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MG MGF Technical - Boot Light Staying On

Hi,

My boot light has been staying on and causing my battery to get flattened when the car is left unused for long. As a temporary fix I've diconnected the light, but I would like a better solution.

Has anyone else had this?

If I operate the boot catch by pushing it round with the boot open the light turns off, but when shutting the boot (which does apparently shut and lock ok) the light is not going off. Any ideas?

Thanks :-)
Dan Wavell

Dan, how are you able to tell whether the light is going off when the boot is closed? I hope you aren't using child labour! ROFL ;o) ;o)

It is possible that there is a problem with the wiring harness going into the boot. Because of the lid opening and closing all the time, the wires can and do fracture and short out - sometimes leading to electrical gremelins such as this. Check out the loom adjacent to the hinge as the most likely suspect...
Rob Bell

dave have you checked the archive for this mate??? i had the trouble with that my boot light was not working there was a broken wire had to trace that back all sorted now... good luck mate
darren jeffery

Thanks guys...we initially decided to blame the boot light when the drain on the battery was the same with the boot open or closed...we did however resort to using my nephew to confirm this ;-)

I will look at the wiring loom near the hinge, but the light does consistantly go on and off with me manually operating the catch with the boot open. Would seem strange that the wiring changing position with the boot closed could stop this happening!

Will have to fix the light first now though as the clip broke when I pulled it out :-(
Dan Wavell

Dan I had the same prob as you a while back and as already suggested by Rob was down to severed/damaged wires going into the boot.

The other prob I was also experiencing at the same time, was that the alarm would fire when opening/closing the boot after the alarm had been set. After repairing the harness I have had no trouble with either the battery or alarm since.
Steve P

I would go for the boot wiring loom as suggested above.

I have a "how to " here

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~sur188/MGF/Loom

I Brown

Cheers guys...will get out to it at lunch time and have a look at that loom. The alarm does indeed go off when I shut the boot and even yesterday once when nothing was happening to it!

Thanks for the how to...those dodgy temporary connectors look just the job! Though might get my retired auto electrition of a Dad involved for that as I'm sure he'll make it look much neater than me!

Also, I noticed when the alarm went off the indicators weren't flashing! I'm sure they used too...but I could be remembering the wrong car! Anyone able to confirm this?

Dan Wavell

Sounds EXACTLY like the symptoms I had. Started off with the alarm going off at random times then the boot warning light then it becmase clear what it was.

I would say its 100% the wiring loom.

I Brown

Indeed it is....will get that sorted at the weekend. Thanks guys
Dan Wavell

This thread was discussed between 19/06/2006 and 21/06/2006

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