MKII Headlight wiring

Hello Jefff, mini electrical faults are always a pain to track down.

You say yours is a 1995, but the subject of the post is MkII - is it a MK IV? i will assume it is a 1995,

The DIPPED BEAM (ie lights with no blue warning light on in the dash), are coloured BLUE with a RED tracer (small red line). These wires run round the left hand side of the engine by as you look at it, the end up underneath the bonnet slam panel, right in the middle of the grille under some metal clips. from here it slipts both ways to each headlight. The main beams are the BLUE and WHITE ones ie with the blue warning light in the dash on. these run in the same place as the others.

The connectors at the grille as metioned above, are rubbish. they are poor quality deteriorate easily as the spray from driving hits them. Pull the connectors out and clean them up with wet and dry/ sandpaper etc and replace. Also do the EARTH ones - plain black wires.

do not know what you meant by "glow lamps" - never heard of anything like these. sorry

The fuses that control the lights are either in a 4 fuse box mounted on the engine bulkheard, or in a 24 fuse box near your right knee when driving (under the dash, near the wheel arch)

RS

I should think that if your Mini is a 1995 model it will have the 4 fuse box mounted on the engine bulkhead (late 1996 onwards it got fitted inside the car with the Twin-Point Mini) and the in-line fuses at the back of the engine compartment are for things like the heater, cabin light, stereo, auxilliary electric fan, dim-dip relay etc. These should be highlighted in the manual?

Taffy

Thanks for the reply. The car is definietly a 1995 and as someone else pointed out there are 4 fuses located on the engine bulkhead. Unfortuately I do not have a manual for the car but have ordered one from minimania and expect it in a little while. I've checked the wiring diagrams available on minimania (see

if you've not already). Its a good tecnical diagram but lacks in that it does not illustrate the connections to the fuse box or the relays. Until the manual gets here if you could help a bit more by telling me what the 4 fuses control in the car and what amp they should be that would be great. As for the glow lights I refered to, on the European models (which might be all models in this year) the headlights have a small incandescant bulb in the side of the reflective dish that illuminate when the parking lights are on, presumably to let you leave you lights on overnight when parked on these narrow roads out here and not get hit in the middle of a dark night.

Jeff

RS wrote:

Taffy thanks for the reply. I have the 4 fuse box at the bulkhead just as you described but unfortunately do not have the manual. Regarding the inline fuses below, can you tell me what each one is based on their colored wires? My current symptoms are that only my high beams are functioning (so cleverly I rewired their power to the lows. Ok not very clever but effective). Additionally my radio is 100% w/o power. All of the fuses appear to test ok with a test lamp but the fact that I can only get power to the lights I think that the power to the dim-dip relay could be the problem. Where is that relay located at? Which fuse is it using? I really appreciate the help, loving the little mini but I've had it just a short time and don't know the lay of the car yet. If you need any help t/sing a DeLorean let me know, I had that vehicle nearly memorized before Katrina took it from me! :)

Jeff

Taffy wrote:

I think for some reason, Germany used the MkII name until the end of production. Something to do with TUV certification.

Think that is what RS suggested in the first reply.

RS

Have you checked the group of bullet type connections ,tucked up behind the bonnet slam panel

Fitzy

Well the dim-dip relay is situated just under the dash rail on the right hand side of the car, it's an orange block mounted on a clip, I'm almost sure there's a dim-dip device behind the clocks too but I can't imagine these would be giving you any problems, as for the exact colours of the fuse wire's i'll have to dig out my manual and Haynes manual.

Taffy

Have you checked the in line fuses behind the carb? Can't remember what they are for just that they are a pain to get at.

What about checking the Bullet connectors, tucked up inside the bonnet slam panel, these always cause a problem once disturbed, Fitzy

My Apologies, I failed to read all of the initial posts and replies, RS suggested the bullet connectors under the slam panel, I, also suggested the same bullet connectors in a much later post, once again,,,, sorry Fitzy

Quite alright, i can see you were worried that the original poster wouldnt know the term "slam pannel" etc. Jmanis2 gets the best info , thats what matters. RS

Ok here goes!

4 fuse box on the bulkhead:

1 1-2 35amp Brake Lights, Reverse Lights, Direction Indicators & Rear Screen Demister.

2 3-4 25amp Horn, Headlamp Flasher, Brake Failure Circuit & Radio Memory. 3 5-6 25amp Heated Blower Motor, Windscreen Wipers, Washer Motor & Instruments. 4 7-8 15amp Side & Tail Lights, Panel Lights & Instruments.

1-2 These circuits only operate with the ignition switch at position "II".

5-6 These circuits only operate with the ignition swithc at position "I" or "II".

I compared the above with my own handbook relating to my 1990 mainstream Rover Mini Cooper 1.3 and the latest Haynes manual which covers all Mini models and the only thing I could find confusion with was in the Haynes manual it states that on later models fitted with the 4 fuse box (probably injection models) both 1-2 & 7-8 circuits operate the headlight dim-dip relay, surely a mistake?

Ok now the Line Fuses, luckily the wire colours are highlighted in my own manual and they should also relate to yours too, but I only have 4 listed and the Haynes manual only lists 4 but neglect to state the wire colours. If you have a fifth, maybe that's for a power operated sunroof? If you have one fitted of course, if so that may be just white as it was on my sisters Mini that came fitted with a sunroof (1992 Mini British Open Classic), but anyway here's the 4 I have:

15amp - Purple/Orange Wire Hazard Warning & Interior Lamps

15amp - Brown/Orange Wire Dim-Dip Lighting

10amp - Blue/Orange Wire Rear Fog Guard Lamps

15amp - Blue/Red Wire Auxiliary Cooling Fan

Hope that helps.

Taffy