71 Headlight/Brake Light Issues

[hamlet]

I just got a 71 spider and I'm finding that this thing is going to put me into electrical issues hell. I don't have a multimeter, but you can be assured I'm getting one ASAP.

Still, I'm not quite sure what I'm doing here. Can someone outline the procedure for identifying and solving the electrical problems I'll often see with this car? It's tempting to think about just rewiring the entire car, but I definitely don't know how to do that.

Anyway, in this particular case I bought a new headlight because I figured the right one was dead, but upon replacement I'm seeing it's still not working. I also suspect this is the case for the left rear brake light. What should my first steps be?

[giuliot60]

This is a great link to start with. It helped me a lot. I'm not finished, but I haven't had an electrical issue since I started the electrical restoration. I would start with cleaning and dielectic greasing as many connections as possible. And obviously start with the headlights and taillights.

http://www.mirafiori.com/faq/content/el ... estore.htm

And this wouldn't hurt to read. Some good links. http://fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=22344

And Brad Artigue's stuff is invaluable. Look him up. Here's a link to one of his maintenance PDF files. I don't know if it's his latest since he updates them periodically.

http://files.meetup.com/533614/Artigue_FIAT_124_MM.pdf

I think this will get you started in the right direction.

GT

[aj81spider]

There isn't a generic way to solve all electrical problems. Using your headlight as an example you need:

> A multi-meter
> A wiring diagram for the car

With those I would start by pulling the headlight and checking if power is at the connector when the light is turned on. This would be done by setting your multi-meter to the DC Volts 20Volt range. Touch the black lead to an unpainted metal surface and touch the red lead to the power connection at the headlight. If it reads 12 volts then your problem is a bad ground connection. If it does not read 12 volts then your problem is on the supply side. Both cases would require you to use the wiring diagram to trace the wires and find out where the connection problem is.

Ultimately it's pretty simple - but can require a lot of rooting around to find connectors and cables.

When disconnecting things it's a good idea to disconnect the battery first. I have a quick disconnect on my battery so that it is easy to do and I don't cut corners when debugging electrical problems.