Technical Rear light cluster repair advice reqd

[fivegoldstars]

Hello all. New Punto MK1 owner - well, new car owner altogether. I'll get this out of the way - I'm 32 and until a few weeks ago knew absolutely nothing about cars at all. As such, the term newbie is barely adequate!
Anyhoo, noticed a rear brake light out today, bought the replacement bulb and removed the cluster. Problem is, the bulb was ok - seems like a wiring problem. First clue was a rolled up bit of fag packet holding the connector in place . So, after cleaning the contacts and checking over the terminal block, I tried the lights and it worked....until I tried to put it back on to the car. At that point, the indicator stopped working too, making a horrible clicking noise. Leads me to think there's a wiring problem of sorts, but I'm not sure where to go from here... any help greatly appreciated

 

[fivegoldstars]

Ok, this is now officially doing my nut. Had the left cluster off today, cleaned all connections/terminal. No joy. Had a bit of a fiddle and found that all lights worked IF the terminal block was only part way inserted ?!? Hence, I suppose, the fag packet I found in there. Replaced this with something more professional (blu-tac), and refitted.
Then the right hand brake light stopped working.
Removed the right cluster, had a look at all connections, removed and reconnected. Now NONE of the right hand lights work !
Please can anybody help?

 

[bredsticz]

Did you replace the bulb anyway and see if it worked?

 

[fivegoldstars]

Did you replace the bulb anyway and see if it worked?

None of the right hand lights work now - the bulbs are all fine. When you try to indicate, it makes a 'double click' sound.

 

[bredsticz]

You may have pulled the wiring loose somewhere? where is the clicking coming from?

 

[fivegoldstars]

You may have pulled the wiring loose somewhere? where is the clicking coming from?

No, checked and double checked that. The clicking is the indicator 'on' sound. For the non-working side, it's a double click.
Here's something though. On the left hand side, I'm assuming the power and signal comes via the set of wires which terminate in the terminal block. There is then a single wire, which I'm assuming is earth.
on the right hand side - before everything went tits-up - the lights were working even without the terminal block connected (?), but on that side, there are three yellow wires, which are soldered to the metal plate bulb holders (on the other side, its screwed in). Are the two sides usually different, or has this had some kind of dodgy repair?

 

[bredsticz]

That doesn't sound right, but I'm not 100% sure i've only done the wiring on stereos so far! But have you checked relays and switches?

Also getting the double click are your wheels straight or turned? When wheels are turned my indicators click twice in the direction the wheels are facing!

 

[fivegoldstars]

That doesn't sound right, but I'm not 100% sure i've only done the wiring on stereos so far! But have you checked relays and switches?

Also getting the double click are your wheels straight or turned? When wheels are turned my indicators click twice in the direction the wheels are facing!

The wheels are straight - I get the double click sound if the indicator is not correctly wired, i.e. if I remove the lights completely, get the double click. Not checked relays/switches yet, as I'm pretty sure its something to do with the wiring itself - everything was working fine except one brake light, then the other, then the whole cluster. Do you know if there's a separate fuse for the rear clusters? I suppose I could have blown that.

 

[bredsticz]

No, fuse for indicators, fuse for brakes etc. Not per cluster, is your 3rd brake light and reg plate light working or have any of them gone off?
Sounds like the wiring at the actual cluster, you split the light and checked the wires are connected to the board properly? If not I can only suggest the switch or relays, don't know if they are per cluster or same as fuses or not though!

 

[fivegoldstars]

Ok, just checked something but don't know if it helps or not - that 'double-click' seems to be because the rront indicator is going twice as fast on the side where the rear is not working.

 

[bredsticz]

It does that when a bulb blows! Or if all bulbs are working then the relay

 

[fivegoldstars]

Bulb is definately not blown. Looking at the Haynes manual, I'm getting more and more sure that theres some 'non-standard' wiring here. There are yellow wires soldered to the bulb-board - in the manual, its just connected by the terminal block. I wonder if someones tried to loop the two clusters together to try and get round a previous electrical fault?

 

[bredsticz]

possibly, as it's usually different colour wires used, check the solders for cracks, you may have disturbed it and broke the solder a bit! Even if it's still attached the connection can be broken by a crack

 

[fivegoldstars]

Will do, cheers. Think it will be a job for tomorrow now.

 

[fivegoldstars]

Will do, cheers. Think it will be a job for tomorrow now.

Or a garage
Still having no joy. No lights at all to the right rear. Checked fuses - all ok. Checked bulbs - all ok. Tried to use lights whilst performing the old 'wiggle test' on connector block. Nothing. Quite sure somebodys put some dodgy wiring in, but don't know how much it will cost to repair.
Only had the bloody thing a month. :bang:

 

[bredsticz]

see if someone on here is nearby and willing to have a look before a garage

 

[fivegoldstars]

Just dragging up this old thread because I'm still having problems.
Through a process of elimination, I've managed to get both indicators, reverse lights and brake lights working.
However, I'm now without tail-lights and fog-lights. Can anybody point me in the direction of a MK1 wiring diagram so that I can go out at night?!?