Fuse block frustration

[RickB]

I find that if I wiggle the purple wires just right my interior light comes on but usually I lose my park / tail lights.

Wiggle some more wires until park / tail lights come back and interior light circuit usually loses power.

Who knows what happens while driving!!!

Later today I plan to pull the fuse block & clean up all the contacts (again).

Anyone come up with a permanent solution to this?

 

[ecurie_ecosse]

A new fuse box?

Stuart.

 

[RickB]

Yes, that's a thought.

I'll pull mine & work on it using my meter to see if there's any internal issues first. :wink:

 

[bugimike]

Exorcise the spirit of Lucas!!

 

[RickB]

It's funny, after complaining here about the little block I went out yesterday afternoon to find everything working correctly.

One thing I've learned in lbc ownership is to just back away slowly when that happens. It may just work right for a good long time now. Or - now that I've commented again - the car may be sitting out there spontaneously combusting itself.

 

[ecurie_ecosse]

Sounds like a plan,Rick. :thumbsup:
When it works,leave it alone!

There may have been a little dampness on the contacts,causing the glitch.

Stuart.

 

[RickB]

Heh - strangely enough it acted worse when it dried out and was hot. Now that we are back to 50's temps & rain its working fine! :wink:

 

[tosoutherncars]

A good day's work... and home before dark!

 

[RickB]

This morning, no turn signals.

Everything else works. Usually IIRC when I lose turn signals I also lose wipers, if it's fuse block related. I could be mistaken about that, bad memory.

Turn signals worked fine yesterday. Weird, it's still cool & rainy too.

 

[tosoutherncars]

Bad flasher unit? Do your hazards work?

 

[RickB]

I'll see what works (and doesn't work) this afternoon.
Parking & brake lights work.

 

[George Zeck]

Rick -

I replaced my fuse box for the simple fact that too many items where run off a single fuse (if I remember properly - it only had 3 or 4 fuses for the entire car) - that's NOT redundancy. I bought a new box form JC Whitney (cheap) and now have most items seperated - so when something pop's - I know what the deal is and not guessing (interior lights, tail lights onthe same fuse -- Lucas has the reputation for a reason).

Good luck. It's an easy job - just tedious.

George

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Actually, there a many modern cars where the dash lights and tail lights are on the same fuse. I think this is somewhat purposeful. The absence of dash lighting alerts you that your tail lights are not working.

However, I agree that there are usually too few fuses in spridgets.

 

[texas_bugeye]

I also opted to change out my fuse box I purchased a BUSSMAN fuse panel 8 Moderen Spade type fuses that Are easy to tell if blown or not and labled each slot.
Yea I know its not Lucas But I have reached an agreement with the gods Not to complain about my dim Headlights and so far the were all happy.

 

[RickB]

Yesterday was kind of funny, before leaving the parking lot I checked & of course still no flashers. I wiggled the wiring and no change.

I then decided to drive to Costco for my weekly 5 to 6 gallon fill up. (I just love it when I get to be in front of a Hummer)

While waiting in line I fiddled with the switches.
At first I got nothing when flipping on the hazards. So I flipped that switch over and over and alternately turned one or other of the turn signals on & off. While doing this I drove over one of the speedbumps...

Flashers started working, turn signals started working.

They worked yesterday, they still worked this morning.

I bought another Lucas (Midget) fuse block on Ebay a little while ago. I'm going to clean it up real nice & put it in and then clean up the original and then separate out the wiring onto two blocks. That will give me 8 fuses, which should be more than enough.

 

[SilentUnicorn]

Rick here is a tip:
Power for the turns runs thru the flasher switch, the contacts in the switch can grow things and become flaky. The switch can be disassembled and cleaned.

mark

 

[RickB]

Maybe just working the hazard switch back & forth 60 - 80 times is what did it?

 

[BuggerAll]

My weekend project was the installation of a Painless Wiring fusebox I bought from Summit Racing, $75. It has:
1/ a circuit breaker between battery and fusebox, in case anything dire shorts out
2/ is relay activated
3/ has four fuses wired to the ignition and three constant hot.
4/ uses modern spade-type fuses.
So now my BE has reliable fusebox, no more jiggering worn brass connectors, don't have to worry about one item blowing the single ignition-linked fuse, etc. Piece of mind and it looks nice to boot.
Soldered all connections.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Go through and clean off the green stuff on the contacts. Not only in the fuse block but you also need to take apart the flasher unit and the headlight switch. See Gerard's Website for a look at the inside of a headlight switch as well as the Flasher Lamp Switch. They come apart easily and you'll find them all green with corosion. Clean up once with a little pencil araser and emery paper and they work fine and last a long time.

 

[tony barnhill]

I've got a brand new screw-in type fuse block on the shelf (#162-500) that I can ship right out.