I am having trouble with my 1969 Triumph Spitfire turn indicator and brake lights. The brake lights operate intermittantly and only when the ignition switch is on. The turn indicator lights do not work. I have traced the wiring and all appears to be correct. Indicator switch,flasher,brake switch, fuses, voltage regulator, ignition switch are all new. Any ideas? [email protected]

Okay, after a bit of tinkering yesterday afternoon, I came across even more melee on the brake light front. Are you sitting comfortably..?

To get a fresh starting point (think of Windows Restore) I disconnected and removed the recently-fitted alarm. Bypassing the brake pedal switch, I can get one (driver's side) brake lamp to work but only when the lights are turned on. But, the main rear lights go off also. It gets better - if I turn the ignition on, the rear lights come on and the brake solitary brake light goes out! Better still, I have some kind of 'double positive' thing going on with the rear lights as when I remove one of the connectors at the lamp holder, it still works. Whichever one I remove, the rear lamp stays on. Obviously it goes out when I remove both but with all connected and with the removal of the lamp holder (to break the earthing part of the circuit) it still stays on.

I downloaded a great little Triumph wiring diagram which will be useful once I scribble out all the distracting US wiring parts. It's on
http://www.triumphspitfire.com/wiring.ht...

Oh, off to buy a fire extinguisher...just in case.


Okay, after a bit of tinkering yesterday afternoon, I came across even more melee on the brake light front. Are you sitting comfortably..?

To get a fresh starting point (think of Windows Restore) I disconnected and removed the recently-fitted alarm. Bypassing the brake pedal switch, I can get one (driver's side) brake lamp to work but only when the lights are turned on. But, the main rear lights go off also. It gets better - if I turn the ignition on, the rear lights come on and the brake solitary brake light goes out! Better still, I have some kind of 'double positive' thing going on with the rear lights as when I remove one of the connectors at the lamp holder, it still works. Whichever one I remove, the rear lamp stays on. Obviously it goes out when I remove both but with all connected and with the removal of the lamp holder (to break the earthing part of the circuit) it still stays on.

I downloaded a great little Triumph wiring diagram which will be useful once I scribble out all the distracting US wiring parts. It's on
http://www.triumphspitfire.com/wiring.html

Oh, off to buy a fire extinguisher...just in case.

Okay, update.

Discovered I can get everything working as normal..but only when the dash switch for the parking/main lights is on. Basically, the reversing lights, indicators and brake lights only work when the main lights are 'on'. Ignition on or off makes no difference.

Another try tomorrow.


Okay, update.

Discovered I can get everything working as normal..but only when the dash switch for the parking/main lights is on. Basically, the reversing lights, indicators and brake lights only work when the main lights are 'on'. Ignition on or off makes no difference.

Another try tomorrow.