1.8HL auto - update

[palacebear]

You sound far from dissatisfied with it Rick! When I had my lowest points I had a right good moan about it on here!

The thing that I’m sure a lot of people will find amusing, and I did mention it somewhere in my very early posts, is that at auction I didn’t realise the HL was twin SU.

Give it time... I'm not the most patient person in the world.

Amused indeed regarding the twin-carb mistake

To sum up. The car ticks nearly all the right boxes for me so I'd best not complain too much!

[palacebear]

Didn't have much time today but had a preliminary fiddle with the fuse box. First off, I found that everything controlled by fuse #5, which I'd replaced a couple days ago, were once more NOT working. My fault. Despite my efforts on Saturday, the fuse holder was still not gripping the fuse tightly. A bit more squeezing with pliers and all is well... I hope.

Turning to fuse #1, which is missing from the fuse box. This protects indicators, wipers/washers, brake lights, reverse lights and heated rear screen - all of which are working.
As a preliminary check, I removed all the fuses from the fuse box. With five empty fuse holders, the wipers indicators and all the other things mentioned above still worked!
From this I have to assume the connections through fuse #1 have been messed around with and the the fuse box has been by-passed.
Next stage will be to get behind the fuse box and see (by which I mean HOPE) the by-passed wiring includes some kind of in-line fuse.

[mickthefitter]

With five empty fuse holders, the wipers indicators and all the other things mentioned above still worked!
From this I have to assume the connections through fuse #1 have been messed around with and the the fuse box has been by-passed.

[mickthefitter]

Rick, if you’ve got time, just out of curiosity look at invoices in the history folder from North Cowton Service Station, as I’m nearly sure (but not quite) something was detailed in their invoices relating to a fuse box. Either them, or Simon J Robinson before them, who Pont.skins on this forum said he’d heard bad things about in a reply on one of my old posts. What I’m getting at is I don’t think it’s a DIY replacement, I think a garage did it!

[palacebear]

Rick, if you’ve got time, just out of curiosity look at invoices in the history folder from North Cowton Service Station, as I’m nearly sure (but not quite) something was detailed in their invoices relating to a fuse box. Either them, or Simon J Robinson before them, who Pont.skins on this forum said he’d heard bad things about in a reply on one of my old posts. What I’m getting at is I don’t think it’s a DIY replacement, I think a garage did it!

Two items of relevance.
September 2011: Invoice from G.E.Middleton. Purchase (only) of number plate lamp at £5.50 and a fuse box at £8.10. No mention of either being fitted.

July 2013: Invoice from North Cowton S/Stn (they who were involved in the starter motor 'repair'). 'Trace fault with reversing lamps. "Found to be fault on fuse box and rear lamps."' Charges for labour. Charges to supply a fuse holder at £4.50 and an unspecified bulb.

Being optimistic, I'm hoping the £4.50 fuse holder means there is at least an in-line fuse hiding behind the dash somewhere!

[mickthefitter]

Oh right. So North Cowton might not be responsible for the under dash fuse holder. Mind you there is that supplementary Lucas fuse holder under the bonnet near the battery, that used to run power to a Kenlowe fan, that wasn’t needed once I got the radiator re-cored. That will probably be one of the fuse holders referenced in the invoices. I’m trying to remember if I ran the starter relay off it - think I did. Then I used the second fuse position when I had to quickly fit another relay, prior to a booked MoT, to make the screen washer more reliable when apparent wiring resistance stopped that playing.

[palacebear]

Oh right. So North Cowton might not be responsible for the under dash fuse holder. Mind you there is that supplementary Lucas fuse holder under the bonnet near the battery, that used to run power to a Kenlowe fan, that wasn’t needed once I got the radiator re-cored. That will probably be one of the fuse holders referenced in the invoices. I’m trying to remember if I ran the starter relay off it

Yes you did Michael. Starter relay and screenwash pump.

I've half convinced myself that the invoice (North Cowton) relating to rectifying the reverse lamp/fuse box fault, which includes the supply/fit of a £4-ish fuse holder, means that an in-line fuse has been fitted, but I won't rest easy until I locate it!

[david painter]

The logical place to look is behind the fuse box I suspect wire have been chopped off the back and joined together with inline fuse holder. Have you check to see if any voltage of fuse 1 terminals in fuse box
Dave

[palacebear]

The logical place to look is behind the fuse box I suspect wire have been chopped off the back and joined together with inline fuse holder. Have you check to see if any voltage of fuse 1 terminals in fuse box
Dave

I've not looked very closely yet. There is one in-line fuse holder visible, just to the right of the parcel shelf. The colour coding suggests it's for the radio.

I'm rather wary of electrics. I understand the theory to a degree but putting them into practice worry me!

Presumably I don't need anything elaborate to test fuse holder #1. Will a simple test light (probe with wire and crocodile clip) do the job?

[david painter]

The logical place to look is behind the fuse box I suspect wire have been chopped off the back and joined together with inline fuse holder. Have you check to see if any voltage of fuse 1 terminals in fuse box
Dave

I've not looked very closely yet. There is one in-line fuse holder visible, just to the right of the parcel shelf. The colour coding suggests it's for the radio.

I'm rather wary of electrics. I understand the theory to a degree but putting them into practice worry me!

Presumably I don't need anything elaborate to test fuse holder #1. Will a simple test light (probe with wire and crocodile clip) do the job?

Yes anything to see if there is a live even a bulb with some wire on it will see if its live or not I suspect its not going to be
Dave

[mickthefitter]

Just re-reading your post where you removed all the fuses, one of the things you said still worked was the heated rear screen. So at the risk of stating the obvious, that’s a high load circuit. Not the kind of thing you want un-fused!

[palacebear]

Just re-reading your post where you removed all the fuses, one of the things you said still worked was the heated rear screen. So at the risk of stating the obvious, that’s a high load circuit. Not the kind of thing you want un-fused!

My thoughts exactly. I used the HRW twice last autumn with no mishaps. I certainly won't be using it again until I've got to the bottom of this mystery. Lucky its not HRW weather at present!

[palacebear]

Yes anything to see if there is a live even a bulb with some wire on it will see if its live or not I suspect its not going to be
Dave

Thanks Dave. That'll be the next step then!

[MARINAMADBAZ]

there may be an in line fuse holder behind the fuse box red wire that's light circuit
seem on mk3s and ital looms
not sureon a mk2 but has the same fuse box and wiring layout

[palacebear]

After a month of inactivity (plain laziness to be honest), progress at last with the fuse box mystery. I'd been fiddling around under the bonnet doing unrelated stuff. Having completed my tasks I found the wipers, washers, indicators, reverse lamps etc., etc weren't working. I remembered the same situation had arisen last year after being rescued by the RAC and was caused by a multi-pin connector attached to the wiper motor being dislodged. Once again I'd dislodged it. I reconnected it and was rewarded with a little spark and brief movement from the wipers (I'd forgotten to turn the ignition and wiper switch off), then nothing again.


The fuses in the fuse box were all intact. The car has an auxiliary fuse box under the bonnet containing a 35 amp fuse which once protected a long-since removed Kenlowe fan. These days it protects the screenwash pump and its after-market relay. On this occasion, the fuse had blown. With a new fuse fitted, it was all business as usual, indicating that the reverse lights, brake lights, heated rear window circuits have been re-routed through this auxiliary fuse box, although exactly how the wiring has been changed remains, for the moment, a mystery. At least I know the circuits aren't, as I feared, un-fused.