As above, I have a 98 Escort GTi, which seems to have no sidelights on the left hand side or the rear number plate light. The bulbs are fine and the fuse for the lefthand circuit is fine, so can anyone suggets what else it could be as it is a little frustrating.

 

Test there's power at the fuse first,fuseboxes are notorious on mk5 onwards escorts.if you've got a multimeter,dc volts,one probe on the metal exposed bit on the fuse,the other onto earth(any exposed metal on the car like the door catch).should be 12v both sides of the fuse.
Next,pull the bulb out of the holder and check for power there.
If that's all ok,but still no lights,set your meter to ohms or continuity (usually beeps when the circuit is complete) and test that the black wire (from memory) is going to earth,so one probe on earth,one on the black end and try again.
Alternatively,remove the all the bulbs,see if you get power,then replace them one by one and see if the lights suddenly dim.if so,you've got an earth issue.
I'm back in Swansea for the next few weeks if you get really stuck.I live down in pennard.

 

Test there's power at the fuse first,fuseboxes are notorious on mk5 onwards escorts.if you've got a multimeter,dc volts,one probe on the metal exposed bit on the fuse,the other onto earth(any exposed metal on the car like the door catch).should be 12v both sides of the fuse.
Next,pull the bulb out of the holder and check for power there.
If that's all ok,but still no lights,set your meter to ohms or continuity (usually beeps when the circuit is complete) and test that the black wire (from memory) is going to earth,so one probe on earth,one on the black end and try again.
Alternatively,remove the all the bulbs,see if you get power,then replace them one by one and see if the lights suddenly dim.if so,you've got an earth issue.
I'm back in Swansea for the next few weeks if you get really stuck.I live down in pennard.

 

Excellent, I will check those tomorrow after work, if these arent the issue I'll give you a shout, thank you for the help, much appreciated.

 

Ok, no good, Checked the voltage going through the actual light socket and it registered as 0.01v for the front, back and numberplate light. so checked the exposed bits of the fuse as instructed and got over 12v. so it would seem there is power at the fuse box, but nothing between there and the lights themselves.
Finally I checked the resistance between the black earth (from the socket to the earth point) and it read 0.00ohms suggesting there is no resistance there i.e a break in the wire.

Anything else I can try? as I need the car for work, but dont want to get pulled by the plod for having not sidelights.

 

sounds like your fusebox is burnt out, unplug the fuse box, open it up and drop some solder on the poor connections.

 

Can I reflow it? or is it easier to drop new solder, opened up the fuse box on my last escort and cleaned it up, but was wondering as fuse boxes are notorious for going on escorts, is there anything I can do to protect it after the repair?

 

Ok really confused now, If I test the resistance from the multiplug coming out of the fuse box to the bulb holder, I get 0.00 ohms, which is great as we can safely say there is no resistance abd that there should be no breaks in the wire. However upon removing the Fuse box and retesting from the power in point to the light feed out pin, i still get 0.00 ohms, concluding that there is no trouble with power going through the fuse box.
If I put a wire into the fuse slot and put the fuse back in, then run this to the bulb, it lights no matter wether the switch is on or off.

So any suggestion? could it be the stalks even though they show on the diagram as between the power into the fuse box and the fuse (which logically to me would say that if there is power at the fuse then the switch is flowing power ok but could be wrong).

Any help MUCH appreciated as this is my daily drive and I dont want to get done by the plod for something seemingly so silly!?

 

That is confusing!!!my temptation would be to snip the live feed and connect it in parallel with the rhs lights to keep it running a bit for now.
Is there anyway you can post the diagram up on here so I can perhaps see which way the wiring could be causing the fault?does it go through a relay perhaps?

 

.......

 

Sorry about the quality



It shows the power feed going through the fuse box, into the stalks, back to the fuse box and to the lights, the passenger side lights and numberplate light go through Fuse 8, there is power at the fuse and no breaks between the fusebox and the bulbs yet none of the passenger side illuminates

 

you say if you power up the fuse 8 by separate feed the lights work on lhs and when you take that feed away the light go out yet it still has 12v at the fuse?? is this correct?
if yes it could be a possible dry joint in fusebox that when under load is going open circuit.

 

you could possibly have a problem with your stalk. i've had the same problem before, replaced the stalk an the problem was gone

 

Not quite, If i measure the voltage at the fuse to an earth, it reads at 12v wether the ignition is on or off. so if I run a wire direct from the fuse to the light it illuminates, wether the switch is on or off. yet whne i measure the resistance through the fuse box or the wires, then they are fine and read 0.00ohms, could it be the stalks as i did have a problem with only one side of the car illuminating when the hazards were one, though that seems to corrected itself.

 

anyone?

 

Surely someone can help, I know its not a fucking cosworth, but still its causing a right pain in the arse!?

 

its not easy to diagnose electrical probs over the net mate.i've told you what i think it is from what you have described. you either need to
1 go to scrappy and get a stalk and try it
2 get an autospark to look at it