Morris Minor Owners Club

bmcecosse wrote:What do the rear lights look like - are they all red - or are they red and orange ?

They're all red, and there are separate orange flashers of the same type as can be found on the front, the little "dome" variety. I don't know if that's standard...

wibble_puppy wrote:BTW are you English?

I am indeed... That could help, couldn't it.

Another couple of strange features... Under the dash, I have a spare earth from the new loom and a spare green wire, which I'm guessing shouldn't be there but which I can't deal with, and also two pairs of wiring in double female bullet connectors, green/red and green/white. They come out of the loom right behind the speedo, while the other ones I mentioned first come out just inside the interior barely after the loom enters from the engine bay. Only one other wire comes out with the earth I mentioned, a purple one.
Also, the looms for the two headlamps appear to be handmade, the wires wrapped in electrical tape and uncoloured for the most part. I'm guessing this is not normal- could it be the consequenec of a removed relay, that the lighting and flasher circuits have now been improvised?

Dark green - Switched live
Light green (not present on Minors as far as I know) - Witched live "stabilised 10v (for fuel/ temp gauges - Minor has a short green spur that isn't part of the main loom)
Green/ white - Indicator (can't remember which side)
Green/ red - Other indicator
Purple - Permanent live (fused)

Purple is used for the interior light switches, and I seem to recall the horn (up to the column, where it fits to a brown wire)
The green you've got could be for the heater - IIRC all the ign switched lives green) for the dash area spur off from a double female bullet.
The indicator ones probably need wiring up to the switch (as will another, and I can't remember the colour off the top of my head)!

Side and dash lights are red, dipped is blue/ red (IIRC) and main/ full beam is blue/ white. So you should have those in the loom for the lighting, though I have a feeling you only get a main (blue/ brown, or just blue?) one plus sides from the switch, the main and dipped colours and wires appear from the dipswitch.

Someone on here has posted an excellent colour coded wiring chart, worth finding IMO

All the above based on messing with a 63 Lucar (spade) loom, not the earlier screw terminal type.

Thank you for that. It clarifies a lot...
The green for the heater is probably right. My car has a heater, which works, but the damn thing has been improvised with a pair of black wires that just plug straight into the control box and fuse box, independent of the loom. So the actual wires have most likely been deserted, and just hang there- so the green wire could be one of them.
I dealt with all the purples, I think- but my horn connects through, again, a botch: the brown/black wire from the column leads to an independent light brown wire that runs to the horn. I have the purple looping back into the loom through connection to a purple/black, and the horn still seems to work, though the interior light does not work (looong story...)
I happen to have a couple of lighter green wires, funnily enough, but I think they're just time-faded.
I have those colours you mentioned in the main loom, but in the lighting looms to which they connect (the ones I think are improvised) all wires are black.
I'll look for that coloured chart...

So, back to the main problem: starting the car. I just removed the plugs to check condition, and spark #4 had a strange white and brown crusty deposit just above the edge of the thread, on the metal "apron" between the thread and the nut for removing the plug. The deposit had also spread to the area around the hole into which the plug screws... Any people have an idea of what this is? What does it say on the state of the engine?