Morris Minor Owners Club

After a "magic smoke" incident (see earlier post) I have replaced a burned out earth wire from the battery to the rear of the speedo unit. I now have no coloured lights on the speedo,I do seem to have one or more white illumination lights on it though,no indicators,windscreen wipers or washer. Any offers as to what could be wrong,I've checked all the fuses I can find and all seem OK. Am I missing something simple,or have I blown summat? The car starts and runs fine so I reckon it can't be TOO serious,can it??

Something has burned out.....when you switch on ignition - you should have a red Ign light and an orange oil light. Are they there? Are the holders maybe plugged in the wrong holes? Then you need to check the power feed to the fuse holder (white wire) - is it live when the Ign is on?

Cheers BMC,no coloured lights at all on the speedo,will check the live feed in a few minutes!

No white wire to the fuse box,but the car runs fine,so there must be power to the ignition?

OK now got red ignition light on,side lights ,head lights and main beam indicator are all working,as is the horn. I'm puzzled

ALL the white wires join at the fuse holder - on the Ign controlled input side. Print off Barry's excellent diagram from the top of this section. You have lost all the Ign controlled features - so the problem lies at the input to the fuse holder - or the fuse holder itself. Are the contacts clean - where the fuse fits? Have you tried a spare fuse ?

Just tested the fuses with a multimeter,they are both good. I'll check live ignition feed when a son is able to help this evening!! Fingers crossed its summat simple!!!

oddbod wrote:After a "magic smoke" incident (see earlier post) I have replaced a burned out earth wire from the battery to the rear of the speedo unit.

I'm still puzzled by this, on two counts: do Minors normally have an earth wire connected to the battery, apart from the one hefty one? And where has enough current come from to burn it out, without blowing a fuse? Where exactly was it connected to at the speedo end, and what sort of connection did it have to the battery?

Kevin

The electrics are not all standard on my Moggie Traveller,an earth wire (black normal sort of automotive cable)was connected from a screw terminal on the rear of the speedo direct to the negative connection on the battery box,I have no prior knowledge of the electrics on this Moggie.Another couple of earth wires run from this earth point across the rear of the battery and into the car via the drivers side bulkhead.

Doh! It was a fuse, it was reading good when not under load.