Indicators!

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Discussion

plotloss

Original Poster:

67,280 posts

277 months

Sunday 6th July 2003
quotequote all
Indicators stopped working last night

Initially the hazzard lights stopped working as well. Went to Halfords got both flasher units (Indicator and Hazzard). Found one flasher unit strapped to the right hand side of the bulkhead as I look at the car. Swapped this for a new one and hey presto the hazzard lights now work.

But I cant find the other one for the life of me. There is something resembling a flasher unit on the left hand side but this has more than two connections so have left that alone.

Is it behind the clocks? Or somewhere else inside the car as I cant seem to find it in the engine bay anywhere.

Haynes dont list locations (useful!) and Google is proving to be less than helpful?

Any ideas chaps?

(89 Mayfair 998)

miniman

26,308 posts

269 months

Sunday 6th July 2003
quotequote all
Mine are in the engine bay, tucked inside the sound insulation. On my other Mini, they were down behind the instrument binnacle - in fact one was dangling above the pedals.

The wires will be Light Green/Brown, Green/White, Green/Red so you may be able to trace them back to the relay.

plotloss

Original Poster:

67,280 posts

277 months

Sunday 6th July 2003
quotequote all
Nice one mate, will go and have a look now.

If the hazzard lights are working can I rule out the hazzard light switch as a reason for the indicators not working as this happened before and the hazz switch was the culprit then...

miniman

26,308 posts

269 months

Sunday 6th July 2003
quotequote all
The wiring diagrams show that the 2 switches are interconnected, but that should only be the power feed. I would be looking for a faulty relay and / or bad earth. I have had problems with mine when the case of the relay has not been properly earthed.

plotloss

Original Poster:

67,280 posts

277 months

Monday 7th July 2003
quotequote all
Well finally found the other bloody flasher unit tucked away behind the dash (what a great design that lot is ).

So now have swapped both of them and the hazzard switch is pretty new.

This leads me to believe that its now either power or indicator stalk related. If power is reaching the stalks - horn and main beam flash both work - does this mean that the indicator switches on the stalks are buggered or is it not that simple?

miniman

26,308 posts

269 months

Monday 7th July 2003
quotequote all
You've checked all the fuses, right?

I don't know how the internals of the indicator stalk work, but I wonder whether a fault would cause both directions to stop working. Mine have always been "dodgy" - i.e. don't flash at a constant rate, sometimes just come on and don't flash at all. Seems to be down to the voltage across the relay. Bad earths cause lots of problems with it.

Might sound stupid, but have you tried physically turning the relay unit the other way up? I found that mine work better at a certain angle.

The indicator stalk assemblies are expensive (about £40 for a new Lucas one - indicator side only, not wipers as well). I have a new one in my garage. If you want me to send it to you so you can test it before spending out on a new one, just let me know and I'll gladly send it. In fact, if it works OK, you can have it for £20.

Edited to add: you could try bypassing the switch. Disconnect the multi-connector in the steering column, and physically short out the 12v feed socket to one of the indicator cables and see if they come on. Haven't got the Haynes at work, but the wiring diagrams show what colour is the feed and what is the supply down to the relay.

>> Edited by miniman on Monday 7th July 08:27

plotloss

Original Poster:

67,280 posts

277 months

Monday 7th July 2003
quotequote all
Yep all fuses, even the ones handily hidden behind the sponge are all fine.

Blimey! That seems a lot for a simple part, Mega in Bromsgrove have a Mk 5 indicator stalk set with the light switch on for £45 so I may go for that if I can rule out everything else.

I reckon shorting it is the way forward to eliminate the stalks. Theres a load of play in the stalk as it is which could be a complete red herring though. I have a Haynes so that should be fairly simple I reckon.

Alternatively I could go and buy a multimeter which would have solved this ages ago!

Cheers for your help with this mate.

Fatboy

8,089 posts

279 months

Monday 7th July 2003
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Echo the multimeter plotloss - I'd be so screwed without mine, worth it's weight in gold (and it only cost me £6 off ebay...)

pubman

308 posts

265 months

Saturday 26th July 2003
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plotloss said:
Indicators stopped working last night

Initially the hazzard lights stopped working as well. Went to Halfords got both flasher units (Indicator and Hazzard). Found one flasher unit strapped to the right hand side of the bulkhead as I look at the car. Swapped this for a new one and hey presto the hazzard lights now work.

But I cant find the other one for the life of me. There is something resembling a flasher unit on the left hand side but this has more than two connections so have left that alone.

Is it behind the clocks? Or somewhere else inside the car as I cant seem to find it in the engine bay anywhere.

Haynes dont list locations (useful!) and Google is proving to be less than helpful?

Any ideas chaps?

(89 Mayfair 998)

Always had a problem with indicators, working, not working, working, not working, etc, etc.
It,s late!!!