More Europa electrical problems

[Grumblebuns]

Over the last ten years of ownership, I put off testing the Europa lighting operation for fear of a wiring meltdown. After getting the S2 roadworthy and ready for sale, I couldn't put if off any longer so this weekend I tested the lights, indicator and hazard operation. Nothing smoked or melted which was a good thing and I did have a partial success. The headlights and parking/side marker lights all lit up, although I thought that the headlights were rather dim. However I have no brake, indicator, or hazard lights.

With the engine running, turning on the indicator will cause the tach needle to drop to zero. With the engine off, the tach needle will peg out. I can't hear the turn signal flasher in either cases. Turning on the hazard switch, I can hear a couple of loud clicks of a flasher or relay then the sound stops. I did a cursory inspection behind the dash for the flasher units. According to the manual, the flasher unit is suppose to be below the vent outlet on the drivers side. On 1098R, it may have been moved because it's not there and I don't see anything that looks like a round generic flasher unit anywhere behind the dash.

Looks like I'm going to have a fun few days in the Lotus position doing some troubleshooting. For anybody wanting to know how the DB10 relay works, the Golden Gate Lotus Club has an excellent explanation and diagrams by Tom Carney on it's operation.

http://gglotus.org/ggtech/relaybox/relaybox.htm

Joji Tokumoto

   

[LotusJoe]

Joji,
Dim headlights are an indication of a bad ground. Also there is a common ground buss in the dash that may need to be cleaned. I have found most electrical issues on these cars relate to corroded grounds.

[Grumblebuns]

Thanks Joe, I believe the central ground point for the dash is one of the tabs that the dash attaches to on the chassis back bone. After my beer break, I'll head back down to the garage and remove the center console to take a closer look and give more room to work behind the dash. There has been some wiring modifications done to this car but it doesn't look to have been butchered. I'll post what I find.

Joji Tokumoto     

[4129R]

I seem to remember  it is something to do with the two nuts and bolts where the dash is attached to the central tunnel by the two window switches. 

[BDA]

That's right, as I remember. A bunch of the grounds are connected to the bolts that anchor the bottom of the dash on the backbone. There are also grounds that attach on either side of the dash at the brackets in front of the door. Of course, those grounds ultimately end up at those bolts on the backbone.

IIRC, the grounds for the headlights are attached somewhere on the front of the frame in front of the front bonnet compartment. If I'm right, it could be that those could have some rust which could be causing some problems.

[4129R]

IIRC, the grounds for the headlights are attached somewhere on the front of the frame in front of the front bonnet compartment. If I'm right, it could be that those could have some rust which could be causing some problems.

They attach with 7/16 bolts to the steel front under plate which is then bolted to the chassis by the back 3 x 1/2" bolts.

[LotusJoe]

All the answers are correct. I have found that not only do the grounds to the chassis become corroded, the bullet connectors gather corrosion as well.

[Roger]

By the way, if you need one, don't buy a DB10 relay unless you're a stickler for originality. You can make a substitute for a few bucks and some time.
See www.lotus-europa.com/manuals/misc/electrical/The Lucas DB10 relay.doc

[Grumblebuns]

Roger, I read your write up on the substitute DB10 relay, pretty ingenious. I believe that I have the DB10 relay working sort of properly. The right side blinkers are now working, still sorting out the left side. As Joe stated earlier, I'm suspecting corroded bullet connectors to some of the lights. I appear to have good grounds.

New DB10 boxes average around $100, with solid state unit now available. Still debating whether to go that route if I need to replace my stock one. My main priority is to get this issue fixed ASAP since I'm trying to sell this S2 and I still haven't checked my brake light issue yet.

[Grumblebuns]

I believe my electrical issues were caused by the DB10 relay not being cycled through use over the last 10+ years. Inactivity apparently caused a build up of corrosion on the contacts operating the various circuits. I finally got both blinkers and the brake light working this morning. It was essentially cycling both operating coils in the DB10 relay box enough times during testing that I finally got the coils operating and continuity across the badly corroded contacts.

Not wanting to break my back during the testing process, I removed the DB10 relay box from it's position and did my testing using jumpers with the box on the floor of the drivers side footwell. After my morning coffee break, I'll reinstall the DB10 relay and do the final in place testing.

The one circuit that I did not test was the hazard light function. My switch is extremely stiff to operate and I didn't want to chance breaking this possibly NLA piece. Power to the flasher goes through this switch.

I had thoughts of disassembling the DB10 box to physically cleaning the contact faces but after chipping the back mounting board trying to remove the aluminum cover, I gave up on that idea. I gained a little bit more knowledge of the car doing this exercise.

Joji Tokumoto

[BDA]

Congratulations, Joji!! That's great news!

[LotusJoe]

Joji,
I found a new electronic DB10 box at Moss Motors. $110.00, not outrageous, but not cheap. You can even put your old cover on the new box and no one would know your a modern electronics guy.

http://www.mossmotors.com/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=57652