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MG MGA - wiring woes need help

my problems with rewiring continue. running lights, high beam and head lights work. having difficulty with rear lights. with running lights on, I can get the rear lights to light but only bright. when i switch the terminals, the driver rear light will light in a non bright way. nothing in the drivers rear. turn signals work on driver front and current with intermittent flasher to the rear driver light and no light flashing . nothing to the rear passenger . in fact when switching rear terminals, the wiring to the rear starts to get hot. I believe I have a short in the rear light but don't no where. ground is working and have run a new wire from the engine compartment to the rear harness ( burned out my rear harness ) and the lights are getting power. license plate light also working. confused about where the short is and does this explain why flaser unit only works on drivers dise and brake lights do not. been at this for 4 weeks and for every step forward , I go two backwards. getting awfully depressed and discouraged since I am no better off now with the rewiring then I was before beginning this project.

michael dvorkin
michael dvorkin

Michael,
Check the plastic insulator in the rear light fixture. It is riveted between the bulb contact brush and the chrome.
mike parker

Hi Michael. I are sorry to hear you are having so many headaches with your harness installation. I can feel your frustration, and want you to know that I share it with you via this forum. It is sometimes difficult to track down "weird" electrical malfunctions since so many little things can cause seemingly non sensical symptoms! I am sure there is a solution to your specific ills, and perhaps an electrical guru on this forum can tell you what to try next. While I am not the guru you seek, I can tell you that what I found useful, when I rewired my MGA was this: before installing the wiring harness, I spent an evening with the wiring diagram and wiring harness. I tagged each and every wire on the wiring harness with a label telling what each wire was going to connect to. This tagging of wires simplified the wiring job immensely. After my evening of tagging, there were only 2 wires unaccounted for, and it became obvious during the harness installation where they connected to. If all else fails, it might be worthwhile for you to try this tactic. The manual wiring diagram allows you to see where each colour coded wire comes from and goes to, so it is fairly easy to follow, if somewhat time consuming to tag all the wires. But, in my opinion, it was time well spent, as my electrial system worked perfectly after the new wiring harneess was installed. I hope you sort out your wiring woes! Cheers, and heartfelt condolences, Glenn
Glenn

Mike,

Based on the described symptoms try this:

Remove or loosen the cast tail light housing off of one of the wings to check if you have a pinched wire under one of the cast ribs that goes for the housing to the threaded bosses of the housing.



Don


Don Tremblay

Mike, I agree with Don and Glenn. However, you did not mention if you are wiring a 1500 or 1600 MGA. This will make a difference concerning the tail/ brake lamps. If you are working with a 1500, check ALL of your connections at the control box on the bulkhead. If you are working with a 1600, recheck ALL of your connections AND look for a pinched wire.
Good luck,
John
mgdoc

This thread was discussed between 14/09/2005 and 15/09/2005

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