Practically Classics Forum

Hi All, could really dowith some electrics help!

to give the full story i bought my 1979 spit 1500 about a month ago knowing that the indicators didnt work but the hazards did so i thought what could it be?

I knew all bulbs were good as the hazards worked so cleaned up the earths, looking behind the dash i found a loose flasher unit and two wires connected them up and hey presto all worked (if a bit slow)

gone back to the car today and the hazards have packeed up completely and the right indicators work (quite slow) and when i try to indicate left the flasher unit clicks quickly but the lights dont work! Ive spent a day today cleaning earths and no joy. Ive checked the fuses and usisng a tester checked there is no powerto the hazard flasher unit.

any ideas/advice would be much appreciated! cheers joe

Some cars used to have 2 flasher units, one for the indicators and one for the hazards.Some used one for all. I dont know what yours have.Can you feel what unit is ticking with the indicators on? my guess would be a bad flasher, or bad haz switch because this shuts off or connects power to the indicator circuit, so ind off, haz on and vice versa.You need to start for power at this and then work through until you find a break or bad connection.

This might help you

http://www.triumphspitfire.com/images/w ... iagram.jpg

Thats really great thanks for the reply, the car has two flasher units and yes the smaller one is the indicators and the larger the hazards. I have tried replacing both and switching them round etc so am confident its not this. However after speaking to my dad and hours on the interenet I understand that the power is routed through the hazard switch so this will be the next thing to try (£50 from Moss WHAT!) ormay try some servisol electrical cleaner first (£3)

any further experience or advice would be muchos appreciated

cheers
joe

Cleaning all the contacts lot should do it

Ive cleaned all connections apart from the hazard switch, ill give it a whirl and let you know if it fixes it! as soon as thats sorted in for mot!!

yes the power is routed through the haz switch, and is broken or made depending if the indicators or hazards are on.In other words, if the indicators are on and you put on the hazards, then the power to the indicators is broken and vice versa.Some hazard switches use these numbered terminals, but may be different on others but as a general rule this are the markings: 31-earth,49-power in (goes to 49 on the flasher),49a is power out (also goes to 49a on flasher),15-power from the ign switch,R and L goes to the right and left indicator switch terminals.

Evening all!

Some success to report (and failure) but first the success!

I replaced the front light units, added electronic flasher units which are great by the way replaced all the 'four way connectors' at the front cleaned all earths again and het presto the indicators now work wooohooo a lovely smooth and consistent flash!

HOWEVER

The hazards still do not work, with the indicator on and I pull the hazard switch the indicators do cancel as they should and there is power to the green wire on the switch and the green/grey wire. There is however no power to the flasher unit wire whatever I do car running, switch on off etc etc Im rekoning next stop brand new hazard switch (i tried two but both 30 yr old!) any ideas, input would be great.

I got the new battery box welded in at the weekend so this is the only singular thing preventing me boking an MOT and living the spitfire dream in time for bristol classic car show!!

cheers
Joe
Please note, although no boardcode and smiley buttons are shown, they are still useable

Not the solution to the original problem, but for the test, you can remove the hazard switch as the car is old enough not to need them and if they're not present, they can't fail.

From the current MOT testers' manual:

MOT Testers' Manual, at mot.co.uk wrote:Hazard warning devices are not required on vehicles first used before 1 April 1986, but if one is fitted it must be tested.

very interesting a couple of times ive removed towbars/spare wheels for mots for the similar reason! really like to get this fixed but may come to that

The local MoT station seems incapable of testing the hazards properly on my Allegros, so I always hide the switch inside the dash when sending them off for test. I also make sure it does actually work first!