Ignition switch wire off

[john milner]

I noticed that my reversing and brake lights were not working and also the heated windscreen switch was not lighting up. After some time I worked out that the white wire feed to fuses 1 & 4 was at fault. I wiggled the wiring on the back of the ignition switch and the rear light worked if I held the wiring in the right spot. It turns out that a white wire has come off of spade connector on the back of the ignition switch. The spade is a piece of metal bent in half so in theory it should be very difficult to come off as it will be under spring loaded tension.

I have spent a few hours trying to push it back on by touch and mirror. Is there any easier way? I am thinking of squeezing the bent spade with long nosed pliers to help it slide together.

The wiring is tight so my feeling is that connector was never pushed home fully and after 17 years decided to pop off.

2003 K Series SV

 

 

[Tazio]

If the lock shear bolts haven't been tightened so they have sheared, take the lock off the column?

[revilla]

Or take the switch off the back of the lock? Maybe that's equally awkward. In any case make sure you disconnect the battery before getting tools around the switch, the brown wire goes straight back to the battery with no intervening fuse for protection.

[Wrightpayne]

If you have a heater, easing this out of the way may give you better access to the switch via the bulkhead.

[garybee]

In far less time than you've already spent you can remove the scuttle to have easy access to all the wiring behind the dash. It's easy to get drawn into the trap of trying to do these jobs without any disassembly. Often it's faster and less grief to just remove what's in your way and work in comfort.

[john milner]

After a night's sleep l sorted it today in about five minutes. What I had thought was a spade connector bent in half to form a hook like spring was no such thing. It was two spades with one angled so it was touching the other. Not sure why but the wire that was in place has a spade doubler even though there is a spare terminal on the switch and it was the doubler spade that was angled. Once I realised what was going on I easily put my loose wire on the spare terminal.

In case anyone has a similar electrical fault this is the process I followed:

1/Tested fuse 1 as that is for brake and reverse lights. Book says 10A fuse & fuse box say 15A.

2/Decided earthing was probably okay as other rear lights work.

3/Checked wiring diagram and found that the last common point for lights is a green wire at the brake light switch.

4/0V at the brake light switch so hot wired it directly from the battery and the lights worked.

5/Looked at the diagram again for an earlier common point and noticed that the feed to fuse 1 is the same as fuse 4 (windscreen). Found that the light on the heated windscreen button was not working either so concluded the feed was at fault.

5/Diagram showed that feed was from the ignition switch. Fiddled around at the switch and found a stray white wire.

 

Thanks for the comments and some very helpful PMs that made me think in a different way.

Steering lock bolts had been sheared off. I would probably have tried the heater idea before cutting the bolts.

Removing the switch might be possible. I can see one grub screw that is accessible and could not feel another. Master switch fitted so power is always turned off when not needed.

In my case scuttle removal would not be easy. Years ago I tried to remove a windscreen stanchion bolt to fit a tax disc holder. It was so tight that I gave up because of the risk of damaging something.

 

Loose wire fitted to doubler for illustration:

This photo is of how it looks now: