Today is the day, I will make my lights work.

[Juarez]

1980 fiat fi 124


Team,

-Hokay, so here is my current issue; when my light beams are on only the left brakelight will work, also the right blinker stays on for no reason.

-When the light beams are off all my lights operate like normal.

-My hazards do not work, but m lights wont work unless my hazard light is on.


Where I'am at now:

- Replaced all fuses including inlines, just for maintenance purposes.
- Taken out junk stereo from previous owner.
- checked multiple fittings and have my dash and console wires exposed.
- We know the bulbs work because they work when the light beams are off.


What I'm about to do:
- Check grounds. Not sure where they are, but I'm gonna check the heck out of them.
- Trace all wires.


I need help diagnosing the issue. So anyone who has a hunch... now is not the time to be shy.

[ga.spyder]

I am not good with electrics! The hazard switch is known to causes issues similar to what you have there.I am sure someone who is better than me with these problems,will chime in with a simple fix There used to be a thread somewhere regarding the hazard switch and a way to cheat it.I will see if I can find it,or maybe try a search here.

[Juarez]

Haha I'm in the same boat! I'm kinda rubbish with the electrics, but I've been picking it up quite quickly.

Looked around I didnt see the thread, although I found other useful ones.

Still no wild success yet. Duty calls.

[redcars]

Ok for you light beam problems you have poor or bad grounds for the lights. With no ground the electricity is finding a way to ground through your other lights and that is why the blinker stays on all the time and the rear tail light does not work.
Remove and clean all your grounds and then see how they work. As for the hazards do the grounds first and see what happens.

[Juarez]

That makes perfect sense to me. I found the ground in the trunk next to my left brake light box, and cleaned and secured it. No cigar.

Im trying to use the diagram to find the rest, but I'm having difficult time locating all my grounds. I'm going to just keep going at it.

[ga.spyder]

There are 2 ground crowns under the hood ,behind the headlights.Many different lights,etc...ground there.There is also a ground crown under the dash.Take them all loose and clean them up.I had a issue with lightswhen I first got mine.It was the ground in the trunk.I found it by accident! Good luck

[azruss]

the 2 front ground pods are under the hood. one on each inner fender towards the front. The one under the dash in located on the bottom of the cross beam the bottom of the dash bolts to. should be just about where the left side of the upper console joins the dash. dont forget the battery ground, engine ground. There should also be 2 more grounds that bolt to the plenum. If these are off, the car wont run.

[4uall]

this might help

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=20505

This is an awesome video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YxW6bc_gk8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgwR9sYN5f0

[SLOSpider]

It may be a faulty hazard switch or bad connection on it. I use a long wire with 2 alligator clips to help diagnose grounds. One end on the negative battery and the other at different ground points and wires.

[Juarez]

Alright, I was able to easily find all the grounds with yalls help! The two crowns in the engine compartment, under dash, and trunk ground. Wire wheeled, spot sanded, and cleaned. A easily noticeable difference with brightness and responsiveness.

Unfortunately that didn't solve the issue with the back lights.
I'm trying to keep in mind that all my lights work fine when I dont have the low/high beams on, and only when it switches thats when the right brake light stops and the left blinker decides to stay on. I almost feel like they have those wires mixed.

Those links Jay were way helpful for connecting those dots. It'll be even more essential tomorrow.


Tomorrow morning I'm going to start with my:
- Double check grounds with SLOSpider's diagnoses strategy.
- Check Other end of my ground wires( make sure those connections were not tugged or something silly.)
- Also the hazard switch connections.
- If still having issues, pull out the electric schemes and get to work.

Anything I'm missing?

[SLOSpider]

Sounds like a good start. I think your on the right track.

[Juarez]

This may be the root of my problems....

[4uall]

[Juarez]

How my other one looks......

[toplessexpat]

This may be the root of my problems....

D'ya think!!??

Seriously though - that sucks.... but worth taking some time to clean up that "job" of wiring to see if things improve. Perhaps a dremel if you've got one around to make sure there's no cross-talk between those lines...