Hi All,

So the clubby's developed a bit of a problem...

The Highbeams went kaput the other day, and i thought it might be a fuse, but both fuses looked ok, so i left it until today.
Everything else was fine and i only drive about 60km's a day during the day so no big issue

today i got some new fuses (got 35amp ones cause thats what was in there)

i replaced both fuses (just to be sure), only today when i changed them the lower fuse was blow.

The problem is tho, that even now when I have 2 brand new fuses in there

Highbeams, Wipers and Washers are all kaput.

low beams, parkers, blinkers, etc all work fine.


any suggestions as to where/how to start looking for the issue?

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1975 Hairy Lime/White Clubby
Build Thread: http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=80657

Switch burnt out

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

i hope not.... the washer switch at the very least is brand new.

and the head lights are on relays.

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1975 Hairy Lime/White Clubby
Build Thread: http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=80657

Unfortunately, "brand new" means diddly squat these days...seek out quality parts whenever possible

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"Show me the Mini!"

So i got out the multimeter just before....

There is no power on either side of the top fuse in this pic...



I guess tomorrow i'll have to cut off all that conduit which my father-in-law spent hours putting on to try to figure out the issue.

i tried to locate the other end of that chunky yellow wire without removing the conduit, but most of the wires just look brown now days...

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1975 Hairy Lime/White Clubby
Build Thread: http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=80657

Clubbies have an inline fuse hidden up on the firewall for the high beams. Replace that and the High beams will be right.
Go back to you fuse box and check that you have continuity across the fuse. most times you find the connection from fuse to fuse box isn't good as it has 30-40 years of crap. Try cleaning it up and see what happens.

The reason(i think) the topside isn;t working is that you haven;t turned the ignition on. Thats the ignition circuit. I may well be wrong, but I have seen someone go through exactly what you are before, and chased there tail only to find you need to tun the key.

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You may not need to. One fuse is switched on through the ignition switch, the other has 12 volts there all the time direct from the solenoid post. Chase the 12 volts back through to the ignition switch first.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

I will confirm that the top one is the ignition circuit in the morning, dont really want to start the car now and risk waking up the kids just to see if its got 12 volts going to it...

I found that inline fuse up closer to the firewall, it looked fine, i changed it anyway, and no difference.... so at least i can brush aside the easy fix... *yay for me*

but either way, before this problem occurred all these things worked when the key was turned to accessories.... i mean parkers and lowbeams still work without the key even now (just need to flick the switch)

are there any other fuses I might have missed?

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1975 Hairy Lime/White Clubby
Build Thread: http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=80657

You can check it, as there's no need to turn it over. The first position on the ignition switch will turn the coil on, so voltage will be there.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Parkers & lowbeams are on separate circuits to those activated by the igntion switch (accessories position activates wipers, washers, flashers etc). You might want to check the relay you fitted for the high beams. And check for volts at the fuse block terminal where all the green wires connect, with ignition on, as Mick says.

There are no other fuses, unless some previous owner has fitted more. There's a good chance, given the age of these cars, the loom has been altered/modified/molested.

The mini wiring system is fairly primitive when it comes to circuit protection, but when its all in good nick it seems to do the job.

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1967 Cooper S - new front bearings to do.
1965 Cooper S shell - Slow progress. No time or money!
1966 Deluxe- next rustoration!
Mk 2 & XJ6 Jags. Less said the better.

Ahh righto... i thought you ment the car had to running.

Gave it a shot and sure enough there was no voltage getting across that brand new fuse...

i cleaned the contacts a little and put another fuse in, and I've now got everything working EXCEPT high beams.

will give them a better look tomorrow, maybe the new fuse I put in there is also a dud.

Thanks All

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1975 Hairy Lime/White Clubby
Build Thread: http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=80657

Check around the high beam relay that you said was fitted - see if there are two live wires when the high beam should be on - the 12v supply and the switching circuit (other two wires will be earth and feed to the lights. Some relays also include a fuse within their circuit on the 12v supply (sometimes mounted inside the cover too).

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..

I was playing around today with the multimeter trying to sort this out.

voltage is getting from the switch to the relay fine, and also from the battery to the relay (there is an inline blade fuse here which is working)
also, I can hear the 2 relays switching on/off when i turn on lows, and toggle to highs.

so my next point of call is to get a new relay in case its faulty, (can the relay still switch but not actually be allowing the current through?? is there an internal fuse of some sort?) and some new globes in case the high element on both is blown.

fun and games

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1975 Hairy Lime/White Clubby
Build Thread: http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=80657

You could check the HB elements easily in situ by disconnecting the snap connectors (the red ones) & using a jumper lead to the live side of the starter solenoid.

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1967 Cooper S - new front bearings to do.
1965 Cooper S shell - Slow progress. No time or money!
1966 Deluxe- next rustoration!
Mk 2 & XJ6 Jags. Less said the better.

Certainly can cause the contacts to fail, and this does happen. Can you see the 12 volts getting through the relay to the output side? If there is 12 volts on the out put, then it is a downstream issue.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.