First Stag ....First Niggle

[stag888]

Picked up my first Stag this weekend , after a number of months searching chose a nice White 1976 Auto , everythingseemed just fine - drives beautifully , sounds great. But tonight as I tucked her away noticed the first niggle!!! .The light on the gear selector remained on after I'd switched off the lights & ignition, and infact when I switched the lights back on the light went off , sort of the reverse of what I'd expect it to do. Rather than drain the battery for now I've just switched the power off at the battery isolator switch infactwhen I think about it since I bought it I've not used the lights - tonight was the first time. Any thoughts out there as to what would cause this problem ?.

Thanks - Steve

[marshman]

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Welcome to Stag ownership & the forum.

White, What an unusual colour

A couple of questions.

1. Do the instrument lights go out when everything is off?

2. When the instrument lights are on can you dim them using the dimmer control (bottom LH corner of instument dash)?

3. Does the dimmer affect the brightness of the gear selector lights?

I suspect the selector light has been reconnected to the wrong point (says he stating the obvious) but it would be helpful to get more info to try to point you in the right direction.

Roger

[mad cyclist]

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welcome to the club, forum ect ect...i dont know much about fixing electrical stuff when it goes wrong but Grahamb (administrator lives in west wickham too) has a TVR as well as a stag so he knows all about errant electrics...seriously though sounds like an earthing problem but i am sure you will get a more consice answer on here pretty soon.

rgds Nick

[Guest]

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Hiya Steve, and welcome to the right place. I'll bet a previous owner has tried to brighten the selector light by connecting it to the fag lighter, i.e. live all the time, normally it's in series and quite dim. As Roger has pointed out, if it dims it's correctly wired, if it doesn't, it isn't, chances are good that it's a simple fix. Martin.

[stag888]

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Gents

Thanks for the prompt response , shall check out and answer those points raised tommorrow after work . Hopefully with the right leads I should be able to sort this out . Looked up Grahamb on the members list , seems he has a red stag , if it's the car I think it is , I have a feeling he maylive no more than 1/2 a mile away. Though would prefer to introduce myself without an associated electrical fault.

Shall let you know what I find tommorrow - Cheers

[stag888]

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Hi,

Took a look at the points raised, seems a bit back to front.....

• Instrument lights on and offas per normal - OK
• Instrument lights dimmer worksusing the switch -OK
• Dimmer doesappear to effect theof the gear selector lightit seems to be operating in reverse of the lights
  • Lights off , gear selecter light on , turn dimmer nothing happens.
  • Lights on , gear selector light off , turn dimmerdown instument lights go off & gear selector light comes on.

So insummary yes it is linked to the dimmer , but in reverse , but also it does appear to be permanently on .

Does the above make sense to any one ? , IfI need to start routing around should I start at the selector end with the light or the dash end with the dimmer - Thoughts greatly appreciated

Cheers Steve

[marshman]

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Hi,

There are two wires from the selector illumination - one goes to the dimmer - this I assume is conneted OK. The other should go to earth. I suspect that this has been connected to a live (12v) somewhere instead. when the lights are on you get 12v on both sides of the lamp so it will not light up. when you turn the lights off it has 12v on one side (should be earth) and the other side goes to earth through the other lights in the car - the current is so small that it is not enough to make the other lights illuminate.

I have just looked at the wiring diagrams in the ROM. The early one makes sense and shows the red wire connecting to a red/white wire which goes to the dimmer (rheostat) and the black wire to earth. However, the later diagram shows the earth side going to the cirarette lighter illumination.

It could be that the two wires going to the cigarette lighter illumination have been connected the wrong way round if yours is a later car. Check and see if the dimmer works on the cig lighter lamp as well, if it is not on at all or if the dimmer doesn't work on it I would suspect this first.

Hope this helps.

Roger

[stag888]

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Thanks for your thoughts ,

Sort of makes sense , as I've got a feeling the cigarette lighter was the only thing on the car that didn't work whenI bought. Shall check & take a good look this weekend. Any advise/ tips on how best to access the selector light & the lighter ?.

Thanks again ...Steve

[stag888]

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Thanks for your advise,

Seems to make sense, as I seem to remember the cigarette lighter was the only thing that didn't work , when I bought it. Shall check and take a good look this weekend. Any advise on how best to access the selector bulb & lighter ? , is it a centre console out job ? ...

Thanks again Steve



Whoops !!! - Thought my first response hadn't worked , obviously had

[marshman]

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To get to the cigarette lighter pull out your radio if fitted and access it through the hole that is left.

To get at the selector lamp you need to first lift up the small wood panel between the selector panel and the heater controls/ashtray. you do this by carefully levering up the black plastic strip along its back edge - this clips under the selector wood panel. By carful so you don't damage the veneer or the plastic strip. Once removed you will see two screws holding down the front edge of the selector wood panel - remove these and lift the front edge and pull forward - it has a small clip at the back edge. Once free you can undo the plugs on the window switches which should allow you to lift it high enough to see what is going on. The red and black wires from the lamp holder are only about 6" long and connect to the main loom with a couple of bullet connectors.

BE CAREFUL NOT TO PULL ANY OF The wires off of the BACK Of the INTERIOr LIGHT SWITCH as you lift the panel - there are lots of them and it takes an age to get them back correctly if they just pull off - don't ask how I know

Roger