General Sorting out another electrical problem

[PandaManPaul]

Just to let you know that lately my Panda has developed an entirely new problem.

It's an unreliable fault, so doesn't appear on every journey, but the thing is, I often don't have working indicators [:0]

They would work fine, and then next time, not work at all. Push the stalk up or down and nothing.

However, at the same time, I noticed that my fuel gauge was sat on empty (when I usually have somewhere between half and a full tank). So, having looked in the Haynes book, I discovered that the indicators, indicators tell-tale lamp on the dash, and the fuel gauge are all served by the same 15A fuse. On the same circuit is the handbrake lamp, and sure enough, next time the fault occurred, I pulled the handbrake a little and realised that the dash lamp wasn't coming on.

So, I've tried pulling out and replacing the fuse whilst driving [8)] to see if that made a difference (expected dirty connection) but that did nothing. I've cleaned the fuse holder and that helped things for about three days, then the problem returned. The only way to get everything working again is to turn off the engine and then re-start, which puts power back to everything. But is rather scary on the M5 B)

Although this is quite long-winded, it's designed to help anyone with similar problems. If there are two or three things that go together, check the Haynes book for which fuse serves each thing and then hopefully you can narrow down the fault.

Now I know it is the wiring to the fuse, I can do something about it

 

[custard]

i,d look for a common earth on the circuit as well

Custard boy the man who loves the man from Creative

 

[John H]

Tackling these in reverse order:

fuel gauge and handbrake "on" lamp share the same earth.
the flasher unit earth is on the same block:

It's the usual culprit - behind the headlamp on the gearbox side.

To aid diagnosis, you can wiggle these joints about while the indicators are going to see if you can provoke the fault condition.

If it is these...

Take them all off (squeeze the little tag on each one to help them release), clean up the "spades" with a bit of wet and dry (used dry), consider sqeezing the tags with a pair of pliers to tighten their fit on the spades.
Cover each spade with a little bit of "vaseline", or similar petroleum jelly to keep the moisture off.

Re-fit, and pray.

Or, it is possible to apply tension to the tags by refitting them to the "wrong" spades, and/or giving them a half turn, if you don't fancy squeezing the connector ends.

OR, If you're really serious, you can get the cutters out and replace all the connectors and the block [:0]


YMMV.


Regards


John H

 

[PandaManPaul]

Thanks for that John

IIRC, we replaced ALL the spades on the connector block not too long ago, so I'm happy that the fault isn't there.

And we put in another earth over Christmas, which I mentioned in another thread several weeks ago.

I'm pretty sure we've got this one narrowed down to the fuse holder... I'll of course let you all know, but as it is intermittent, I can't guarantee reporting back soon.

 

[John H]

My money is still on the earths

 

[PandaManPaul]

Finally fixed it!

Turned out to be the ignition switch. Since the original post, I discovered that the key was 'floppy' (for want of a better word) in the position with the engine running. If I tapped the key, the indicators and fuel gauge did their thing, but if I tapped it again, they all came back to life

So, with a new ignition switch from my local friendly Fiat dealer, all is well and everything does what it should [^]

 

[John H]

Ouch[:0]

 

[PandaManPaul]

How do you mean John?

 

[Steven]

I think he means, was it expensive?

<h5>Click here for pictures of my Uno
Click here for pictures of my Brava

 

[PandaManPaul]

Oh, I see [8)]

Erm, the switch was about £22 from the local friendly Fiat dealer, and I fitted it with my Dad, so not too pricey really.

 

[John H]

Steve is correct - I'd though it would be rather more than that:I