Mk1 68 .electrical questions

[NogE]

Hi all...
When I connect my live to battery my nearside front and rear lights come on...even with ignition off...I was thinking parking light but Donno if we had that in a 68 mk1,, but, these would normally work by lifting indicator arm up ..thing is I don't hv the indicator arm fitted yet????..

Also...got to thinking about brake lights...do I hv a brake light switch somewhere in the bay peddle area??

[dumper]

If the pedals hang down from the steering column area it will be on the bracket for the pedals inside the cab but if the real early one that come up through the floor I don’t know.

[Neil]

faulty wireing somewhere, auto sparky???

[DougT]

Fuse 3 is for the left side sidelights, front and rear plus instrument lights and "accessories". Fuse 2 is for the right side. The wire from the light switch should feed both fuse 2 and 3.

If you pull out fuse 3 then you can tell which side of the fuse box the problem lies. My suspicion is that one or other of fuses 2 or 3 is not making good contact or it has blown plus there is something in the instrument panel or something like a radio where the wiring is sending power back to the fuse box.

If the fuses were good and making contact then you would expect both sides to be lit up so that would be my first check and then try to see how power is getting there. Depends if various thing have been added as accessories and how well they have been wired up. Can't think what could cause it but a bad earth connection can divert power to unexpected places.

Wiring diagram is here although there are different ones "up to 68" and "68-70"

www.fordopedia.org/

Also gives cable colours.

Doug

[dumper]

I can’t remember where the fuses are on the mk 1 but on the mk2 the ceramic fuses used to be bad for corrosion half the time if one was bad the rest would be as bad at work with not having to pay for them we used to change them all after spraying the box with electrsolve .

[NogE]

Thanks guys...gonna spend the weekend looking into all this and yr advice will.be very useful...

[DougT]

I have found a useful set of diagrams here:

http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/servo.htm

which explain the operation of the remote servo. So with engine running but no pressure on the brake pedal the vacuum needs to get to the back of the servo as well as the front and this is controlled by the air diaphragm. I think I would have a check that you are happy with the air diaphragm unit as any air leaks would seem to cause the brakes to come on. But that doesn't explain how disconnecting the pedal helps.

Doug

[DougT]

wrong post ! will repost in the right place !!

[NogE]

All electrical problems listed are fixed now...earthing..

Now new one in looking at is indicators..when I flick arm in a position I hear flasher unit click..tho no flashing lights...suspect is the flasher unit first I'm guessing..

[dumper]

If I remember correctly it will a small round one clipped under the dash

[NogE]

Hi damper,..yes..it's not that small ,well my one ain't ...three terminals.... are most flasher units online universal?

[NogE]

Hi all... update here ..

Indicators working now..terrible earth problems..plus bulbs main tips had flattened off... sorted now...

I've a couple of dash cluster probs now.. I can't get main beam blue light to come on ..obvious things tested..bulb,power,earths ..the pcb on back of clock has been removed and cleaned..and I'm defo getting voltage over to the main beam bulb..(blue window)...however, when I put meter across there I only get 9.57volts..
Can people tell me, the voltage regulator,..what happens when it plays up?

[DougT]

Dodgy voltage regulator will tend to mean that fuel gauge and temp gauge will rise and fall with engine revs when they should be stable. Alternator kicks voltage up with revs so more current through the gauges.

If you checked the voltage across the bulb unit then try checking from positive on the bulb to a good chassis earth on the dash. If voltage still low then it is probably a connector somewhere. It seems that you have a few dodgy connections, bulb tips and earths due to van not being used, so maybe worth just swapping bulbs around.

Doug

[DougT]

Dodgy voltage regulator will tend to mean that fuel gauge and temp gauge will rise and fall with engine revs when they should be stable. Alternator kicks voltage up with revs so more current through the gauges.

If you checked the voltage across the bulb unit then try checking from positive on the bulb to a good chassis earth on the dash. If voltage still low then it is probably a connector somewhere. It seems that you have a few dodgy connections, bulb tips and earths due to van not being used, so maybe worth just swapping bulbs around.

Doug

[NogE]

Thanks Doug...
Wow,I remember back in my days of my mk2 cortina having that problem with meter needles moving up with revs ..never did fix that...thought it was normal..that was back in 83 ....
I'm on van today...no paying work at mo..and I love it....tho I do get frustrated when rain stops play...those with workshops are so lucky...well maybe that's the wrong word ....I just jealous..
I do get frustrated when I spend all day trying to sort one problem, but then again what I sort today I don't hv to sort tomorrow