Electricians. HELP!

[Glasgow 911SC]

I have a problem with my lights. My front passenger side light doesn't work, either does my rear light. My main beam and high beam work fine. I have checked all fuses/bulbs and these are fine. There seems to be no power across the two wires for the parking light.
How do I find out whats wrong? Where do I check?
I hate / don't understand electrics!
Any help greatly appreciated.

[Doug Zielke]

You say, "the bulbs and fuses are fine".
Maybe, but do you know if the *contacts* in the bulb and fuseholders are able to conduct electricity?
And what about the ground(s) to the lampholder? Grounding problems are the cause of many electrical problems in our old cars.

That's a start for now. Quit "hating" electricity, and instead, learn to master it.
To do any electrical troubleshooting you need a good digital VOM, a wiring diagram, and a methodical attitude. You *don't* have to be a Nikola Tesla.

[Rot 911]

Not sure if this will help, but check out this thread in response to a similar problem I had with my 86 Carrera: http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10069&highlight=86+and+parking+and+light+and+diode

[Doug Zielke]

The "diode" that Kurt mentions is also part of the SC exterior lighting circuit. (Not shown in Bentley, but plainly in the Factory manual wiring diagram.) Worth checking out.

[Roland Kunz]

Hello

Just jumper the wires from the other side on the fuseblock to find out on wich end to look.

One end are the lights or missing ground and if they light up you can focus on the light switch or stalk switch.

I love electric, very simple and mostly no dirt.
Grüsse

[liskeard]

I had a similar problem with the front and rear parking lights on the drivers side of my car. It turned out to be the grounding, which is at the front left, inside the trunk. There are 5 wires that get grounded at this point, and after fully cleaning each, the lights worked again!

Ted

[Planter91C2]

i had a similiar problem and the cure was to clean the bulb sockets with a small piece of sandpaper.

[dickster]

i agree electrics suck!! can't see anything!

do the park lights work from the stalk - i guess not??

i have fog lamps that don't work - can't/won't figure them out. fuse or bulbs or forget it!!

the dickster

[Glasgow 911SC]

I think the earth is ok. The headlights (halogen bulb) shares the ground with the parking light (branches off of it) and the head light works fine. I tried a voltmeter across the earth to the parking light power and got nothing.
I'm going to double check everything such as earth in trunk and look into that diode.
It just confuses me that the front and the back are out!

Time to try and understand those wiring diagrams!

[liskeard]

Yes, the headlights and 4 other connections shared the same ground/earth. But one, the parking, Front and Rear, did not work while the others worked great. Take them ALL off and clean.