oil filter and pressure lights on dash?

[xpress]

i have a '68 morris 1000, and i have never seen the oil pressure and filter lights come on in the dash. what is the one on the left for and the one on the right for? is the left the oil pressure light, shouldn't this come on when you first start the car and then go out? what's the best way to test this, and could it be a blown bulb? cheers.

[bmcecosse]

Switch on the Ignition - you should see one orange light and one red light. What do you get?

[xpress]

neither!

[bmcecosse]

When you switch on the ignition -there are NO lights in the speedo??

[xpress]

correct. those two orange lights either side they don't light up.

[bmcecosse]

Are the lamps lying behind the speedo - not plugged in? You should have one RED ignition warning and one ORANGE oil warning.

[xpress]

ignition warning? what's this one tell? i know one is for low oil pressure. i'd better whip the speedo off and take a look behind there. maybe blown bulbs ..

[xpress]

what's the best way to get the speedo out? cheers!

[TomLS]

2 Screw holes on the inside edges of each glovebox liner. Unscrew them only a couple of turns each, then pop the gauge out.
The lights you should get are both on the RHS of the speedo. The LHS orange light is the oil filter replacement warning.
The Ign warning light warns you when the dynamo / alternator is not producing any current, and will flicker at very low revs. Both should come on solid then the ign is on but the engine is not running.
If you have good oil pressure you will find the orange one never comes on when the engine's running, and takes a few seconds to go out with the engine stopped and the key quickly returned to the first stop.
Does your high-beam light work? (The blue one on the LHS).
If not I suggest your either very unlucky and all the bulbs have gone, or more likely you have a snapped earth cable somewhere. How does the fuel gauge behave?

[xpress]

high beam light works.

fuel gauge is consistent

no dynamo lights or oil pressure lights however!

will have to check the speedo!

what could this mean, bulbs have failed?

is there only one earth from the speedo from these lights?

[bmcecosse]

Neither lamp has anything to do with 'earth'. Most unlikely the bulbs have gone........

[xpress]

do bulbs not go then

[bmcecosse]

Not in these.....unless of course you had the voltage sky high at some point? Have these lights NEVER been on??

[xpress]

trying to get to the bottom of it, never since i have had the car which is a couple years now. the fuel gauge works.

the main beam blue light works. so surely some of them work indicating that the earth is ok? maybe just bulbs gone ..

the bulbs aren't in the speedo they're set back from that is that right?

[bmcecosse]

They are supposed to be plugged into the speedo.......are yours lying loose?

[TomLS]

O yeah, the metal bulb holder clips into the back of the speedo, which in turn earths itself to the bodywork via the speedo securing screws and other metal contact points. One of mine has fallen out before, if they do they lose earth and don't come on.

[xpress]

cheers tom, however my main beam blue light comes on, and the fuel gauge works, would this be happening if there were a bad earth?

[bmcecosse]

I repeat - neither of these lamps requires an 'earth'........

[TomLS]

If its part of an electrical circuit, it requires and earth.
What we're saying, xpress, is that there is no earth wire for the bulbs (or the other 2, or the fuel gauge). They ground through the metal body of the speedo. There is only 1 wire going to each bulb and this is you're +12V (or -12V if the car's still positive earth - but for this issue, this is beside the point as bulbs aren't polarity conscious).
The bulbs will only function if their metal carriers are clipped into the back of the speedo housing. If they are, but the sprung 'teeth' that hold them in are very badly corroded, this will prevent the circuit being made, but seems highly unlikely.

If the bulb holders are correctly clipped in, and the bulb filaments look ok, I suggest you trace the wires coming from these bulbs - you may find they have bullet connectors on the end which have shaken / been pulled loose over time. Popping the speedo out only takes 2 minutes (unscrew the speedo drive cable from the centre at the back by hand to give you more clearance to look inside), and if you're really still stuck, take a couple of pictures and we might be able to see the problem.

[bmcecosse]

TomLS - in this case - these lamps DO NOT earth through the speedo casing. Please don't post confusing information.....