340 Electrical Problems

Hi All,

Thanks for the responses from a previous post a few months ago...but I now have another problem!

I own a 1990 340 GL 1.7, and the indicator/full beam stalk recently came apart at the unit end. In order to repair this problem I took off the steering wheel, choke handle bit, plastic shrouding and unscrewed the instrument panel so that it would allow access to the area I needed to work on.

During this process, I obviously had to disconnect a certain amount of wiring from the instrument panel and indicator/full beam stalk unit. The indicator stalk/unit problem is now fixed, however, I think that I have replaced wiring incorrectly.

With no keys in the ignition, turning on the parking lights does absolutely nothing!...and to add to that...with keys in the ignition (half turn),and whilst driving, if I depress the brake pedal, the parking lights come on! The only way to turn them off is to depress the brake pedal again or flash the full beam on and off.

Sitting in the drivers seat and looking at the indicator/full beam stalk and unit, the wiring runs as follows from top to bottom;

- Purple
- Grey
- Red
- White/blue (in the middle nearest the stalk itself)

I believe that this is correct because I have tried various combinations with this wiring and this is the only one that allows both indicator lights to operate correctly, but there must be something else that I have connected incorrectly.

Any help would be appreciated on this matter, because at the moment I'm having to drive with my parking lights on all the time to avoid flashing people when I brake!

Thanks in advance,

Rob

[pettaw]

Yep the wiring appears to be correct from looking at my wiring diagrams. I bet there's a ground wire loose floating about somewhere. Look for a loose brown wire with what looks like a screw hole for it. This should go onto the plastic bracket underneath the bottom screw. The screw holds it in place and provides a good electrical connection to the switch for earth.

Thinking about it further I guess your car is exhibiting symptoms of a missing ground. All the wrong lights coming on sounds like a missing ground somewhere.

Good luck with it and I hope that helps.

Andy