stiggy wiggy

iTrader: (1)

The other night I was driving down a straight B road about 11pm when all of a sudden every light just cut out (headlight, sidelight, dashlights....)

Managed to safely pull over and after a lot of searching found that a quick wiggle of some block connectors under the dash made them come back to life, obviously something is not as it should be down there and needs looking at asap.

Anyone had this happen to them before?

Car is a 97 type-r, thanks.

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

I haven't, but mate has.

He was coming back from Southend to Braintree (on A127?) one night back in the late 80s, and rounded this NSL bend at speed when he lost all lights! (Just like you, there were no street lights either!). He somehow managed to not crash and get it stopped. I think he managed to fix it at the side of the road (loose connection, like yourself). Car was a '86/7 Cavalier SRi 3-dr hatch.

Apart from no brakes and a sticking throttle - <<< I've experienced both those!!! - that has got to be the most bowel-loosening experience in a car....

stiggy wiggy

iTrader: (1)

Anybody else suffered this and how did u solve it?
Safe to say I drove the non lit sections of the road home with my hand hovering under the dash, just in case.

stiggy wiggy

iTrader: (1)

Had a look under the dash and traced the problem to this block connector, the earth connector looks as tho it's been fried, spoke to my neighbour (electrician) who said to just snip the wire either side of the connector and just join them with bullet connectors,

Done that which has sort of fixed the problem but every now and then I'll lose the lights for 1 or 2 secs, would it be the bullet connector and would I be better soldering it (will be awkward)?

What would have caused the fried connector?

Is it connected to either of my other threads.....

Running on 3 cylinders
https://www.scoobynet.com/general-te...lp-please.html
Lack of fuse / relay
https://www.scoobynet.com/general-te...-relay-do.html

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

Bullet connector should be okay, if you've clamped the connectors around the bare wire ends nice and firmly. Double check you have, by tugging firmly at the wire whilst holding the connector with the free hand. Don't use a stupid amount of force though - just enough so you can satisfy yourself that it would never come adrift under normal circumstances.

But where you're able to, it's ALWAYS best to do a good solder and heat a watrerproof shrinkwrap around the joint....

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

That connector looks like it was giving a poor connection and had arcing problems.

I think I'd be inclined to remove BOTH blacks and replace their connectors with one from here: http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.e...connectors.php

MC1 would do it.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Could be crappy bullet connectors; many are utter crap at crimping (as are the crimping tools).

Bearing mind the wires have seen alot of heat, so they have probably oxidised and gone dull (dull copper instead of bright), which will cause alot of resistance. Crimp connectors should only be made onto bright and shiny copper. I have been known to flow solder onto crimp connectors with a fluxed solder to ensure a good electrical connection with the wire (the flux will clean the dirty copper).

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

The flux IS SUPPOSED to clean the dirty copper. That's the theory, OK.

Just doesn't always work. Especially with VERY oxidised wires.

Last one I did, I dipped in plumbing flux first, then rinsed off and dried. THAT cleaned the little b*gger!

stiggy wiggy

iTrader: (1)

Still having trouble with this! Managed to narrow it down to wires under the dash as before but only does it with the engine running not with the ignition on for some reason,

So I'm having to wait till night then drive off some place where I'm not gonna **** people off with my car running while I faff about fiddling under the dash trying to find what's causing it, arrrrrgh!!!

stiggy wiggy

iTrader: (1)

Managed to track this down to the block connector thats on the bottom of the indicator / light stalk, when moved forwards and backwards the lights will flick off and on randomly, when unplugging it you can see the problem like the pics above.

I take it I need a new stalk but what do I do about the other side of the connector and the offending wire, can you replace the metal part that the wire connects to within the block and a new wire or do i have to get a new part of this loom?

What would of caused this to happen and is it likely to happen again once Ive replaced and fixed everything?

Any ideas welcome

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

Ayde

iTrader: (6)

Think I would do what alcazar suggested and get a new connector just for the offending wire. Should be simple enough to do. Plus doing it that way, if the problem continues you are not going to risk damaging the rest of the OEM connector block.

Ayde.

stiggy wiggy

iTrader: (1)

Problem is the block above connects directly to the stalk base so I'm thinking I'm gonna have to get a new stalk and a block with some length of wire off a breaker then solder it in to the existing loom