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I think my 8 had a stroke

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PATR8

PATR8

Jedi Knight
Offline
I think my car has finally pushed me too far. I think it had a stroke last week while i was gone because it has no lights on the left side working at all except the rear turn signal. I have no idea where to go. I pulled all the grounds I could find and cleaned them, I checked the fuses, I pulled all the connectors.

I suddenly had one plug (headlight) that had power at the end of the evening but I have no idea why because I was not even touching anything. The side lights still don't work, the tail light doesn't work, the light motor doesn't work on either side.


Ugggggggg. Bed time, will look for words of wisdom from everyone tomorrow morning
 
I'm going to guess the main switch in the center of the dash. Seems that it has twin contacts and could possibly be working on one side and not the other. But, then I could be all wet. Quite a few relays on the 7s and 8s too, could be one for each side there also. Watch carefully and see where it smokes, that may point to a problem. (that's a Lucas joke, pay no attention) Good Luck
 
I'm guessing main switch as well. There are little plastic things in there that push the copper contacts into place when you engage the switch. Over years of use, the plastic wears down to a point where they are no longer able to push the contacts into place. Take the switch apart. It will be a good reverse engineering exercise. Maybe you will get lucky and it will just be a bunch of green corroded contacts. Use dielectric grease on them when you put it back together.
 
Sometimes it simply requires operating the switch many times to clean up the contacts. Have your tried that?

(One reason I always turn the lights on at least once per drive)
 
I have swapped the switch out with the two spares I have...nothing
 
Time to break out the meter or test light. Randomly changing out parts doesn't seem to be getting you where you need to be. Start at the switch and see if you have power coming into the switch. If you do, great. See if it goes out when you throw the switch. If you don't, trace it back the other way. The wiring diagram is essential for figuring out which wire goes where.
 
tr8todd said:
Randomly changing out parts doesn't seem to be getting you where you need to be.
Click to expand...

But it is so much more fun that way, speaking from experience.

Agree, chase the power at this point.
 
Ok... I traced power to the switch,. No problem. I now have both headlights working, the right side lights work. The left side lights don't work but the brake lights do, the turn signals do, the back up
Iights do.

So I traced it the front power to a plug. There is a ground, the mid prong should power the front bumper light but no power there but the bottom prong, which is the turn signal, has power. Now the l/s light fuse pops as soon as the lights are turned on.

The side lights come straight off the loom, I have no idea where to look there.
 
Check the fuses in the interior fuse box.

Also check the grounds on the tail light bulb holders. Clean up the contacts and give it another go.

Thanks
Clint
The Wedge Shop
 
You might also want to check if your battery is fully charged. I had almost exactly the same type of weird problem with the passenger side marker/turn signal lights on my EType. I was going nuts chasing wiring and grounds trying to sort it. Turned out the battery was bad and wasn't charging fully. When I replaced the battery all the lights worked fine.
 
New battery last fall, checked and cleaned all the grounds i know of (taillights, by the connectors in the engine compartment, trunk by the battery box)..

Previous to last night the fuse was powered but I had nothing. Last night it started popping as soon as I flipped the switch.
 
GBRandy, your a genius. I had chased everything to ground and my daughter was watching my frustration build and looked at my front side marker and said "dad, this one is burnt out". I gave her a bulb, popped it in and all was healed, how in the worlds would one side marker bulb do that to my car? I'd never believed it if I hadn't seen it
 
Is the rest of the wiring hacked? You should be able to loose an indicated bulb without losing everything else.

Glad you found it however.
 
Ha. Yea, well tell that to my wife :smile:

It sounded like a short to me....but you covered all the logical places. Bulbs do weird things from time to time when they burn out. I would have thought it would blow a fuse but who knows.

I would still be a bit cautious here and check the wiring harness that leads up to that side marker light. You may have simply moved the wiring into just the right spot while swapping the bulb. Spend a moment and make sure all is good on that side. Out of curiosity, did you bench test that bulb?

Glad it is up and running. Electrical problems are the worst.
 
Yea, wonky bulb would've made me :wall:
 
Makes sense. The side markers have both power and ground connections on the bulb and don't just ground to the body like the rear lights do. Enough corrosion in there and the power could jump straight to ground and blow the fuse. Hey, look on the bright side. At least you cleaned all the connections in the light circuit which should be classed as routine maintenance on a wedge.
 
Interesting result. I've seen similar issues with boat trailers back in western PA, when guys would back them down into the lakes to launch and then to take out their boats. Usually this happens when enough rust or corrosion gets in there and shorts out the bulbs or sockets. But I would have not guessed a bulb in your situation. I thought a loose ground somewhere, so I was wrong.
 
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