Factory towbar wiring packed up
Yet another one step backwards whilst taking two forwards.
I removed the factory-fitted (ugly) towbar crossmember in favour of a Witter swan-neck detachable one which I've had for some time. It went well and it looks so much better, plus I don't crack my shins any more at the tailgate. The car's wired with the black and grey sockets but as I won't ever be using the grey one, I cut that and individually insulated the seven ends before double-insulating them all & cable-tying them to the crossmember behind the bumper. I also severed the black cable from the old socket and wired it back into a new one on the Witter bar. I carefully checked that everything was functioning correctly using a trailer socket connector before starting the job, and it was. After wiring the new socket, I checked again and nothing was working. There is no power getting to any relevant socket pin but the earth pin works. The wiring comes out of the left-side chassis leg and appears to be properly wired elsewhere other than the usual rear corners (don't know where though). The car was sleeping when I cut both cables and worked on the socket, but might I have caused an issue? Dougie. |
Blown a fuse?
Perhaps a silly question, have you tested with the engine running? macafee2 |
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At least the running lights and both indicators ( hazards ) should work with ignition off ! I wonder how he tested to see that the earth was OK ? |
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At a guess, either a shared earth or a shared live to the wires you snipped.
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Dougie. |
" I ran a live taillight feed from the rear of the cluster to the meter and earthed the meter through the wired (white) pin3 on the socket.
It may show as a good earth circuit on a DVM ( eventually back to bat neg ) with no load, the load applied by a DVM is negligible, but when a load is applied, bulb, there may be a poor connection via corrosion etc that won't pass the current required. |
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Then you will be wrong! Trailer road lights, fridge leisure battery charge and the fancy BMW canbus electronic gubbins for trailer lamp failure, is all normally powered from a fuse in the engine compartment fuse box - if it has been wired the way Rover intended. From that fuse a thick cable goes through to just behind the glove box and is left there, until someone adds towing components and extends that to the rear. That supply and fuse is a permanent live, so if you cut anything at the sockets at the rear, chances are you have blown that fuse. |
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Dougie. |
Everybody loves a happy ending.:D
Rave showed that the factory-fitted towbar ECU should have been fitted behind the rear left-side trim in the "boot" along with a fuse. I pulled the back of the car apart this afternoon and found.... a DIY arrangement with 6-way relays and buzzers obviously fitted by Scotchloks R Us™ :rolleyes: and not the factory. However, got that sorted out and tidied, saw a phat blue power wire heading for the front of car, tracked it to behind the passenger footwell kick panel, where lo and behold, there was a 15A dud fuse waiting to be changed.:} So if I'd not made the mistake of not checking first for a permanent live feed before chopping the 12S socket wires, I'd never have found out how to dismantle the interior rear panels (those luggage anchors :rolleyes:) nor would I have known how my towbar wiring had been put together in the car. If you're lucky, you live and learn. Thanks again for the input. Always appreciated. Dougie. |
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