wiring fuse box

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Thu 05 Mar, 2015 18:19

I have made a silly mistake of not disconnecting my battery while de wiring the added wires I connected to my side lights for my old angel eyes and ended up making a short resulting with a load of smoke from the wiring loom on the near side to the fuse box, the tape around the loom had burnt through midway up and a load of smoke came out the fuse box when I took the cover off.

Striping back the tape around the loom to the fuse box there is one wire completely shred of it's insulation and a few other singed wires. The partially damaged wires I have cut out the bad sections out and spliced new sections in. The wire that has shredded it's insulation looks like its the pink/grey wire to the left side light, I've tried to bridge this with new wire but still have no power going to the left side light or rear light for that matter. I have also checked the sidelight fuses which are O.K.

Looks like I will have to take the headlight out and strip down the rest of the outer sheaf and to asses any further damage but I think the problem will be found in the fuse box. Anyone had to take the fuse box out before as I would like to know how the wires from the loom are connected inside and are there any relays associated with the side lights?

The rest of the car electrics are functioning fine the only consolation for me as it could of been worse if I hadn't of look up when I did and noticed the smoking from the harness.

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Thu 05 Mar, 2015 20:08

I have replaced the fuse box before. It's not very difficult, but it's fiddly. There are 2 or three screws holding the top section to the lower section, then, each "block" of fuses clip into the lower section. Getting them unclipped is the PITA... The relay plugs also clip in from underneath, so they must be unclipped...once all the "blocks" are unclipped, the lower plastic section can be lifted off., exposing all the wiring which terminate into each block. It is then possible to turn them over to see the wires going off into the loom etc. I used the Bentleys directions to do the box replacement.
I might suggest you speak to Andy - Spurs Fan... he has stripped so many Z3's that I'm certain he can give you more detail on stripping it out, plus a few tricks to get the job done easier that perhaps I suggest it is.

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Thu 05 Mar, 2015 20:22

Cheers Barry, can you remember how the wires are secured in the terminal blocks?

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Thu 05 Mar, 2015 20:33

I wish I could recall... I wasn't concerned with that at the time though. I was simply replacing the plastic housing... They may well be push in clip actions with the actual fuse holder forming part of the clip in device... sorry i can't be more helpful buddy...

Thesurveyor · Post by **Thesurveyor** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 14:40

I have removed and changed the fuse box (the clips on the side were broken in my case) and like Barry says, it is a fiddle but perfectly possible.
Between Barry and myself we wrote and described a pretty good "how to" and if you search the site then you will find it somewhere.

Steve

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 14:50

......... goes back a while Steve !! I barely recall the finer points myself..

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 14:56

Well I've done it and traced back the burnt out brown wire to a common bunch of "Earths" underneath that jungle of wires. Just need to put all the fuses back and see if the left and rear parking lights work now. I'll post my pics later.

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 15:01

Well done buddy ! Hope it's sorted.

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 18:23

Bugger unfortunately not. I have no power going to the near side side, rear and brake light. The brown wire from the side light was fried. I spliced a new section in but no joy maybe I should have completely changed the grey/violet wire in the box as well but will need to trace where it goes to.

At least the car runs and all the other electrics work. As a temperaory measure could the near side rear and brake light be connected to the off side? I'll need to be able to use my car next week as I'll be working away from home for 8 weeks.

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 18:38

Theoretically you could connect them that way, however, if there is still a short in the wiring somewhere, you could do further damage and have no light s at all. If you have a multimeter, you can check the circuit. Generally it'll be the earth (brown) wires that'll be burnt and broken. But with a multimeter, you can check if there's any current in the grey/violet wire at the light fitting or anywhere along it's route. You can also check the continuity of the brown earth wire to determine if it is broken or not between the fuse box and the light fittings.

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 19:26

I've replaced the brown wire, to check the grey/violet wire do you put the positive to that wire and the black to earth on the volts setting on the multimeter? Excuse my ignorance with the volt meter as I've not much experience with them.

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 19:50

Yep...

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 20:05

so that's how I would use it for checking the grey/ violet wire or just flabbergasted?

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 20:32

That's how you check if there is power in the line...make sure you set the multimeter yo DC not AC and select as near as 12 volts as it provides for.

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 20:37

O.k Barry but if I have my power off and I want to check a wire for continuity do set the multimeter to ohms and place both electrodes on that wire and if I get a reading the wire is fine?

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 20:41

Yes....... but in that case you connect the red to your grey/violet and the black to the brown wire...if there is a circuit, the needle of the meter will move up and remain stationary. If there is no circuit, it won't move... the next thing to do is determine if the brown or grey / violet is faulty...you can do that by selecting a known working positive wire elsewhere close by, and put red on that and black on your original brown...if it still shows no circuit, you know the brown is faulty, if it does show a circuit, you know the grey/violet is faulty

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 20:52

Cheers Barry makes sence for someone who's flapping a bit. I'll update tomorrow I can see the dash being ripped out at this rate

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Fri 06 Mar, 2015 21:03

Good luck buddy...I hope you find it close by... If you find that the grey/violet is good, you can simply connect the brown at the light with a temp short piece of wire direct to the body or to another brown wire close by. It's not a permanent solution though, and you'll need to find the fault and fix it at some point.

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Sat 07 Mar, 2015 14:13

Well the earth I wired in is good

just the power issue to resolve. I have traced the grey/violet wire back into the fuse box which connects to another two other grey/violet and a grey/black wire which according to the wiring diagram is for the tail lightshttps://zroadster.org/resources/1999-z3-z3m-electrical-troubleshooting-manual.13/ page 217. I am completely replacing the grey/violet wire from the front side light as its quite singed in places leading up to the bunch in the fuse box. the bunch of wires it connects to in the fuse box look unscaved so hopefully this will be the fix I'm hoping for.

If that does not do the trick I wonder if it could be related to the light switch as that was very stiff after the incident and needed a yank to free it up to work the lights.

Update: What a frustrating day after having the fuse box apart again

I still have no power to the near side lights. I know the earth is good but the trail of the grey/violet wire still requires further investigation. As I hope you can see I was connecting to quality wire. Is it possible that the light switch could be faulty and only passing power to the right sided lights??

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Sat 07 Mar, 2015 18:33

I was thinking that the switch possibly could be faulty due to it being seized after the incident but the near rear brake light I would have thought would still function.

Update: I feel a bit of an ass in my haste whipping out the back light i must of either knocked the brake light bulb out so it's either in the housing or in the boot somewhere, so I have brake lights just the rear and front side light to sort out. I'm going to try a new light switch first before taking the dashboard apart as the wires to the switch appear to be all intact.

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Sun 08 Mar, 2015 05:44

Before you go to a light switch, perhaps check on the relay in the fuse box for the left side (K26)

Also, have you determined that you have power from the fuse box to the light fitting ?

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Sun 08 Mar, 2015 19:06

I have no power from the fuse box to the light fitting. I did take the light switch out after the cruise today and opened it up. Quite a mess as you can see I tried to clean up the melted bits to make the sprung contacts work as seen in the second photo but the still no power to the front side light or rear light

Inspecting the wires in more detail in the light to the switch found a few of the wires for the first 4 inches or so lightly bonded together separating them pulled off a bit of the outer sheaf

I'm still going to get a replacement switch as it taken quite a beating.

Can anyone explain how using a multimeter on where to place the electrodes to check the wires in the switch for the fuse wire, brake and side light and would I need to have the car battery while doing these test? Apologies for my ignorance in this but trying to learn.

No 1 pin is the left front side light, No 7 is the fuse wire and No 8 is the left rear brake light

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Sun 08 Mar, 2015 20:09

Southernboy wrote:Before you go to a light switch, perhaps check on the relay in the fuse box for the left side (K26)

Also, have you determined that you have power from the fuse box to the light fitting ?

Hi Barry mine looks slightly different to that and besides those 4 black relays have been mixed up.

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Mon 09 Mar, 2015 20:34

Good news and good news today I think

I bought me a little gadget that plugs into your fuse sockets to give you a reading, so I have power now confirmed going to fuse 33 left side light. I also bought me one of those probe testers with a bulb in that light up if a wire is o.k that Jim suggested on .NET, after reading some articles and watching some youtube vids instead of having Barry hold my hand all the way.

I tested the wires going to the light switch some of them work with the light switch in position 0 i.e. the fuse wire. Pulling the switch to position 1 I get a 'light up' from the grey/green wire i.e. right side light and no 'light up' from the grey/violet wire i.e. left side light. I get 'light ups' from the rest of the wires in various setting of the light switch. With the switch position at 0 there is no 'light up' to either the ride side or left side light but a response for the right side light at position 1 so I think I could rationalise and conclude that the light switch is knackered, the culprit well me the culprit

Just waiting for a switch replacement and will update.

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Tue 10 Mar, 2015 08:23

.......... well done ! You'll at least have the tools for future and have learnt lots about auto electrics....

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Fri 13 Mar, 2015 01:32

Just to let everyone know the replacement light switch resolved the remaining issue. Many thanks for everyone's input.

Southernboy · Post by **Southernboy** » Fri 13 Mar, 2015 13:56

Good on you buddy ! You certainly learnt a lesson - "Always disconnect the battery first"

zroadster.net

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