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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Green circuit short - wiper park switch?

Evening BBS-ers

It sure is quiet on here today...

I would like a second (or third, fourth, fifth...) opinion on a fault I am trying to track down. I seem to have an intermittent short on my green circuit. Sometimes when I turn the ignition on it will blow. Other times it is OK, but will then blow a bit later, or be fine a couple of times then blow the next.

I *think* it might be wiper motor related, as I think it was OK before I wired that in. But the wipers don't need to be on for it to happen. Also, if the fuse holds out, the wipers work OK.

Can the park switches get dodgy over time and sometimes short?

Or am I looking in the wrong place and should I be checking other more obvious things?

Cheers,
Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

Have you checked where the wiper wires go through the bulkhead? If the grommet is displaced they can chafe and lead to a short between live and the body.
David Smith

if it's not chafed wires how about disconnecting the wiper motor part of the green circuit as close as you can to the fuse box and see how it goes, then reconnect that and disconnect the next connection along including switch and continue this process until you end at the wiper motor to hopefully find the bad part of the circuit

I hope above makes sense

or use a multimeter or test bulb instead
Nigel Atkins

I have tried to chase it with the multimeter before, I thought I had sorted it, but obviously not. Will have another look tonight after mulling over what might be wrong today.

Malc.
M Le Chevalier

I hear ya malc,

I finally gave up and just cut the wire and just manually throw the lever to stop the wiper blades....but its noce for the girls to see them stop as intended

Mine was a downward progression to the point that everytime I turned them off the fuse would pop....my last guess, its in the switch its self but could never confirm.

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

OK... think I have been chasing a red herring. Had a quick fiddle tonight. Long story short, yes I think I did solve the wiper issues I was having. The new issue was that the spare terminal on the voltage stabiliser was shorting out on something behind the dash (because I haven't bothered securing it properly yet! oops!)

Good job nobody is visiting this forum anymore so I didn't waste too much of peoples time! :-D

Malc.
M Le Chevalier

Malc,
you also want the VS secured as they want to be fitted around horizontal
Nigel Atkins

...and earth through the case.
Dave O'Neill 2

Aye, I know, I just had an old friend coming to visit who wanted to see the car, so just cobbled things together to get it running.

Converting to a solid state version in due course, integrated circuit voltage regulators are about 50p each.
M Le Chevalier

This thread was discussed between 29/10/2014 and 30/10/2014

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