Electrical Issues

[Joe_flanagan]

Hi guys,

So I have a 91 Austin Mini City. Its my first Mini and I am having some issues with my electrics. Basically sometimes when I turned the lights on the dash lights would not light up which would result in my rear lights not working or my front 4 centre spots not working. After driving for a while if I quickly turned the lights on and off again everything would start working again. My initial thought was the battery was gone so I got a new battery. Now the dash lights light up every time i turn the lights on and my rear lights are working however the speedo light is not lighting, the front 4 spots only work on full beams and parking light (not on dipped beam), the horn isn't working and it won't work when I go to do a quick flash of the full beams. So basically everything on the left side of the steering wheel except the indicators isn't working. My thoughts would be that a relay has gone which is effecting everything in that area. I also have noticed that when I turn the lights off the car idles at higher revs and when I pull up to traffic lights and put my foot on the brake the lights dim slightly and the revs drop a little.

Has anybody had any similar issues and could give some advice? I have a workshop manual for a 98 Mini and have been trying to use that to diagnose the issues but the electrics are a lot more modern in it so if you could even point me in the direction where I could find a pdf for a 91 manual or something similar that would be great also.

I appreciate all the help.

Cheers,
Joe

[woody]

The first thing to check is that the 4 spots are on relays and find out where on the loom the relays are getting there power from. It sounds like you have a damaged loom or connector usually caused by over loading( spot lights). The wire that feeds the Flasher also feeds the horn and is usually the first to go when spots don't have relays. The spots should only come on with the head beam(NCT requirment).

[Joe_flanagan]

Thanks for the reply Woody. Yea I checked and the spots are on relays. I think it was a corroded connection causing it to trip out so I changed that and the horn and flasher are working now. The light behind the speedo still isn't coming on but I think the bulb is just gone on that one.Thanks for the advice.

[daniel garry]

Had the same problem with my 90 city, Check the spade connectors at the fuses, replace them if they look a bit corroded