Morris Minor Owners Club

Rod has found a green wire hanging into the drivers footwell and can't find where it goes to but he says it becomes live when the brake pedal is pressed . As I haven't lost any light heater wipers etc does anyone have any idea what it could be ??

Rod says he's decided its to become a lot shorter with a bit of insulating tape on the end....hope he's joking !!
_________________
Lizzie

Strange! The only wires which should carry a current when the brake pedal is depressed are those which go from the brake switch (in the engine bay) to the rear stop lamps. They don't go through the passenger cabin. On early cars these wires are green & black, on later cars they are green & purple.

Is there evidence that the wire used to continue to the rear screen? Because the only thing I can think of is someone previously tried to fit a strip brake light to the rear screen!

I would do the same as Rod - you don't want a live wire hanging loose.

cheers for that Chris it looks to me that it went to or came from behind the
dash it has a pin type connector the type that push into the ferrules which to me says it should be an earth return and not a live feed or doesn,t it work like that on cars???advice /ideas greatly appreciated
Thanks again Chris
Rod

Pin-type connector? Oh, for a picture!

I think you're referring to a "bullet" connector, which fits into a metal sleeve to connect to other wires. These are used for earths and live feeds, so it could well be an extra feed from the brakes for a high-mounted stop light.

I'm also confused - all original Minor wires I've looked at either have the bronze 'bullet' conectors or standard slide on connectors.

From the Haynes manuals's wiring diagram I can see several green wires going into the fuse box including one from the stop switch. However none should be hanging down into the footwell. However green wires also go behind the dash to 1) the heater switch, 2) heater, 3)oil filter warning light and 4) oil pressure warning switch and light.

If 1&2 don't work it should be obvious. If 4) isn't working you won't get the orange light shining when the ignition is turned on. You wouldn't notice 3) as I believe it only comes on if the filter is blocked?

None of this explains why the wire becomes live when the brake pedal is pushed .......

hi both (and of course phyllis)you,re right its a bullet connector i,ve eliminated all bar the heater which ceased to work a few weeks ago it was a few days later liz noticed the heater came on when she put her foot on the brake ? so i took the wire out of the heater thinking when they installed the immobiliser they may of swapped a couple of wires about i;ll wait til the weekend and make further investigations

many thanks for ideas /suggestions gratefully received
i,ll keep you posted

thanks again
Rod

Crikey! You'll be telling us next that the stop lights operate when
you turn the heater on!

thinking when they installed the immobiliser they may of swapped a couple of wires about

Run for cover!!! Sounds like they have done quite a bit of wire swapping


On the basis that the brakes shouldn't affect anything I would guess they've switched a live or earth at the fusebox... Ugh - good look!
(Halfords do a cheap volt meter for £10....)

hi all, after further investigation the grrrrr een wire appears to come from the ....wait for it ..... the fuse box ???which only becomes live when you press the brake pedal????can,t be right surely???
HELP
rod

Connect a voltmeter meter from the earth to the fusebox (each of the 4 terminals in turn) while pressing and releasing the brake pedal, then tell us what is happening.

One of the fuses has three white wires on one end (only 'live' when
the ignition is turned on). the other end of the same fuse has three GREEN wires on it.
One of these Green wires is the feed TO the stop lamp switch, the return
wire FROM the stop switch to the rear lamps is Green with a Purple stripe.
Does that lot appear on your car?

hi Cam hi Willy thanks for the info i'll be following it up tomorrow after work (i have to keep my day job to finance lizzies habit "Morris Minors ")and i'll get back to you
many thanks
Rod

Just a thought. Maybe a previous owner had removed a high level brake light from the rear window?
I bought a saloon with one. It was a huge plastic cube and did nothing for rear visibility.
I plan to fit an LED one to Denzil. It's fairly unobtrusive and should help to suppliment the small round units that are not ideally placed near the overiders.

They sometimes have a tendency to "hide" behind the over-riders, don't they, those 948 lights!

hi everyone ref. green wire i've put a volt meter across the four terminals(ignition on ) they all registered 12.9v ...with the footbrake on the voltage on A4dropped to 9v any suggestions short of ripping it out and starting again?
regards rod

Oh! You had better put the voltmeter across the battery and see
if the voltage drop is the same as it was at A4. If it is then you have
one suspect battery. To confirm.....put the voltmeter from the Coil
+ve terminal to chassis and operate the starter.....anything around
9V is dodgy. (Unfortunately this does nothing to solve your 'green
wire' problem)!! Re the Coil check, I am assuming that you have
negative earth.

So, according to what you have said before, the green wire is going to the fuse box and only goes live when you press the brake pedal. BUT all terminals register 12.9v except when you press the footbrake and terminal A4 drops to 9v. I am confused now as that seems to be contradictory, because if the green wire goes directly to the fuse box it should be live at all times (assuming ignition on).

If you are measuring 9v then either you are getting a LOT of current drawn to drop 4v across a fuse (short somewhere), or your fuse terminals are corroded and not making a good contact (causing high resistance and voltage drop).

Can you tell us EXACTLY what the green wire is connected to (i.e. which terminal?)

good evening Cam, it's terminal A4 the terminal set aside from the fuse i also noticed some corrosion but it looks as if it has been lacquered or varnished to seal or insulate it i'll have to wait until the weekend to strip it out and clean it up and start over again i'll keep you all informed
thanks for all your help
regards Rod

hi all, i've cured the green wire problem i 've traced it through to A4a on the fuse box along with two black wires+quite a bit of corrosion, i've cleaned it up, stripped the wires back a bit removed green wire ......
SORTED. Everything is operating as it should so i'll just wait and see,
regards Rod