Temperature & Fuel Gauge, Indicators, Brake lights

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Pudelspringer

New Member
The above items work intermittently on the P6B I'm using. I was going to try spraying some contact cleaner into the fuse box as my first step of repair. The car is a loaner, so I'm not very familiar with it.

Where is the fuse box? The owner's manual says on the Right Wing, but I can't see it.

I don't want to start pulling out the wiring loom and fatally fixing it, so to speak.

Thanks

An Old P5B Coupe Owner
 
What year is the car? Early vehicles up 'til 1971 had the fuse box mounted on the left hand inner wing, high up and near the firewall. These were the small fusebox with 4 fuses. Later cars from '72 on had it mounted inside the passenger's glovebox. This was the larger 12 fuse box which has been known to cause problems. Make sure the contacts are clean and the fuses are the right length as too short fuses can cause overheating and the box can melt. :shock:
 
Just had a look in the manual and everything you mention runs off the same fuse so that is probably your problem. It also runs the reverse lights. There are three variations depending on your chassis number suffix.
Early cars: Series 1 and s2 suffix 'A' (4 fuse) it is fuse number 3-4.
Series 2 suffix 'B' (or 'A' if it's a 3500S) Fuse number 21-22.
Series 2 suffix 'D' (or 'C' if it's a 3500S) Fuse number 19-20.
I had similar intermittant faults with my '72 when I first got it as it hadn't been used for a long time. I replaced all the fuses and cleaned all the contacts in the fuse box and haven't had any more trouble.
 
Thanks KiwiRover. It must be a 72 with a 71 manual. I found the fuse box as described in the left hand passenger glove box area. Which fuse and from which end of the fuse box. Thanks.
 
be careful what fuse you have in place. It is possible to fit modern metric fuses in the later type fuse box. BUT they are actually too short and don't give the required contact!

Chris
 
chrisyork said:
be careful what fuse you have in place. It is possible to fit modern metric fuses in the later type fuse box. BUT they are actually too short and don't give the required contact!

Chris
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That's a very good call Chris. I have all the correct length fuses in mine and the headlamp main beam fuse still gets v hot with prolonged use. The plastic gets soft and eventually pulls the contact away from the fuse causing the main beam to flicker intermittently until it cools again. I must get round to fitting those relays :D

Dave
 
Dave3066 said:
That's a very good call Chris. I have all the correct length fuses in mine and the headlamp main beam fuse still gets v hot with prolonged use. The plastic gets soft and eventually pulls the contact away from the fuse causing the main beam to flicker intermittently until it cools again. I must get round to fitting those relays :D

Dave
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I had this problem - what is the year, model and chassis prefix of your car?

Richard
 
quattro said:
Dave3066 said:
That's a very good call Chris. I have all the correct length fuses in mine and the headlamp main beam fuse still gets v hot with prolonged use. The plastic gets soft and eventually pulls the contact away from the fuse causing the main beam to flicker intermittently until it cools again. I must get round to fitting those relays :D

Dave
Click to expand...

I had this problem - what is the year, model and chassis prefix of your car?

Richard
Click to expand...

1972 3500S suffix A (can't remember the rest of the chassis number off the top of my head, will look when it stops raining :D )

I discovered this fault quite by chance as I couldn't figure out why the main beam would flash but not stay on. The supply for flash comes off one side of the top fuse contact (RHS IIRC) and the main beam on comes off the other. So the fuse had good contact on one side and wasn't even touching the other.

Dave
 
Dave3066 said:
1972 3500S suffix A (can't remember the rest of the chassis number off the top of my head, will look when it stops raining :D )

I discovered this fault quite by chance as I couldn't figure out why the main beam would flash but not stay on. The supply for flash comes off one side of the top fuse contact (RHS IIRC) and the main beam on comes off the other. So the fuse had good contact on one side and wasn't even touching the other.

Dave
Click to expand...

This piccy is typical of the fuses on the P6. Your full beam runs from two fuses, 11/12, and 13/14 (not the number below in the pic).

The feed from the light switch comes in on one spade, on the left of 11/12, and then passes through the top of the fuse into the right hand spade. The right hand spade is a solid piece of metal which also makes up the left hand spade of fuse 13/14 as in the pic. The feed then goes into the top of fuse 13/14 and down through the fuse. Bit of a long winded journey. The flash comes into the right hand spade of 13/14 then goes the other way.

fuseholder.jpg



If there is a loose spade, because it has overheated and the plastic bit has got hot (The plastic bit is the spring which holds it tight), or just a dirty spade, dirty fuse with a bad contact, or the wrong length of fuse, this can happen

melted.jpg


It may even be a bad connection further down the wire towards the headlights. To sort it, you need to remove the fuses, check the lengths are correct, clean them up with some sandpaper, clean the spades, then test all of the connections between the fuse box and the headlamps and make sure they are clean and tight. Don't forget the earth.

I had to change Sparky's fuse box and it is a pig of a job.

Richard
 
That strikes me as a bad design , I suppose fitting relays is the only answer
Back in the early 70's even Ford were fitting relays on the headlamp wiring of Mk3 Cortinas ,They had ceramic fuses with brass strips and the ends corroded
 
And don't forget chaps, that someone on here (sorry - can't remeber who it was without a big search) did a flammability test on an old fuse box of this variety and established a frighteningly low flame point temperature and great enthusiassm for spreading the damage to the rest of the car!

Perhaps it is worth the hassle of changing to a more modern fuse box! It certainly ought to make everyone take any electrical maladies very seriosly!

Lucky is an S1 so escapes that task :D

Chris

I
 
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