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  • Lights issue

    Hi all, iv had my car resprayed and the guys took off all my lights. Since then I have dipped and full beam on the main headlights, the ones on the wings show 12v across the wires bit as soon as I fit a bulb I have no power? Any ideas.thanks

  • #2
    Re: Lights issue

    Is it just the front lights, are the rear lights working?
    No power? To the whole car or just the front side lights?
    It suggests to me you have a bad chassis connection on the headlight/sidelight circuit and the headlights are trying to use the sidelight as a ground return path.
    MOC member since 05/97
    1984 Marlin Roadster SWB.
    1800TC, Unleaded ported head, stage 2 cam. Ford Type 9 gearbox, Dolomite Sprint rear axle fitted with MGF disc brakes.
    Three core radiator, Renault Clio vented front discs.
    The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

    Loads of Marlin Reference can be found documents here or there.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Lights issue

      could be the earth is wrong. Check which is live and then see if you get 12v using the chassis as earth rather than the earth wire.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Lights issue

        If the chassis was resprayed, it's even more likely that the ground (-) connections are poor.
        MOC member since 05/97
        1984 Marlin Roadster SWB.
        1800TC, Unleaded ported head, stage 2 cam. Ford Type 9 gearbox, Dolomite Sprint rear axle fitted with MGF disc brakes.
        Three core radiator, Renault Clio vented front discs.
        The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

        Loads of Marlin Reference can be found documents here or there.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Lights issue

          I think you should read this
          The Laws of Brown and Branson for Marlin Owners

          Sod has one, Murphy does and so do a collection of 19th century physicists so I don’t see why Andrew Brown and I shouldn’t.
          Brown’s law states that whenever an electrical component on a Marlin fails to function the reason will always be a problem with the earthing of said component.
          Branson’s law states that despite knowledge of Brown’s law and often prior demonstration of it Marlin owners will always spend time fiddling around with the live feed to a failed component before suddenly remembering Brown’s law and correcting the fault with the earth.
          I can quote examples of these laws. I well remember stopping to help Andrew at the bottom of Stoney street on the Land’s End when his headlights failed. He was well into dissembling the live wiring to the lights and I offered my meter to test for volts. When I met him later he confirmed what we both should have known that the problem was with the earth.
          The new addition to the Branson Marlin stable has had intermittent problems with its headlights. On the night before the Northern they wouldn’t work at all. I spent at least 45 minutes tracing the live feed from the switch to the fuse to the dip switch to the light until suddenly the penny dropped and I connected a jump lead from the negative pole of the battery to the headlight bar. This produced an immediate blaze of light and demonstrated Brown and Branson’s laws.
          For those of you clever clogs who think you can defy these laws I would remind you that they belong to the same class as Sod’s law of which the complete definition is ‘ A piece of bread with butter and jam on will land butter and jam side down unless required to do so to demonstrate Sod’s Law. So next time a light goes out on your Marlin and you think I’ll show those idiots with their laws. You will spend the requisite 45 minutes undoing rusty nuts, losing them under the bench, getting everything clean with wire brush and emery paper and thoroughly restore the earth you will then find that what was needed was a new bulb. Don’t even think that by testing beforehand that you may avoid all the bother because even if the bulb works at the outset by the time you have sorted the earth it won’t. Trust me I’m a doctor.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Lights issue

            Love it...we've all been there..!
            Marlin Roadster, LWB...1860 B Series + Ford Type 9
            Renault Espace 54mm front calipers, vented discs, cycle wings and adjustable tie-bars.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Lights issue

              Originally posted by lil_red_roadster View Post
              Love it...we've all been there..!
              Yep, a length of wire with a crock clip at each end is the best tool I've ever made, very useful for shorting the earth path back to the battery to prove that is what's causing the problem
              Mk2 SWB Marina Roadster with a 2.0L Pinto built in 1986

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Lights issue

                This might be of some help "Lucas Smoke"
                MOC member since 05/97
                1984 Marlin Roadster SWB.
                1800TC, Unleaded ported head, stage 2 cam. Ford Type 9 gearbox, Dolomite Sprint rear axle fitted with MGF disc brakes.
                Three core radiator, Renault Clio vented front discs.
                The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

                Loads of Marlin Reference can be found documents here or there.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Lights issue

                  Some great reading thier!! Thanks I am currently tied up ( not literally!) and will get back to her once in the country

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