side and brake lights

I have an electrical problem on me 90

When I put my foot on the brake pedal, all the side lights come on, front and back, aswell as the brake lights?!

When I put the side lights on, the brake lights and side lights come on.

I'm guessing it could be an earth problem but where should i check?

check that both your brake light bulbs are the correct dual filament type, and that they are fitted the correct way round and the contacts are not rusty.

Where the wireing comes out of the hole in the chassis, but it's more likely in the tin boxes behind the lights if it int the lights themselfs.

check your bulb holders are not worn (i had the same problem a few years back) the vibration makes the bulb cut into the plastic and shorts its self onto earth

The holders look ok, although I will probably change them to the metal military ones.
When either the sidelights or brakes are on, with the bulb out of the holder, both terminals are showing 12v

take both bulbs out together and try again.

Ok seems to all be getting a bit more fooked now

Heres the problem(s)

Engine off:
Sidelights - sidelights, brakelights + LH indicator on
Brakes - same effect as sidelights

LH Indicator - Indicator + sometimes sidelights

RH Indicator - fine

Hazards - RH only

LH indicator + brake - as side, but sometimes works fine

RH + Brake - fine + side



Engine on:

Sidelights - same as engine off but LH indicator goes on and off

Brake - as above

LH Ind - as above

LH Ind + brake - Ok + side(sometimes stays on, sometimes flashes)


So I'm probably right in guessing its an earth fault but any suggestions as to where it might be?

Either an earth or a wire is chafing.

In the bak of the car, where the LH sidelight is, there is a little aluminium plate. Remoce the screws that secure it, and the wires for the light fittings will be revealed.

Basically, chase all these back, but start by unscrewing the earth point, cleaning it all up and putting it back.

well finally got round to have a proper look at the wiring and chased the wire back from the LHS to underneath the car behind the rear crossmember where the problem became blindingly obvious. The wires are all touching each other. It appears that one of the wires became chaffed and started shorting out on the chassis. This made them all hot and melted more insulation. then more shoting out and more melting. So now i have a nice streth of bare wire. Have temporarily seperated them from each other and any earth with some tape whilst i wait for my selection of multicoloured wires to arrive so i can make a nice patched section of the loom. Will do some pics when i find a camera

discojamz said:

It appears that one of the wires became chaffed and started shorting out on the chassis.

Click to expand...

That cant be yer problem; expanding foam doesent conduct electricity

heres me chasing a broken wire an getting rid of some old ones

dave

jacks906 said:

heres me chasing a broken wire an getting rid of some old ones

dave

Click to expand...

oooo looks like fun!

luckily mine was within about a foot of the light so was nice an easy to do, and its actually pretty comfy sitting under the back of the car with you back against the rear axle

I need to take my dash apart aswell at some stage as the wiring in it at the moment is a right mess

take as much of the dash as you can appart and route all wires correctly will make life easier in the long run, and aint really no biggy

dave