The BTN fuse covers interior, side/tail lights, stereo and ECU I believe, may be worth starting there, it's a 40A one in the engine bay fusebox.

 

Cheers mate. Ill take a look tonight and report back

 

Do any of the under bonnet fuses effect lights?

 

Do any of the under bonnet fuses effect lights?

Well on my mates mlk2 there is a "tail" fuse under the drivers wheel.
However in my import I can't read the bloody writing, after pulling them all out inside the car they appear to look good.

 

Right I pulled out the BTN and it looks good.
I even bridged the connection with a key and it still didn't work....
Anyone else have any ideas please?

 

Ryan

Make sure you haven't dislodged one of the connectors around the steering column. Lights are controlled from here so you may have loose connection. Don't know where the interior lights pick up their feed from.

 

Also all the blank switches on the dash have to be plugged in properly to complete the circuit.

 

According to this info:

http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=180

the tail fuse is the 4th one along from the left on the bottom row in your first pic, showing the open box, or fourth one down, left hand side looking at your second photo of the lid.

This fuse looks a different colour to the other 10A ones in your fusebox, and doesn't seem to have lettering on?

 

According to this info:

http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=180

the tail fuse is the 4th one along from the left on the bottom row in your first pic, showing the open box, or fourth one down, left hand side looking at your second photo of the lid.

This fuse looks a different colour to the other 10A ones in your fusebox, and doesn't seem to have lettering on?

Cheers mate, I've pulled it out and on closer inspection is looks blown.
Replaced it with a 15a as it was all I had in the garage and switching on the lights it ticked blowing it straight away.

Does that mean I have a bad earth, or a possible wire touching another?

Sorry for the silly question if it is I'm not good with the electronics.
I do have a multimeter if someone know of a few basic tests to do a better check and fault find a specific location?
Cheers Ryan

 

According to this info:

http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=180

the tail fuse is the 4th one along from the left on the bottom row in your first pic, showing the open box, or fourth one down, left hand side looking at your second photo of the lid.

This fuse looks a different colour to the other 10A ones in your fusebox, and doesn't seem to have lettering on?

Cheers mate, I've pulled it out and on closer inspection is looks blown.
Replaced it with a 15a as it was all I had in the garage and switching on the lights it ticked blowing it straight away.

Does that mean I have a bad earth, or a possible wire touching another?

Sorry for the silly question if it is I'm not good with the electronics.
I do have a multimeter if someone know of a few basic tests to do a better check and fault find a specific location?
Cheers Ryan

it means you have a short to earth ie...a live is earthing. however the fault only happens when you turn the lights on yes so it isent a constant fault

dose it blow with the side lights or when the main ones are on.

poss a bad connection in the bulb holder

 

According to this info:

http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=180

the tail fuse is the 4th one along from the left on the bottom row in your first pic, showing the open box, or fourth one down, left hand side looking at your second photo of the lid.

This fuse looks a different colour to the other 10A ones in your fusebox, and doesn't seem to have lettering on?

Cheers mate, I've pulled it out and on closer inspection is looks blown.
Replaced it with a 15a as it was all I had in the garage and switching on the lights it ticked blowing it straight away.

Does that mean I have a bad earth, or a possible wire touching another?

Sorry for the silly question if it is I'm not good with the electronics.
I do have a multimeter if someone know of a few basic tests to do a better check and fault find a specific location?
Cheers Ryan

it means you have a short to earth ie...a live is earthing. however the fault only happens when you turn the lights on yes so it isent a constant fault
dose it blow with the side lights or when the main ones are on.

poss a bad connection in the bulb holder

Yeah it only blows when I switch them on. So completing the circuit?
Main head lights must be on another circuit as they are still operational and on.
I have 3 gauge pods on the circuit, they were a pig to fit so ill start by checking them. They are after all the latest addition to the circuit but have been working fine for the past 3 months... Perhaps ripping out the head unit has possibly dislodged something?

 

Whould Putting a higher amp fuse possibly work? Or is it a case of a short will blow anything connected as It is earthing?

 

It seems a coincidence it happened when you removed your stereo. I'd pull the stereo wiring out straight to see if there's any old stray wires with bare strands exposed. I thought the stereo came off the 'room' fuse but not sure, it will obviously have a backlight which will come on with the same light switch as the tail lights.

May be worth checking the TNS relay, located in the passenger side inner wing.

 

it will still blow and if it did not it would be ill advised to raised the fuse size as the fuse protects the wire not the item the wire feeds so if you raise the fuse the wire may get hot and set fire to your car SO DON'T...

id say if the pods are working fine and the fuse blows when the lights are only switched on the lights are the problem and as i stated id start at the bulbs and work back unless you now the wiring to the pods is bad ie wrapped and taped kind of thing

 

I wouldn't chance a higher amp fuse - 15A you probably got away with but if you allow the wiring to be overloaded for any length of time by putting a higher rated fuse in you could cause wiring insulation to melt or the high current may damage other components.

 

Ill check and tape up all wiring that came off the stereo.
Sound advice on the fuse, cheers I don't want to burn the car now

I will check all the pods as there was a little cut and tape envloved as I couldn't find the soldering iron.
Ill redo the wiring properly or just remove it to check the circuit then go from there... I can see me pulling my hair out in a week then calling the auto electrician :-(

 

no need for the auto spark bud just do as you have said pop the wireless (radio to you young ones) out and the pods and go from there. if it still happens then move on.

 

Right guys this Is really starting to piss me off!
I have pulled out every bulb in the loom and replaced all the 501s, all the rest look good to me.

Now I am getting a 12v reading at the fuse box, and it stills blows the fuse.

Now I assume that even if I did have a blown bulb, or a bulb removed from the circuit it doesn't matter as the lights should still work right? If you had a bulb blow all your lights wouldn't stop working would they?

Any advice as I'm pulling my hair out trying to find the problem

Cheers Ryan