newbie with a minor wiring issue

Morning all,
Relative newbie here, I got my '82 X in August of last year. It is a former club car (well, according to the stickers on it - A176KWW) has had a relatively sheltered life, having been laid up for the last 4 years. I have teased it through an MoT and have been using it as often as possible for the local & weekend stuff, along with a taking it to work once a week (which entails a 60-mile round trip). So far, so good, I expected niggles as the car came out of retirement and it hasn't disappointed.
Most of the problems so far have been simple to solve (including a clutch change - I didn't find it difficult, just time consuming) but this latest niggle has brought me up short.
On sunday, the cigarette lighter stopped working. I only noticed as my phone wasn't charging. Then, on sunday night, I noticed that my courtesy light wasn't working and then it dawned on me that the clock had also gone out.
"That has to be a fuse" (in my case the inline "floating" fuse holder) I said to myself. Except that fuse is fine & there is no feed to that fuse. The wiring under/behind that fusebox is something else, isn't it? Anyway, I have the Haynes manual and a handbook but neither have a diagram that shows the "floating" fuse holder. It has a very heavy gauge red wire at one end and an equally heavy gauge pink wire at the other. I'll try to get some pictures up later.

Thanks, Alun

Hi & Welcome!

Could it be a loose or poor earth - there is an earth under the dash. Below the headlight switch on the drivers side?

The wiring behind the fuse box scared me a little when I first looked!

Morning Jeremy, & thanks for the welcome
I did a little more digging yesterday (before seeing your message)and currently have the stereo (it's an after-market CD player) out, the clock out, the cigar lighter is out and the heater control facia is also out. The clock wiring is standard but has been bodge-blocked to allow the stereo to be fitted, so I'll rectify that while I'm in there.
Thanks for the tip on the bad earth, I couldn't see that on any of the wiring diagrams I have. For that matter, the clock isn't mentioned in any of the Haynes wiring diagrams that I could see.
I'll keep you informed!

the earth cluster under the lighting switch seems sound.
The dash is all but out now, I'll finish removing it over the B/H weekend. I hadn't planned on going this far into it but it squeaked like mad while driving, there are a couple of example of poor electrics by a previous owner in there which I would like to correct and hopefully while it's all out, I can source and rectify the original fault.

Which brings me neatly back to my original question. It appears that the clock, cigar lighter and courtesy light are all on the same circuit/fed by the same fuse.
None are currently working.
The "service" fuse for these three systems is fine but there is no feed to this fuse.
while pondering this & as it was getting dark, I ran a feed from the battery to the courtesy light, which is fine. Tomorrow evening, I'll isolate the clock and the cigar lighter and confirm that they are also ok (I'm sure they are).
Can anyone shed any light on this particular circuit in isolation? The clock doesn't even feature on my wiring diagram.

Thanks, H

all three components are now out, and all three work when connected directly to a fully-charged battery.
So, as I understand it, this leaves me with a common feed problem to three components that are all permanent live (i.e. live when the ignition is switched off).
Additionally, this fault is before the fuse which supports these three items (as the fuse and holder are both ok).
Finally, I ran a feed through a test light to each of the items' earth cable, and all three earths check out.

Any one had this before? Google-fu showed up this bloke who had the same fault a little while back

www.fiatforum.com/x1-9/336736-1982-clock-wiring-help.html

but other than that, I can't find anything and as I have said, the clock doesn't even feature on any of the wiring diagrams I can find

There should be a permanent feed from the battery to the clock to maintain time. This I think goes via the cigarette lighter on the earlier models. From fuse 14(I think) there should be a violet wire going to the cigarette lighter, there is then a red/green wire going from the cigarette lighter to the clock.

The other feeds into the clock are from the ignition switch to make the clock light up when the car is started and via the side light circuit to dim the brightness when the lights are switched on.

Cheers

Andy

Hi Hywel

If you look in X1/9 info - technical info members on the website you will find some electrical schematics for the different model years. Hopefully it will help you understand how the different circuits in the car work and where to connect your meter to diagnose the problem.

It only took me 25 years to find I had an intermittent fault with my inline fuse holder, which I don't think is your problem given your description

Regards

Steve

thanks for the replies gents, much appreciated. I left it alone for a couple of days and went back with a clear head.

Fancy a laugh? It was a fuse after all. Mine has two inline fuse holders, one quite promenant (and which I was expecting to see) and one which was wedged up behind the bank of relays. didn't find it until I traced the wiring from the cigar lighter and clock back to the fuse box. I had the entire dashboard out at this point, I didn't know weather to laugh or cry...

Still, silver linings. My X suffered from a mage -squeaky dashboard so this was the perfect chance to cure it. So I greased up all the spacers, refitted the main dash panel, and it still squeaked.

So I did this behind where the instruments go:-

Which worked a treat. A dab of sealant on the other side of the screw to keep the water/rust out. Squeak free, remarkable.

Rebuilding the dash was straightforward, the speedo cable works but is damaged (added to the shopping list) and a couple of my dashboard warning lights (main beam & haz warning) don't work know! Oh well, at least I know the time...

well done! useful to know there are two fuses!

At least you got to know the car better in the process...

Jeremy wrote: well done! useful to know there are two fuses!

you know, I swear this car was wired up by Stevie Wonder while his guide dog barked encouragement...

I hated the sight of it the other day but a quick blatt around the block soon sorted that out. It's a lovely car to drive, really good fun.

the bulbs that are used in the dash tell-tales (eg for the main beam and hazard warning etc), anyone know the size & specs of them?

Thanks, H

www.x1-9ownersclub.org.uk/forum/4-news-a...de-lights.html#36064

check out this post a few weeks back. I think the main beam will be the larger T10 bulb but I cant be sure?