Electrical problem.

[Cal]

1960 Traveller, originally fitted with trafficators, but some time ago fitted with indicators. (Not by me)
We lost brake and tail lights. Headlights fine. Indicators work.
Not a problem I thought and dug out the multimeter.
All looked well at the back of the car and similarly at the front, but I have power at the bulkhead, fuse box etc, but nothing at the back.
I followed the wiring from the boot forward, no power, so it must be a problem behind the dash.
Hopefully there is an attached photo of what I found!

I hope the club spares has a loom and a few other bits.[frame][/frame]

[mogbob]

Before you purchase a whole new loom .Assuming there is no other evidence of burnt wiring from the rear lights forward to the dash, then you might get away with splicing / soldering in new wires.
Red for the sidelights and Green or Green / Purple for the brakes depending where the damage is.

The photo is a little blurred to be precise over the cause.Side lights and brake lights are on different " runs " of the wiring.Earth at the rear light housing being the common denominator.This needs to be checked out.Is there any sign of burnt metalwork under the dash, indicating where the shorting out may have occurred ?
Bob

[kennatt]

Don't think you need a new loom,YET,separate the burnt wires,and get round all of the wires with your meter,you should be able to eliminate the good circuits,and find the ones that have shorted,then as above,find the short and replace the burnt out wires.

[bmcecosse]

Are these original 'loom' wires ?

[ManyMinors]

As you probably know, the sidelamp wiring is red and this circuit is not protected by a fuse on a 1960 car
You might be able to find out where the circuit shorted to earth but maybe not.....
As others have said, I wouldn't be in TOO much of a rush to replace the entire loom just because of this. You can probably run new wiring just to repair the sidelamp circuit itself although a new loom is not an enormous expense.
If you just replace the damaged wires, DO make sure you stick with the same colour wiring! Maybe fit an inline fuse too like they did on the later Minor
The damage could have been worse, so think yourself lucky. I suffered a wiring loom fire once and was lucky not to lose the whole car Good luck.

[Cal]

Thanks for the replies and advice, I didn't get anything done last weekend, so no progress, I know I am a slacker.

We lost the rear brake and tail lights. Diving into the loom there is a lot of melting. I haven't found a source for the problem yet. I want it to be safe for the future so I need to know the cause.
I have some experience re-wiring british bikes. On them I have often taken the opportunity to run extra earths and would like to incorporate that into the car for peace of mind.
Perhaps I should get some shares in vehicle wiring products!
I will produce a wiring diagram and laminate it. If I can remember the software.

[Cal]

Are these original 'loom' wires ?

I think so, the loom looks/is pretty old

[SUE482]

For my ten pennies worth, I'd replace the loom and put an in line fuse for protection. I don't think I would have any confidence otherwise

[bmcecosse]

You don't need to reproduce a wiring diagram - just use Barry's excellent diagram at the head of this section!

[Cal]

You don't need to reproduce a wiring diagram - just use Barry's excellent diagram at the head of this section!

Thanks it looks really useful but Barry's diagram is for a 65 with a key starter, our traveller is a 1960 with a pull starter that has been 'modded' by previous owners, so I will use it as a guide.
The mod to install the flashers instead of the trafficators is something I need to get my head around.

[Cal]

For my ten pennies worth, I'd replace the loom and put an in line fuse for protection. I don't think I would have any confidence otherwise

Thanks,
I think that I will buy a new loom, but also run earths and a few more fuses, produce a wiring diagram based on Barry's one and keep it in the car.

[Cal]

I think that I might have got to a possible cause.
The brake light switch is stuck in the on position, so the lights must have been on all the time and it looks like that rather than the bulbs going the wiring has gone instead. I think this has then melted the insulation and then cross connected to the supply to the rear lights.
All the bulbs still work! Just the wiring is gone. The deeper I get into the loom and trace the feeds to the rear lights and brake lights the more melting I see.

If that makes any sense.

[bmcecosse]

Well done finding the root cause. However there is no way that should have been able to melt wiring....the wires are sized to carry the current - and fused.....