It keeps blowing fuses (10A), instantly when I turn the lights on, non-intermittantly.
But why?
I have headlights (dipped and main), nearside sidelight and offside tail light.
The offisde sidelight, nearside tail light and all dashboard illumination is off except for warning lights, etc.
The light indicating that the headlights are on doesn't come on, and the clock usually illuminates and dims when the lights are turned on, it's stopped doing it's dimming.
The sidelight and tail light bulbs are all ok, as is the relay.
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Here's a section from the workshop manual, I'm no good with wiring diagrams, so I haven't got a clue what to look for.
www.alfa145.com/upload/Side%20Lights.PDF
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I'll print it out on an A5 sheet tomorrow at work and have a quick look.
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I would begin by tracing the live wire back from the affected sidelight in the engine bay area, and from the affected tail *and* number plate light in the boot area.
If you don't see anything obvious there, I would then disconnect the appropriate multi-plug from the back of the fuse box. If the fuse remains intact upon switching the sidelights on (although the affected circuit won't light!), then you know the fault is in the wiring downstream of the fuse box.
If the fault is in the wiring, I would remove, say, the terminal for the front sidelight from the multi-plug. Plug the multi plug back in, and try the sidelights - if OK, then you know the fault is in the live feed to the front sidelight. Obviously, if vica-versa, then the fault lies between the fuse box and the affected lights at the rear.
I would guess that you have a wiring short to earth, and once you find where it is, it will cost pennies to fix! Happy hunting!
number_cruncher
p.s., I once worked for a foreman who would find this type of fault by bridging the fuse with some wire, andlooking for the smoke! Although it worked for him, I really don't recommend this method!
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Would agree with N.C. earth shorts are pretty common.Finding is the problem!
--
Steve
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"p.s., I once worked for a foreman who would find this type of fault by bridging the fuse with some wire, andlooking for the smoke! Although it worked for him, I really don't recommend this method!"
Yup we called it a "Diagnostic Fuse", An ignorant bystander would call it a nail
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Ok its a very simple circuit. From your description you are blowing fuse 5. 5 is Front right, Rear left & Right number plate. Plus its the spur that provides feed to instrument cluster. Fuse 6 feeds the other sidelights, Left number plate and no spur to instrument panel.
Both fuses are fed from same relay terminal so Relay and pre relay are fine. So you need to trace after fuse 5.
to isolate where the short is you need to find plug G1 on the fuse/relay box (12 pin plug) and remove each wire in turn to see if fuse blows.
l/h rear = pin 1 yellow/black
r/h front = pin 2 yellow/red
r/h number plate = pin 11 yellow/green
It will be a bulb, bulb holder, or where the wire goes through a bulkhead. My fav would be number plate light.
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Right.
It's sorted.
I went out with the instructions from RF (cheers for that) and proceeded to skin my knuckles under the dash.
Disconnected the yellow/green, yellow/black etc from the 12 pin thing, and the fuse still blew, which told me straight away that it wasn't any of the external bulb holders or connectors. I removed the whole 12 pin connector, just in case it was something else on that, it wasn't, the fuse still blew.
I then proceeded to turn the switch on and off, feeling each relay to see if it was doing anything.
There was a relay at the top, which according to the handbook is for dim-dip lights, which hasn't worked for over a year. I think the resistor or whatever it uses has blown.
On removing that relay, which obviously has no function at the moment, and replacing the fuse, I now have interior lights and sidelights!
I think I'll hunt out the dim-dip resistor and see if I can replace it, or fix it somehow.
Is it likely to be an easy job?
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AH -
That will be
"Note: in some countries the versions are equiped with "daylights" ....." Page 3 General description.
Looks to me like its fed from K3 on the L/H side of the fuse box schematic. K3 does not look like an external plug so I assume its another relay connection on the same assembly.
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I'm not sure about that.
The daylighting is DRL, like Volvo's, meaning the dipped beam lights are always on.
The relay that I found causing the problem was one which controls a lower voltage going through the dipped beam, for when the sidelights are on on their own.
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