Volumex Wiring (Again!)

[RickyJ]

Hi Everyone

As part of an ongoing electrical saga with my VX Coupe I'm trying to find the Twelve-outlet ground ring and Four-outlet shunt block (six ways)
Shown as number 56 and 59 on this wiring diagram....

http://www.exdemosales.com/images/rhdcoupe.jpg

I've got no tacho, gauges or lights on the dash and am trying to rule out a bad earth as it looks like Number 56 is the earth for most of the instruments/gauges/lights. I can't actually work out where these 2 points are in the car. I've got a nasty feeling these are somewhere behind the dashboard but wondered if anybody can offer any suggestions/pointers before I start pulling the inside of the car apart.

Thanks
Richard

[A1.6HPE]

Hello Richard,
The 4 way by six block (59) is behind the glove box, mounted vertically and sideways on to a vertical bracket. I cannot recal where the earth spider is but I suspect that it is behind the instrument panel.
Is the alternator/charge warning light coming on? If not then it is the ignition feed that is the problem and not the earthing. How about the brake lights - do they work (with the ignition on)?

Leo

[Pope1]

Richard,

I don't have time to deal with your question right this minute but I am more than happy to help you track this one down, and have pulled most of my VX apart and put it back, including the dashboard. I also have a spare wiring loom sitting here and, when all else fails, I lay it out on the garage floor and figure out what is what from that. It has saved my bacon on at least 2-3 occasions. Best to e-mail me direct: chrysalis (at) caribsurf.com.

There is an earth spider behind the instruments but I don't know if that is item 59. However, the good news is that you can get to it just by removing the cluster. Take care with the speedo cable to the back of the cluster and the three electrical edge connectors. Be especially careful when putting the cluster back. If the speedo cable has any tight bends or kinks in it, it will break as surely as night follows day. When putting my cluster back in, I go round to the engine bay and gently pull the cable back though to make sure it does not get caught behind the instruments. Drop me a line later if you're still stuck.

[RickyJ]

Thanks for the pointers Leo/Chris. I was expecting to have to dismantle half the interior to find the "shunt block" but as Leo says it's right there underneath the glovebox. The Hazards were working but the indicators weren't and as both circuits run thru this point I needed to check it.

After wasting 4 hours checking continuity on the affected circuits I'm ASHAMED to admit the problem was a fuse - Number 12 to be exact.
I checked them all as a matter of course when the problem first appeared and they all LOOKED ok, including the dodgy one. The weird thing is I could swear I got a voltage reading on both sides of the fuse as well, but after replacing it and squeezing the terminals together It's all working.

Am seriously considering converting the fusebox to use blade fuses!

[A1.6HPE]

Hello Richard and well done!
Yeah those "bullet" fuses are not the best, also having the fuse box right above the exhaust is "old technology". However that is better than the S1 Deltas where the fuse box is behind the nearside headlamp where it collects all the salt from our winter roads. A while ago I did a bit of re-wiring on my HPE to minimise the connections and wire length for the wipers - they operate "powerfully" now, but to do it I by-passed the ignition switch so the wipers are permanently live - works great!
I'm away to re-do the waxoyl in the fuse box!

Leo

[Pope1]

Richard, don't feel badly, I have had EXACTLY the same thing happen to me. The fuse blows and the holder keeps the two halves in place so that it looks fine. Sometimes you may even get some contact between the pieces so the fuse appears fine with the multimeter, but the "joint" is not good enough for decent current flow. Moral of the story is pop the fuse out of the holder, make sure that the wiring is intact, test and then replace.

As for rewiring the fuse box, I'm not sure whether it's worth it. As Leo says the position sucks and in the past I have cursed whoever put it there when I had to take out fuses with a roasing engine. However, having cleaned up almost all my connections around the engine bay, put in some additional grounding, a few relays and so on, my electrical system is very much better than before. I now find that the electrics are reliable (temping fate I know) and so I have not had to go near the fusebox in a while now. Just as it should be.