Interior Lighting Problem

[stagmoneypit]

I have a problem with the interior lighting in my stag, the symptoms are as follows:

1. Ignition off or on it is the same.And the puddle lamps in the doors both go on and off when the door is opened and closed.

2. When RH door opens footwell lamp goes off, when closed footwell lamp glows showing 9 Volts.

3. When LH door opens footwell lamp goes off, when closed footwell lamp comes on showing 10 volts.

4. When both doors are shut the lamp in the t-bar glows dimly showing 3.5 volts.

5. When the main switch is switched to the off position, the light in the t-bar glows brightly with both bulbs lit.

6.With the switch removed the voltage readings of the wires are:
Purple and Slate - 12 Volts
Purple and Red - 12 Volts
Orange and Purple - 3.5 Volts
Purple and White - 7 Volts

The t-bar and wiring is from a 'P' registration car and the car itself is an 'N' registration, would that make a difference? The only difference I can see with the haynes manual colour codes is that one of the two wires attached to the t-bar lamp is purple and orange instead of them both being purple and white as stated in the wiring diagram. The only other discrepancy is that the two earth wires attached to the main switch are black and not purple as stated in the diagram.

7. The switch has been connected in this way:
Terminal 1 - Black
Terminal 2 - Black
Terminal 3 - Purple and White
Terminal 4 - Purple and Orange
Terminal 7 - Purple and Slate
Terminal 8 - Purple and Red

Can anyone shed any light (no pun intended!) on what might be causing this? I assume that when the doors open the lights are supposed to come on and go off when the doors are closed. Thanks.
Glen

[brian0443]

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Glen, Reading this late on so this is only a partial response.

T Bar from a P car should be as for an N.

T bar lights. This is really two lights, and your wiring colours are correct. One purple white, which would originally have been on the left B post, the other purple white from the right B post. 40 and 46 in the wiring diagram

Too late to think about actual voltages but you refer to the two black connections to terminals 1 and 2 as earth wires. The colour should be purple. Neither should be earthed. Terminal 2 should be fed from terminal 1 by a simple loop. More to the point both should always be live and give a reading of 12 volts.

I have heard of cars having had the wrong type of door switch fitted because the two connection non earth return type required for the Stag was not easily available. If someone used the single terminal earth return type on your car the whole system would be disrupted, requiring goodness knows how many bodges to get it operational. So please check the door switches.


If you can confirm the black wires are live and the switches are OK we can go on from there.

Brian

[NickA]

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Is the switch original oraftermarket? I bought an aftermarket switch a few years ago that was wired incorrectly inside.

Basically opening a door lights the appropriate puddle lamp and center console lamp and one of the bulbs in the t-bar. Switching on the console light lights on the other t-bar bulb and center console lights but not the puddle lamps.

[stagmoneypit]

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image of t-bar lamp with doors closed

[stagmoneypit]

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original switch with wiring exposed, I checked the black wires and they are not live, also the door switches are original single spade connetor type, does that help?

[V8 Rumbler]

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I have a much smaller issue with mine.

The switch turns everything on

The puddle lights work as they should

But the drivers door turns on the two interior lights on passenger side and visa versa:X

I presume I have two wires transposed on the switch:?

But which ones??????????????

[brian0443]

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stagmoneypit wrote:

original switch with wiring exposed, I checked the black wires and they are not live, also the door switches are original single spade connetor type, does that help?

Hi Glen

Not what I had hoped to hear from you.

I checked the black wires and they are not live, These wires to terminals 1 and 2 should be purple and always live

the door switches are original single spade connector type These should have two spade connectors. power comes to one terminal on the switch, opening the door completes the circuit and allows current to flow through the other terminal and on to the puddle-lamp. On a single terminal switch, power flows through and to earth. If you have this type of switch the wiring must have been modified, otherwise you would have a short circuit and blown fuse. The switch for the bootlight should be the only one of this type.

Another point... Have you checked that the two black wires are actually earthed? Just in case someone used the only wire available and it happened to be black. There should not be any earth from any of the main switch terminals

Brian

[brian0443]

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V8 Rumbler wrote:

I presume I have two wires transposed on the switch:?

But which ones??????????????

Try transposing wires to terminals 4 and 8 on the switch. Purple/orange with purple/red

Brian

[stagmoneypit]

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Hi Brian
My switch looks like the top one shown here, and I will check the wiring under the gearlever tomorrow to see if it had been modified, thanks for the advice so far.
Cheers
Glen

[brian0443]

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Glen

Just sent you a pmail

Brian

[StagnJag]

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stagmoneypit wrote:

original switch with wiring exposed, I checked the black wires and they are not live, also the door switches are original single spade connetor type, does that help?

I've just had a look at my switch, the wiring on mine is the same as yours so that bits ok!

Dave

[brian0443]

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StagnJag wrote:

stagmoneypit wrote:

original switch with wiring exposed, I checked the black wires and they are not live, also the door switches are original single spade connetor type, does that help?

I've just had a look at my switch, the wiring on mine is the same as yours so that bits ok!

Dave

Dave

Are you saying that, like Glen, you also have two black (not purple) wires to the top contacts on your switch, and if so do they go direct to earth. This is not shown in any of the wiring diagrams I have, and would suggest a wiring alteration, possibly to allow for single contact earthed door switches.

Anyone else got any information

Brian

[StagnJag]

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Hi Brian,

Here is a pic of mine - No purple wire coming from the top! The wiring diagram in the ROM is pretty poor. There is no wiring for the Hazard lights either! I was in the process of CADing up a colour version of the one in the ROM but it does seem to be pretty iffy in places (Anyone got a better one?).

I haven't checked but I would assume that all black wires go to earth.

(Mine's a 1977 Manual OD).

Regards

Dave H

[stagmoneypit]

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Hi Brian

A new development, after checking the wiring again I recalled that I used the wiring loom from the p registration car I broke as it was in better condition than mine but retained the wiring that fed the heater fan switch, HRW, and cigar lighter behind the console from the N registered car.

Luckily I found the loom in a box of junk and once fitted everything worked first time!
I can only think that there must have been as you say, a modification in 76-77 to allow for single contact door switches, so now the door light, console light and one bulb comes on when the door is opened on that side and vice versa. Result!

Again many thanks for everyone's help.

Glen

[brian0443]

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Glad you got a result Glen. Seems there was a modification. Dave I have been working from the Repair Operation Manual and also Haynes but can't find any reference to it.
Dave, sending you a personal message.

Brian