No/minimal Interior Electrics

[FinalD]

As I need to bleed the coolant system I wanted to run the heater on hot at full fan speed, so set it to on full etc. fired up the car and...nothing from the heaters. I then also noticed that the stereo has no power, neither do the electric windows or dash lights.

The electric mirrors work, the rear heated screen system works from the dash button, all exterior lights (with working bulbs) work and the interior map light works.

I guess something is amiss with the dash wiring (not plugged something back in correctly?) but I can't figure out what would make all these items fail to work. One item I could understand, but this many is very odd.

Also when I turn the heater onto full speed I can hear a relay or something clicking but on the lower speeds I don't hear this noise.

Any help would be great as I can't fully bleed the coolant system until I've sorted this, plus it'd be nice if the electrics worked in the car. They did work before I took the car apart so I'm sure the blame does rest with me but it'd be good to have a few pointers as to where to look rather than having to take the whole dash apart.

[greg124]

Relay K7 would explain the blower and the mirrors.

I just read your post again, and as the mirrors work you can eliminate K7.

As you've had the car apart it could be multiple problems rather than just one with several symptoms.

[FinalD]

To make things more confusing....I just pulled the centre console apart and with the wires sticking out of the dash etc. now the windows work and the centre console backlights work but the stereo doesn't and neither do the back lights on the headlamp switch and the instrument cluster lights still don't work.

The really annoying thing is that the dash wiring is a complete mess, the main loom is fine but right behind the stereo/centre console it is a mess of chocolate blocks, some of these go to nowhere and there are other wires that go to nowhere.

It looks like I might need to redo the mess behind there with clean connections, although I'm unsure that will solve the issue, just give me neater wires to contend with.

I agree, it could be multiple problems (as now the windows do work), I guess the only real way to find out is to redo the wiring and check to ensure all earths are tight. The fuse for the blower unit was blown...don't suppose this means the blower unit could be knackered?

[FinalD]

For reference, this is the stereo (and a couple other bits) wiring:






As you can see, it is a mess, which I'm sure doesn't help matters.

[greg124]

Yuk!

If it was me I would start by stripping out all the non-original wiring, however that looks to go a lot further than the usual stereo bodgery.

The blower fuse blowing could be due to the resistor pack which controls the 3 slower speeds of the fan; this usually lives behind the glovebox. However it's more likely to be the blower motor which lack of lubrication after 20+ years can cease - or partially cease - causing the fuse to blow. WD40 or similar might revive it if that is the case.

[FinalD]

Working out what is and what isn't original in the car is interesting.

I can't recall if the blower worked when I got the car or not, if need be I can swap it so it isn't a huge problem. Pain to change it over though.