Project Jigsaw- complete!

[IRD]

How frustrating Stuart. Finding really skilled people is so difficult. There is a deep pool of knowledge on the Forum with people like yourself, Anubis Z , Usel and Enuff zed. When I had that problem with indicators on the silver E85 it cost me a fortune to have it ‘not solved’ by ‘professionals’. In the end you, with Forum help, sorted it out. Keep going, I’m sure you will eventually get there. There might be a few more grey hairs on the way.

[Usel]

Before you take it out have you tried operating the seat without the key in the ignition?

The drivers seat is always live and fed directly from the fuse box. If it works then it will be a short that is ignition fed. If it still plays up then it will be a short on the always hot side of things after finding out if it works when you power it up direct from the battery. It could just be faulty though

[bigwinn]

How frustrating Stuart. Finding really skilled people is so difficult. There is a deep pool of knowledge on the Forum with people like yourself, Anubis Z , Usel and Enuff zed. When I had that problem with indicators on the silver E85 it cost me a fortune to have it ‘not solved’ by ‘professionals’. In the end you, with Forum help, sorted it out. Keep going, I’m sure you will eventually get there. There might be a few more grey hairs on the way.

Thanks Ian

I’m more angry with myself… need to have a bit more faith in myself

[bigwinn]

Before you take it out have you tried operating the seat without the key in the ignition?

The drivers seat is always live and fed directly from the fuse box. If it works then it will be a short that is ignition fed. If it still plays up then it will be a short on the always hot side of things after finding out if it works when you power it up direct from the battery. It could just be faulty though

it’s there when no key in ign- so that helps

Steve and I are poring over TIS at present and we think we see a commonality with earth point x490

I think that’s the one on the passenger side

Can you detach each earth one by one to test if the issue goes away?

[markplant]

If you need a extra pair of hands , I might be available over the weekend

[bigwinn]

If you need a extra pair of hands , I might be available over the weekend

Thanks Mark- I may take you up on that

[Usel]

Before you take it out have you tried operating the seat without the key in the ignition?

The drivers seat is always live and fed directly from the fuse box. If it works then it will be a short that is ignition fed. If it still plays up then it will be a short on the always hot side of things after finding out if it works when you power it up direct from the battery. It could just be faulty though

Can you detach each earth one by one to test if the issue goes away?

I'm going to say no but I can't give a very good reason why

I will use the steering wheel as an example. There are multiple individual earth pins in the sockets of the slip ring but they all connect up collectively together as well.

You could pull an earth wire out and then continuity check the wire to earth point to see if there is still a connection.

If you are going to pull wires I would start at the fusebox. Work out which plugs you can pull out which doesn't disable the car.

[bigwinn]

Before you take it out have you tried operating the seat without the key in the ignition?

The drivers seat is always live and fed directly from the fuse box. If it works then it will be a short that is ignition fed. If it still plays up then it will be a short on the always hot side of things after finding out if it works when you power it up direct from the battery. It could just be faulty though

Can you detach each earth one by one to test if the issue goes away?

I'm going to say no but I can't give a very good reason why

I will use the steering wheel as an example. There are multiple individual earth pins in the sockets of the slip ring but they all connect up collectively together as well.

You could pull an earth wire out and then continuity check the wire to earth point to see if there is still a connection.

If you are going to pull wires I would start at the fusebox. Work out which plugs you can pull out which doesn't disable the car.

Makes sense

I think that’s step 2 after the seat test

[bigwinn]

I am happy to report that the electrical issue is solved

I’m less happy to report that it’s because I am a spanner- I definitely checked all earth points. Apart from the one that wasn’t connected. It was (x490) the one under the drivers side dash near the bonnet catch.

Credit to Steve who kept hammering TIS and saying it’s a common issue to all… but I was the wrong side of the car!

Just goes to show with a bit of confidence and logical approach (plus superb forum and friend support) problems are very much resolvable on these cars.

Thankful also that I don’t need to faff about looking for wire breaks in the loom

The to do list got a lot shorter!

MOT (with a hopeful pass) looming!

Stuart

[Usel]

[bigwinn]

Thanks again Rob! Seat now working perfectly!!

[1536Z4]

Just goes to show with a bit of confidence and logical approach (plus superb forum and friend support) problems are very much resolvable on these cars.

TFFT so glad you got it sorted . I`m terrible at fault finding electrics so no help to you whatsoever .

[bigwinn]

Just goes to show with a bit of confidence and logical approach (plus superb forum and friend support) problems are very much resolvable on these cars.

TFFT so glad you got it sorted . I`m terrible at fault finding electrics so no help to you whatsoever .

It’s a mixture of relief and acute embarrassment

[1536Z4]

acute embarrassment

I wouldn`t even know where to start . Its all good experience as long as you can remember what you did

[j3nks79]

Nice one well done.
It’s such a good feeling when you work something out. The feeling of relief is great