Morning everyone,

My 850 has an electrical gremlin.... here are the symptoms:

- Chewing through fuses (the top fuse which deals with indicators, fuel gauge). 3 fuses in the last 2 weeks.
- I installed a volt meter in the car, which shows a reading of 14.5 when running and usually drops down to 12 (ish) at idle. Now its showing 14.5 all the time.
- I am running a fairly new generator (replaced last November).


Upon inspection of the burnt out fuses - no discolouration or burn marks on the fuse. Also I've tracked and tested a lot of the wires in and around their and nothing seems to be loose or shorting out.

This has all happened in the last 2 weeks, and prior to that, all was good with the world.

Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Brett.

Those 2 fuses should both be 35A, how big are yours? I bought a Mini once that had 10A fuses in there!

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

It is the Ignition fuse that is blowing, Right? on the fuse box you have one side is the ignition fuse supply from Ignition switch Usually a 5 mm white wire and on the other side should have a bunch of green wires. It is hard to determine which circuit is the culprit causing the fuse to blow. When short is present disconnect all the green wires and replace the fuse with say a 15 amp one turn ignition on and try and connect the the green wires with the fuse box terminal one by one while operating every ignition powered circuit to see which one blows the fuse. If you find the 'one' connect the rest of the wires and check what ignition powered circuit does not work, it will most likely be the culprit.
I don't know if your car has the original engine and box but, one of the most common faults I find in Minis fitted with Rod change box is the reverse light switch wires dropping down on Exhaust pipe. Good luck on your hunt.

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DID I MENTION THAT I AM THE BEST SUPPLIER FOR MINI ELECTRICAL PARTS AND REPAIRS?
"Let us remove your "SHORTS"

Yeah both fuses are 35A.... Must be a trend as when I bought the car a few years back it only had the 10A in it as well.

Thanks 'convertible mini' - i'll have a crack at that solution this weekend.

As for the engine - the car is '64 850 - however the original engine was replaced with a 998 (with 1100 running gear).

But I checked all the electrical stuff last year when I put an oil pressure, voltage and temp gauges in their last year.

It might still be a good idea to check that nothing has changed & failed in that time.

Brad

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During the day I work on English designed cars & on my own time I work on English designed cars....