MOT requirements - lights??

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Red and yellow is definitely fog lights, just rewired mine. No reverse on mine so no idea what colour it should be
Thanks for that. Do you have two fog lights or just one? Presumably it doesn't actually matter what the light is, it's just that the wire gets there... Of course an independent switch would be necessary, which would explain why mine is like that... Will go out later to fiddle.
 
Thanks for that. Do you have two fog lights or just one? Presumably it doesn't actually matter what the light is, it's just that the wire gets there... Of course an independent switch would be necessary, which would explain why mine is like that... Will go out later to fiddle.
My S3 had fog lights and hazards from new. Centre panel in dash with switch's for both and a brake fail warning light. Only fitted with one fog light and no reverse. Autosparcs rear loom came with two fog light cables, one for each side.
 
Lucas wire colour chart attached.
Page 2 gives fog related wire colours
 

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Very useful, thanks. Trouble is, it also shows green and brown for reverse lamp - not got that! It's green and brown from the unit, then into brown and then goodness knows where it goes...
 
You seem to have a lot of brown wires... Brown is supposed to be unfused 12V supply, so I'm guessing whoever put those wires in, just had a job lot of brown that they wanted to use up!
 
And probably not useful to you, but my new autosparcs loom does have a green/brown wire for the reversing lamp, as well as red/yellow for fog lights. Those do seem to be the colours used.
 
Thanks for that. The brown that the reverse goes into is part of the main taped loom so perhaps it's just been hijacked. Does your reverse light wire stay the same colour to the switch?
 
The reverse light (and fog light) was a retro-fit on mine, so the old wiring had an owner-added wire running outside the main loom, from the back to a switch on the gearbox. I don't recall the colour of the wire that fed the 12v supply to the other side of the switch, but I'll see if I can remind myself.

The new loom as the green/brown wire come out on a connector block in the engine bay, close to the main multi-way connector block (near the steering box). This other connector block has the wires for the fog lamp and heated rear window wiring, too, so it's clearly the additional wiring that was added over and above the basic lighting. I don't honestly recall whether I chose the reverse and/or fog light wiring as an option when ordering the loom, but I did think I'd need to be running a few more wires down to the back, so it's very pleasing that I didn't actually have to, although I do still need to run the wires to the reversing light switch on the gearbox, as I wasn't intending to add a manual switch for that (although I can see it might actually be useful to have that).
 
Hmm... okay. I have traced the wire to the loom at the engine bay. It returns to being green and brown, then goes into the cab in the main loom but then disappears!! I have spare red and yellow ones (don't appear to do anything), a brown and red (is attached to an earth?) And two blue and white ones. Still cannot find any trace of the damn reverse wire. Have most of the dash hanging out now...
 
I feel your pain. My wiring was a real birds nest, which is why I decided to go with a brand new loom and start again on my rebuild.

Blue/white is a headlight cable, I think. I recall my fog light switch uses the headlight feed as a supply to ensure the fog light only works when dipped beam is on, but I think that's blue/red. I think blue/white is main beam...just goes to the stalk switch, as I recall (plus to the headlights, of course).
 
Yep, blue and white is headlights, not sure why I have spares... The most frustrating thing is that I know it was connected!!
 
Possibly but it does have spot lights wired separately to an independent switch... Still no sodding reverse wire. Arghghgg!!
 
Hi all,

My Series III has been off the road for a little while so I've been getting it ready for a test. It's a 1983 county.

Firstly, it has a reverse and rear fog light fitted. Are these aftermarket? I've not known another to have them but I am aware that its year means it's is on the cusp of the 90/110. The switches are in a Raptor dash so I'm assuming they're aftermarket.

Secondly, said lights are not working. Is it a requirement for them to work for the MOT and if so, is there a way of "disabling" without completely removing? I'm poking and prodding with a multimeter but not having much luck (in all honesty, I'm an idiot with electrics - I simply don't get them!!). I assumed it was a dirty earth but that doesn't appear to be the case...

Any help gratefully received.
Firstly use this to check the legality of evrything with regard to the year of your vehicle.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-ins...ivate-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles
From memory I would think neither of these were required in 1983.
And both can be fixed to the rear switched manually as long as you include a warning light on the dash.
If you want to disconnect them, you could just disconnect and insulate the wires from the backs of the switches.
 
If the previous owner had fitted spotlights would they have come on with Main beam?
legally they should have gone on only with main beam and gone off when you reverted to dipped beam, which is why most are fed from the main beam feed near the headlights, and switched maybe through the neg wire? Though not necessarily.
 
legally they should have gone on only with main beam and gone off when you reverted to dipped beam, which is why most are fed from the main beam feed near the headlights, and switched maybe through the neg wire? Though not necessarily.
On a series they should be powered by a relay and that is switced by the main beam circuit, the standard wiring and stalk wont last long with an extra 150 or 200 watts through it, which could be why they were on a seperate switch
 
On a series they should be powered by a relay and that is switced by the main beam circuit, the standard wiring and stalk wont last long with an extra 150 or 200 watts through it, which could be why they were on a seperate switch
Absolutely re relay. no switch would last long without one, my comment was more to do with the need to have them only come on under two conditions,
a/ Main beams ONLY on
b/ special spotlight switch on.
Here is a tutorial including wiring diagram, which shows how to wire in the relay.
https://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/showthread.php/8006-Wiring-of-spotlights

There are tons of articles on tinternet but a lot don't mention doing it fully legally for the UK, i.e. to only come on in tandem with the High beam, so they can be confusing.
Best of luck
 
Absolutely re relay. no switch would last long without one, my comment was more to do with the need to have them only come on under two conditions,
a/ Main beams ONLY on
b/ special spotlight switch on.
Here is a tutorial including wiring diagram, which shows how to wire in the relay.
https://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/showthread.php/8006-Wiring-of-spotlights

There are tons of articles on tinternet but a lot don't mention doing it fully legally for the UK, i.e. to only come on in tandem with the High beam, so they can be confusing.
Best of luck
If you use a three way (on/off/on) you can have both scenarios on the same switch. One feed from a 12v source and one feed from the main beam source and the output to your relay.
 
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