Technical Brake and reverse lights not working

[Reast]

Hi,

I have a 1997 Uno Fire 1100. I have been having endless trouble with its wiring in the past. Now however, its getting dangerous. I had a fuse that one day it worked, my handbrake light, the battery light and the fuel indicator guage worked, and the next it won't. I had to fiddle around with the fuses each time I switched it on, and then all worked fine for the trip.

Today finally I found the fuse that caused the whole thing. Then I thought while I'm at it, I might just as well check that everything else is working properly. Which ofcoarse I found is not. I had to replace one of my rear indicator bulbs. Then I also noticed that my brake lights as well as my reverse lights don't work. I went thriugh all the fuses and even swopped around with ones I knew are definitely working, so fuses it can't be. Just by the way, I noticed three sets of "light" fuses, two for the dimms, two for the front brights, and then two red 10A ones....would that be for the rear lights? Where is the nrake light fuses situated at? Anyway, all three sets of fuses are in perfect condition as I've said, tested them all.

Now I read a post about it may be the switch on my brake pedal? I need some help with this. Do I need to take offf my dash board in order to get to it? I am not your regular auto elec, so even the most common tools I don't even have. And would this swith being faulty have anything to do with my reverse lights not working? I have also tested and made sure all my bulbs in the rear are not blown.

Please, can someone assist me in getting my little OmO back up and running?

Regards

 

[cha40]

Brake light switch is easy to get at if you look up from the peddle, bridging the wires bypasses the switch

I would be looking at the connections on the rear lamps and the multiple earth in the boot,,, Best of luck.

 

[dzogi]

multiple earth in the boot

Where is this, exactly? I'm having some trouble too, so I wanna check it.

Reast, find the 12V indicator, and check the contacts on the lamps. If there's no 12V there (when turned ON, obviously), follow the wires back into car and find where does your power cuts out...

Also, you may open the switch and check for a power there... Good starting point, too.

 

[alexGS]

Brake and reverse lights are both 21W bulbs - relatively high-current compared to the other bulbs. Therefore, this is just a guess, but I reckon the earthing (grounding) of the rear light clusters is suspect. Fuses are blowing because the current is back-feeding through other circuits when it can't find its way to earth/ground.

Take off the rear light and clean the terminals with a small wire brush. The plug has terminals that you can tighten by bending carefully with a jeweller's screwdriver or other small 'spike'. I know you may not have these tools but a trip to a hardware store should provide them at not much cost.

The best solution is to add an earth wire to the light cluster and connect that to the earth wire point inside the boot (it's the bolt with all the black wires attached). To add an earth wire to the cluster, take the circuit off and notice the metal part that all the bulbs fit into - then drill a hole and put in a self-tapping screw with the wire under it (ideally with a crimped or soldered wire terminal).

Another option is to solder the earth wire to the bulb holder directly, but you need quite a powerful soldering iron and possibly some flux (it fizzes and cleans the metal).

See https://www.fiatforum.com/uno/145226-120-47-24-uno-45-updated-aug-08-jan-09-a-5.html?p=1655416 too.

Thanks,
-Alex

 

[Brenda01]

Hi guys , my uno turbo has a thin blue wire under the steering collum.. it has one black lhug on it. Is it earth or what,please if anyone can assist.