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Reversing light dash warning light problem earth?



obcuz

ClioSport Club Member
Hey, this is most likely an earth problem, but where?

When in reverse, reverse lights work as they should. as do all other lights.

The dash warning light (for reverse) is dim, and also is dim when brake lights come on.

Everything else on the car and dash is working AOK.

So far, i've only removed rear lights and cleaned and checked, all appears OK there.

So where is the earth connection associated with the Reverse (rear) lights??
 

JamesBryan

ClioSport Club Member
Not heard of a reverse light on the dash, which do you mean?

As for the other earth points, if you remove the plastic trim panel that runs along the bottom edge of the boot you'll see an earth wire either side.

They can corrode especially when the black rubber grommet boot stops leak water and it runs down to the earth points.
 

obcuz

ClioSport Club Member
Sorry, I should have put my thinking head on, indicator is indeed the rear fog dash warning, this works as normal, however it comes on very dim with reverse and brake switch (I've never used the fog lights so not noticed before these before),
I will check out the earths like mentioned behind the boot trim panel like suggested tomorrow.
Sorry for the confuse.com
 

obcuz

ClioSport Club Member
An update on this problem.

Having checked both earth connections behind rear trim, they were absolutely fine, no sign of corrosion, I cleaned 'em up anyway and checked resistance to earth which was fine.
To cut a long story short, it looks like the problem is actually inside one of the rear light-bulb holder units, they don't seem to be serviceable, so guess I need another to try, not sure if anyone has opened one up before though?
Wonder if they are available new or not.... anyway thanks all for your interest and advice.
 

obcuz

ClioSport Club Member
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^,
Yes guys, I cleaned connectors etc, but the bulb holder assembly itself doesn't appear to come apart and I think the problem is inside the assembly
Doesn't look like it comes apart - lots of plastic rivets? See pic (stock picture - not mine)
s-l1600 (2).jpg
 

obcuz

ClioSport Club Member
I'm still on this and getting quite perplexed....
After cleaning and checking with multi-meter the bulb holder, all seems OK, dunno what I did but situation is now worse, before only one of the units gave the problem 'ghost light' on the dash, but now both do and it is brighter than before (it was hardly noticeable in day light before), so beginning to think the problem is elsewhere.

Question is:- where do the two black wires that connect to the earth points behind the rear trim go to?
They go up around the parcel shelves, but want to know where and what to they connect to before I remove all the trim? (the earth wires do not go to the light clusters directly)
 

obcuz

ClioSport Club Member
Did another test....
Connected the earth plate of one of the holders directly to the earth point in the boot like so.

20241108_140530.jpg



The result is that the problem goes away completely, I know I could effect a cure this way, but would rather trace the problem to source.

So I still want to find where the black earth wires from the boot earths go - any ideas??

Incidentally, measured resistance from the earth plate of the bulb holder to earth point changes only 1 ohm with/without additional earth wire , but multi-meters don't pass enough current to test for bad earths.
 

marcushookdale

ClioSport Club Member
  rstuned 182ff bg
I had the same problem, i ended up fitting a extra earth to the light cluster , it's been sound ever since, over 5 yr ago. after cleaning everthing up i could see to no joy...so earthed the cluster.
 

obcuz

ClioSport Club Member
Just to round this thread up, for those interested and have a similar problem.....

After some more time spent, all lights and warnings now function correctly, at least for the time being.

Just to reiterate, the problem was: -with ign on, pressing brake pedal caused the dash reversing light warning to illuminate albeit dim, this also happened when reverse engaged. all rear lights and dash warnings WERE working correctly otherwise.

I guess there is not a single cure for everyone, but I found one or more of the following fixed this.

There was not any obvious signs of corrosion or burning on lamp units or connectors.

Cleaned the 2 earth points in boot either side - behind rear/side boot trim.
Removed the bulb holder assembly, prised around the internal joins where the phosphor bronze bulb contacts join to the steel sections with special attention to the earth contact points.
Removed and checked all bulb fitments.
Used liberal amounts of contact cleaner (Servisol) everywhere.
Cleaned the contacts on male and female contacts of the plug.
Tried to pinch together the female plug contacts so as to make better contact.
Having been through the above check list a couple of times, did have some effectat times but didn't completely cure the problem, would have done any harm.

This was not my idea, but I really think that THIS may have been the real cure:-

Using long nosed pliers, twisted the earth pin of the male connector a couple of degrees out of true (the pin the black wire goes to), I think this may have been the solution above all else! I suggest you don't overdo this though, only a very slight twist is required.

If all else fails, an interim repair would be to run an earth wire directly from the bulb holders earth plate back to the earth points in the boot, I did this during fault tracing and it immediately cured problem, it bypasses the troublesome plug and earth circuit.


Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, and hope this thread helps others.

P.S. I still didn't find where the other end of black earth wire goes to, it seems to disappear into the trim around the rear seat backs.
 


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