Clean it but do not oil it.

[bmcecosse]

One minute you say 'pull' and next you say 'button'.....so is it a pull start - or a solenoid?? But I agree with the others - dirty/sticky Bendix. Remove and clean - and DO NOT oil it.......

[cheezy_munkey]

Thanks very much for that. I'll give it a look tomorrow.

Appreciate your help.

[cheezy_munkey]

Oops sorry. Yeah. It's a pull start.

My head's mush at the moment. Too much heat.

Looks like that's not going to be a problem for the immediate future .

[bmcecosse]

Too much heat?? You must be in a v different Hamilton to the one I know.......was 10/11 degrees today.....dropping to 7 in the evening......on ! July.... Must be the global warming I guess......

[cheezy_munkey]

Global Warming. Scotland cooling.

[cheezy_munkey]

Hi,

I've checked the bullet connectors and they seemed fine. I cleaned them up til they were shining. I connected a long wire directly to the battery's earth to rule out anything to do with earth problems and connected the other end to the negative on my multimeter. I then tested every bullet in turn with the positive connector. The red wires showed 0.02V but that might just be a fluctuation.

Hi Beero, re "There is another bullet connector (red wires) in the engine bay near the offside damper where the rear loom connects to the main loom", I couldn't find that one. The rear loom seems to branch off of the main loom if that makes sense.

To clarify, the front lights are working fine. Does that mean that I need to replace the rear loom? Sounds like a whole new can of worms if I do.

Cheers
Paul.

[bmcecosse]

It certainly won't need a loom - keep looking!

[simmitc]

If the meter is correct at 0.02v with the switch on, then that's the problem - it should be 12v when on and zero when off! The low reading suggests that there may be a break in the wire, but this is very unusual. Next test would be to take a long wire from the battery non-earthed terminal to the junction in the boot and confirm that all lights work OK.

If the front lights are not working either, then check the fuse in the engine bay - this is a white plastic inline holder with red wires at either end, not the main box. Again, clean bother terminals on the wire, and the fuse itself.

You'll get there.

[cheezy_munkey]

I had a quick look at the in-line fuse. I didn't actually know what that fuse was for. Discovered that the fuse was blown although the front lights are still working.

Didn't have a spare 10A fuse so I "foolishly" tried a 25A fuse in it to see if lights would come on. There must be a fault with a one of the rear lights as the number plate light came on very quickly and off again. I quickly turned off the light switch and checked out the 25A fuse which was red hot.

I'll try and get a better look at it tomorrow. Hope I haven't melted wires with my stupid impatience.

[beero]

I have a set of bullet connectors in my engine bay where the rear loom connects to the main loom, but who knows, this may not be standard.
Your fuse on the lights is not standard either. Perhaps a previous owner had a problem with the lights and fitted a fuse. Where is it fitted by the way?

[bmcecosse]

Fuse must only be to the rear lights if fronts still working.....

[cheezy_munkey]

Hi Beero,

The in-line fuse is connected to the main loom shown here ...

[frame][/frame]

It must only be connected to the feed for the rear lights as the fronts and stop lights were still working. Anyway I got to the bottom of it today. It turned out that there was connections from the rear lights under the wings too and the rear offside ones had perished. I renewed them and got my rear lights back but not the number plate light. I then checked that and found that the connectors needed cleaned up. All lights working fine again now.

I've now removed the starter too so I can get a good look at the bendix. It looks sooty but not majorly dirty. I'll give it a good clean anyway and put it back together tomorrow.

Thanks a lot to everyone again for all your advice. I owe you all lots of pints. Thank you.

Paul.

[bmcecosse]

Well done. Clean the starter bendix with something like 'choke and carb cleaner' and make sure the ebndix slides up and down easily when finished - NO OIL !!

[cheezy_munkey]

Cheers Roy.
Will clean and replace it tomorrow.
Much appreciated.

[beero]

Glad you got to the bottom of it. From the photo I would say you have quite a bit of non-standard wiring (as most old cars have)

[cheezy_munkey]

Yeah there is. Some of it put in by myself right enough.
Cheers again.
P.

[cheezy_munkey]

Well that's it all cleaned up and put back together. Time will tell whether it's sorted the problem as it was intermittent but I have high hopes.

I used carb cleaner (AND NO OIL)

Thanks again everyone. Much obliged.

Paul.