LiamR Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 Hi all. Well I had hoped that with my carefull searching I would avoid this, but..... Picked up my first westie last weekend, but now finding a few niggles. 2 main areas of concern... Firstly the fuse for the nearside side & Rear keeps blowing when you turn the lights on. I think this is in some way related to the ignition being on, though cannot seem to prove it! There seems to be current running through this fuse all the time, unlike the offside. When the Hazards are on there is also a pulse .(though this is not the cause) Also, and heres the one I am worried about, I was out for a bit of a blat earlier, and was giving it a bit of wellie, when I heard what was like the exhaust backfire. Then I saw a puff of smoke from under the dash, and the engine died. (Not sure if they are related) At this point I was getting no ignition light or electrics at all. (though i did not try the things that usually work with the ignition off) On studying I found that quite a thick red cable ( 5mm ? ) near the ignition barrel had blown like a fuse! I peeled off the remains of the plastic, connected the cable, and hey presto, drove home rather cautiously! In addition, earlier today whilst trying to suss the light problem I have discovered about 10 wires under the dash not connected, and cannot work out from the manual is they are correct? I am pretty sure though that I did not cause this problem, as I have not changed anything? I guess I am asking a couple of things..... anyone any ideas on this? Can anyone recomend someone close to North London who is good with westie electrics? And does this sound so serious that I need to go back to the bloke I bought it off. (This is my last option - as I like the car, and would like to keep it! If this is anything like my last post, I had loads of good replys, so I will thank you all in advance! Cheers Liam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu999 Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 Firstly the fuse for the nearside side & Rear keeps blowing when you turn the lights on. I think this is in some way related to the ignition being on, though cannot seem to prove it! There seems to be current running through this fuse all the time, unlike the offside. When the Hazards are on there is also a pulse .(though this is not the cause) Without the car in front of me, I am only guessing, but I would start at the N/S rear light, and work back from there - it might be something like a bad earth. On studying I found that quite a thick red cable ( 5mm ? ) near the ignition barrel had blown like a fuse! I peeled off the remains of the plastic, connected the cable, and hey presto, drove home rather cautiously! Mmm. Slightly concerned by this, but it may just be a case of mechanical failure - after all, if it was due to overloading, usually the whole wire would melt. Is/was the wire under tension, or chaffing anywhere? I have discovered about 10 wires under the dash not connected Dont be too worried, there are usually some spare wires that do not have 'homes'. As long as there is no bare terminals swinging around under your dash... HTH Stu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike m Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 Blowing the large red cable would be considered a seriuos fire risk IMHO , is it a ford loom ? common prob with the ford loom is the 4 pin plug to the ign barrel, the connectors flux and make a high resistance connection if so change the plug, also remove the loom tape near the suspect wire, normally for a wire this thick to corrode and snap will also generate a lot of heat in the prosess possibly melting/fusing other wires / insulation together. As for the fuse blowing does the car have a radio if so check the illumination wire is connected to earth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamR Posted May 27, 2005 Author Share Posted May 27, 2005 Fire risk... it scared the hell out of me.... and made me very gratefull that I put an extinguisher (dodgy spelling? ) in earlier this week! The wire does appear to have melted, though the individual strands don't seem to have fused. I am guessing that it is a Ford loom, (but am on a steep learning curve at the moment, so I could be wrong! ) I will check the plug, luckily the wire blew outside the loom, so I don't believe that it has affected anything else. There is no real strain on the wire, but I can't say what condition it was in before this. The car doesn't have a radio, but the same fuse is used for the instrument lights.... so I guess it's dash off, and check all the earths. Will start with the speedo, as the backlight on that is not working, so maybe a wire loose / off..... oh... also if it helps, when the lights are switched on, the fuel gauge drops.... I do not think that this is part of the bigger problem, as I had taken the lights fuse out, whilst driving today. Thanks again. Liam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perksy Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 Have a Good Check over all the Wiring Loom, For Any signs of Damage etc, Also check you have the Correctly rated fuses in the right places. Bit concerned about this Wire 'Blowing' Your Westy fitted with Westfield Loom or Homemade/Modified one What does the General condition of the Wiring look like Don't take any chances, GRP Burns Well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itguy Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 The fuel level dropping and the water temp rising on the gauges when you switch the lights on / rad fan cutting in etc is normal. Reason it happens is because there is no relays fitted in your loom for those high-power circuits, so it effects the power delivery to the gauges. I was getting really annoyed with my rad fan doing the same so fitted a relay and no problems any more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 I'd also look for additions to the loom - the constant current loading on that fuse makes me wonder if someone has tapped into that circuit, or else it's leaking to earth somewhere. My current project car had an alarm fitted and the wiring and spicing into the existing loom is very shoddy. Two of the leads to the ignition switch on mine (brown and white/red) were also dodgy at the connector as Mike M mentions and also the spade connector crimps for the switch were poorly done and the wires had overheated at those points. I'm now off outside to fix those. If you haven't got one I suggest you invest in a ratchet crimping tool. Premier Wiring do them for 20 notes ( or cheaper on ebay) and they do work. If there are any crimp connectors done with a scissor action crimping tool they'll be a source of constant trouble. If you need pics just pm/email me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chazpowerslide Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 The feed wire for the instrument lights IRRC is red with an orange tracer or white with a red tracer (I can't rightly remember which is which) however this wire (or it's terminals) must not come into contact with earth, if it does you stand a very good chance of burning out the loom. I had a similar issue on my Pinto powerd SE that I traced back to the instrument illumination feed wire. HTH Chaz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 Also, not sure if you're aware of it, but it may help tracing the wiring if you refer to the BS wiring color scheme for cars. I've fouind my 98 car matches it very closely. Many references to it on the web but I use this one here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatman Posted May 31, 2005 Share Posted May 31, 2005 The thick red cable blew because the terminal it was attached to, or it's spare/shared connector on the barrel came in to contact with the chassis rail behind the dash. I did this on mine, except I nearly burnt the whole loom out. Either move the ignition barrel away from the chassis rail, or cover the chassis rail in a couple of layers of insulation tape and bend any unused terminals flat or cover them with "blanked off" insulated spade connectors. I moved my ignition barrel, bent the unused terminals flat and covered the chassis rail with insulation tape... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARSDALEBEAR Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 Blatman is correct I kept blowing the main fuse everytime I hit a bump. A very good rev limiter! I used some plastic conduit split lengthways and fitted this over the round tube behind the dash. Problem solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamR Posted June 3, 2005 Author Share Posted June 3, 2005 Thanks guys..... I shall invert myself in the footwell tomorrow.... wish me luck! (ok... so I think dash' off may be simpler! ) I'm still interested in hearing of anyone local who can be recomended to do this sort of thing. I am quite happy mechanically, but electrics are a bit new... so I'm tempted just to pay up and get the job done properly! Cheers Liam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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