My best mate parked his mk2 pre covid, in the shed, and it languished there until a couple of weeks ago. Charged the battery, changed oil and plgs, and getting ready to use. However, since firing it up, the indicators are acting up. Turn on the ignition, and the indicator symbol glows on the dash. Flick the stalk left or right, and no indicators. Turn on the hazards, and they work fine, and the symbol on the dash flashes as normal. He changed the stalk for one I had spare, as the original one was acting up on the headlight flash. Car is a CE2 1990 mk2, originally a 1.3, but running all mk2 gti digi stuff now. Any suggestions?
Have the rodents had a go at the wiring/earths Tristan or has the good old Irish weather/dampness managed to soak it’s way into some of the wiring?
No sign of that, and it was my first thought too. The thick plottens, now when you turn on the key, the indicator warning light is dim, but comes on bright, still not flashing, when you indicate left or right. Turn on the heads/dips, with key on, same dim indicator warning light, hit the hazards and that goes out. Hazard light switch doesn't light up. Hm.mmm
This is all smelling like a wiring/grounding issue as that’s the kind of the shite that happens when a ground has corroded/failed or other wiring has open-circuited
Tristan - another bit of (possibly) useful information, my current mk2’s Indicators decided to act up when I first got it. In my case it’s a fuse holder within the board, I put another fuse from my 16v project and it works but honestly, no idea why. Prior to this, they wouldn’t work at all (hazards did) and there was a faint glow from the green led/bulb in the centre of the dash
It’s those blade/interference fittings within the fuse board- problem is that you can’t do much with them other than, replace the board (if you have one) - I think there is a small thread about my issue on the site
fuse 17 is for the indicators so start with that. check the indicator stalk has ignition live on the black/blue wire as well. make sure all the plugs are firmly seated in the stalks too, they can be fiddly
Do the stalks suffer with oxidising on contact points like most bl rover stuff? The mini used to do it if laid up for a while.
can do yeah, power for the indicators and hazards has to pass thru thge hazard switch so it could be that which is starting to pack in. the hazard switch can be unclipped from the back of indicator stalk for a cleanout
Quick question, has anyone tried putting a tiny bit of solder on the fuse blade(s) just to make it a nudge wider and more snug within the board? It's a lot of ripping just for a slightly worn connection - when I was removing that stupid immobiliser, I had to disconnect one terminal block from the back of the board and it completely bust my gonads to get it back into where it came out of - I spent a good 30-40 minutes on it and to this day, I still don't know how/why it finally decided to play ball.
you did pull the locking peg to the right once fusebox dropped right, the plugs wont fit or remove till you do that (ce2)
I like the idea about bending the blade slightly RJ - no replacing fuse board, I've come to the realisation that unless absolutely necessary, it is better to avoid as much ripping as possible.
Yep I believe so RJ, based on that connector alone, the thought of a full fuse board removal gives me the heebee jeebies
weird, did anything look damaged on the plug? maybe rear terminal in fusebox socket slightly bent or something. the main plugs should fit and remove dead easy, its getting the fuse and relay holders off the top which is fiddly (not hard though, thin screwdriver to release the clip either side and pull)
Everything looked spot on RJ - I specifically checked that (whether caused by me or others) and I couldn't see anything but my God getting it re-secured, it literally felt like square pegs and round holes.
Fixed! Fuse 17 blown, but bizarrely with that out, we still had 5v at the stalk. Also a bad earth, and a poor connection on one of the stalk plugs.
