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MG MGB Technical - strange electrics problem

After a storm had blown off the cover, and the interior of my '71 mgb roadster was nicely rain-washed, a number of electrical stuff stopped working:
fuel gauge, RPM, temperature gauge, brake lights, flashers incl dashboard indicators, hazard lights (right front and rear are ok, but nothing on left).
I suspect some ground (earth) problem... but I have no idea where to look first. any ideas?
thank you
C
Christoph

Borrow the wife's hairdryer and dry it out!

Hazards and flashers are likely to be the same cause - the hazard switch, flick it on and off a few times.
Chris at Octarine Services

and to be sure ....pull the switch...wire past the switch by wiring the two solid green wires (usually attached to connectors #1 and #2 on the switch, I think) together (take a short piece of wire and attach two male spade connections to it) and see if the lights now work. When the switch is in the off position these two wires are connected completing the "green" circuit that has all that stuff on it.
J.T. Bamford

With getting soaked the problem is quite likely to be too many grounds rather than not enough! As Chris says dry it out. All of the items you mention are fed by the green fuse which should be the second one up in the fusebox, fed by the white. As that itself should have been unaffected by the lack of cover (assuming you have a bonnet) it is possible that a green somewhere behind the dash or in the cockpit is now shorting out, but instead of blowing the fuse (which it may well have done, have you checked?) may have caused a weak conenction in the area of the fusebox to give way instead.

The hazards have their own 12v feed via an in-line fuse, but the problem you mention points to the switch itself.

Bear in mind that you almost certainly have more than one problem, so don't expect a magic bullet.
Paul Hunt

thanks so far. I have reserved this whole saturday to solve the problem(s). will report back when solved - or when not.
C
christoph

solved.
it was the fuse. which I had checked before - the aluminum strip (or what it is) was intact, and there were no other visible signs that this fuse could be defect. but after I took it out and inserted a new one, and voila, it worked.
the hazard light problem disappeared after some heavy switching.
all's well that ends well,
thanks for your help.
C
christoph

This thread was discussed between 20/08/2004 and 21/08/2004

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