Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all,

I've just made a lovely diagram of my problem, and was about to upload and write out a lengthy explanation.....and have just realised there is one thing left I need to try before I can come back and say I'm fully flummuxed and ask you all for help! (and I can't seem to upload it anyway )

However, it will be the weekend before I can do that so I'm going to describe the problem anyway and see if anyone can help.

I recently removed the right hand front wing to deal with some rust, and disconnected the front lights on that side. I may have forgotten to mark up the wiring for reconnection, thinking the colours would all match, and I will next time!...but I didn't and I can't work out part of the reconnection. I have checked the wiring diagram at the top of this heading, and the manual etc, but with me the description in the book/diagram has to match whats in front of me 100% or I'm flummoxed!

I've correctly reconnected the main beam and dipped beam and they both work fine....but I'm stuck with what to do with the red wire and black wire that come from the side light/indicator unit. I've tried what I think is all possible reconnections with whats left to reconnect too...and nothing works.

Coming out of the main loom:
1) blue/white - now connected into main beam (works)
2) blue/white (double connector with above) - nowt plugged in yet
3) blue/red - now connected to dipped beam (works)
4) blue/red (double connector with above) - nowt plugged in yet4) red - nowt plugged in yet
5) red - nowt plugged in yet
6) red (double connector with the above) - nowt plugged in yet
7) green/white - nowt plugged in yet....I know this has something to do with the indicator as it pulses electricity when the stalk is down.

At the moment, the black earth wire from the headlamp unit is connected directly to the battery earth but I think someone's put that in as a manual short cut.....Q-A: should that black wire actually go into one of the above 1 to 7?

I have yet to reconnect the black wire, and the red wire, that come off the side light/indicator unit....but I have tried various combinations with whats left from 1-7 above but to no avail. Q-B: Assuming the side light/indicator unit is all working, which should the two wires plug into pls?

(FYI: all the left hand side works but the colouring of wiring on that side isn't helping me sort the problem on the right hand side)

I swapped the bulbs over and they work fine. I checked the wires between the bullet connectors and the lamp holder and they all show zero resistance in the right way (I think )

I'm pretty sure there is something wrong with the side light/indicator unit, but if someone could answer Q-A and Q-B then at least I know I've got the right connections first, then can look deeper into why the unit doesn't work second (one thing I want to do is swap the left hand and right hand units entirely and see what happens......(but I need to know I'm reconnecting correctly first....Q-A).

sorry for the confusion

Thanks

Matt

Red is for side lights and should only connect to other reds. Green/white is indicator and black is earth. If this black wire has been run back to the battery then someone has previously had a job getting a decent earth from the body. This can go to the nearest convenient bolt in the bodywork using a ring connector, but try and use a new bolt and scrape the paint off where the bolt goes through. A bit of grease or vaseline should keep the rust at bay here.
It is possible the side light unit is faulty. It may be rusty inside and if the contact spring is corroded then the centre contact won't make contact with your bulb. Does the side light have 2 or 3 wires? I'm not familiar with the later units. If 2 one will be side and one will be indicator. If 3 then one will be earth.
If it is only 2 then the sidelight unit will have to be screwed to a metal wing to earth for it to work.

As above RED is the side light feed and BLACK is earth. DO NOT connect the black to any of your 1 to 7 !!

thanks for your replies beero and bmcecosse, I had a play around at the weekend and it proved to be an earthing problem. All fixed now and very chuffed with myself for fixing the problem (with your comments)....my first electrical 'fix' (albeit a pretty basic one ).

Matt

Well done Matt, satisfying, isn't it?