Bugeye lighting/electrical help

[ichthos]

I have a number of questions concerning ligthing/electricity.

1) When I turn on the turn indicator, the green dash light does not come on. I know the problem is grounding, because I ran a wire from the outside of the bulb sockets to a screw holding one of the dash brackets and it did light up. The plastic insert going through the dash does not help things. How do you normally ground this light?
2) The ignition and high beam indicator lights appear to be missing the small colored piece of plastic or glass. What color were each of these originally? What could I use to correct this?
3) The wipers have two problems. When I pull the swich, they only come on half the time. Would the problem be the switch or motor, and how can you tell? The wipers normally start out slow, only complete four cycles in one minute and then goes faster the more I turn them on or off. This can't be normal- what is?
4)The ignition light stays on even without the key in. What could be causing this?

Help on any of these questions would greatly be appreciated.
Kevin

 

[Deleted member 8987]

1) you need the load of the front t/s bulb to trip the flasher.

 

[smaceng]

Hi Kevin,
1. the green flasher light has one wire attached to it. the outside of the bulb needs to be grounded to complete the circuit. Depending on how it is mounted and if the dashboard is grounded or not, it can work or not. To ensure it worked in my BE I soldered a wire to the outside of the light and then grounded the other end.
2.The ignition or "generator" light is red normally. It may be that the red little lens in the gauge is no longer there.
3. One has to try the wipers with a wet windshield. It makes a big difference in speed. Jumper together the two connections to the switch and see if the wiper is the same. If it is just the same, then most likely the problem is in the wiper motor. If the jumper to the switch cures the problem, then most likely it is the switch. The weak link in the windshield wiper motor is the samll wiper under the can which controls the parking feature. Then frequently get messed up.
Good luck,
scott in CA

 

[Whitephrog]

Kevin

You can get the correct size red jewel in larger craft stores. The ones I found came with a heat activated gray adhesive on the back. I carefully scraped that off so the light would shine through. That took a while. The jewels I found fit tightly in the hole and did not require any glue.

 

[ichthos]

I grounded the turn indicator light, and now it works fine. In the tach and speedometer both colored pieces are missing. Is the color of the highbeam blue? I haven't gotten to the wipers yet, but does anyone have an idea why the ignition light would stay on even when I have the lights turned off and the ignition key out?

 

[Whitephrog]

The Bugeye had small red jewels for both the ignition and the high beam. See the following thread.

www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/ubbthrea...jewe#Post655511

 

[smaceng]

If the ignition light stays on with the ignition turned off, then someting is wrong. Could be wiring, control box, generator, just about anything. I'll look at the wiring diagram for you.
Scott in CA

 

[The_architect]

Kevin,
For the lamp to illuminate without the switch, it must be getting a ground somewhere.

If I was doing this I'd try a couple of things.

I'd make sure the white wire coming from the light ignition is not grounded anywhere, and also that it isn't picking up a ground someplace where the white wire goes to the fuse box.

Also, I would try and make sure the light socket is not somehow getting grounded on the speedometer case, so check that perhaps.

Last, I would check the switch (maybe I would do that first).


Best,
Charlie

 

[ichthos]

Thanks for all of your help everyone. I don't know if it makes a difference, but the head is off at the moment. I'm waiting on a head gasket still. Moss was nice enough to send a new head gasket after UPS delivered my last one, which looked like an accordian. The igntion light is not grounding against the gauge. I know this, because when I remove it from the socket, it still lights. It makes sense to me that it is grounding some where, but I have no idea how to check this. Can someone tell me how to do this?

 

[DrEntropy]

First replace the generator brushes, Kev. :wink:

 

[JPSmit]

having the head off has nothing to do with it - is the light bright or dim. If it is bright, it might be that something has been hooked up wrong. If it is dim, it is more likely a short somewhere.

 

[JPSmit]

I used this link - and it really helped

https://classicbroncos.com/electricalbasics.shtml

(used the learnings today actually)

 

[The_architect]

Kevin,
I am only guessing, here, since I can't see your wiring or know how your harness is put together.

So my suggestion is to try this. Remove the yellow from the D terminal on the voltage regulator, if the light goes out I would say you are getting a ground in your charging circuit that you should not be getting.

If you remove the white from the fusebox and the light goes out, you have an incorrect connection in that end of the circuit somewhere, and the charging circuit may be okay.

Best,
Charlie

 

[DrEntropy]

GENNY BRUSHES!!

 

[ichthos]

I will try all that has been suggested. I will also order some brushes from my generator. I don't understand -how do the brushes effect this?
Kevin

 

[DrEntropy]

When the brushes wear they GROUND...

 

[ichthos]

If they are worn, I know it would be a good idea to replace them anyway, but how far do they have wear down to start grounding? Can you tell this by looking at them?

 

[DrEntropy]

Oh yeah. It'll be obvious.