Page last updated November 21, 2003

Where do I start?

This section will help you understand the fairly basic wiring for these cars! The only reason it seems complicated is due to:

• The wires are all black with (usually) faded or missing colour bands
• The mass of wires stuffed behind the dashboard
• The wires are more visible in the engine area due to lack of wire loom sleeving, instead small cable ties were used
• Basically this section will help you from small faults, right through to re-wiring your car (for the more adventurous of you out there)! See below for first bits of help to get you sorted if rewiring using an Autosparks Loom....
  
  Helpful tools for electrical repairs:
  
  
• Soldering Iron, solder, & flux for large wire soldering (e.g. main battery supply to starter & earth wires)
• Electrical tape & liquid masking fluid (where wrapping tape is difficult)
• Multimeter with the following settings at least: Volts, Amps, Ohms
• Crimping shears
• Crimp connectors
• Heat shrink tubing - various sizes
• Selection of fuses

Rewiring your M Series using Autosparks Wiring Looms

Once you have the wiring loom, you will need to trace each wire using the BS colour code as a reference. It took me about 1/2 day to work out where everything went, and then i had to sort out the fuseboxes. I used 2 fuesboxes, each with 8 fuses, and the layout was as follows (the wires are pretty much set for you to just cut, then wire into the fusebox(es):

Fuse No.	Rating	Circuit
1	15A	Console Switches
2	7.5A	Voltage Stabiliser
3	7.5A	Brake Lamp Switch
4	10A	Fan & spare Relay
5	7.5A	Indicator Relays
6	15A	Wiper Switch
7	Spare	Spare
8	2A	Radio
9	25A	Horn & Spare Relay
10	15A	Hazard Relay
11	5A	Interior Lamp/Door Switches
12	20A	Cigar Lighter
13	Spare	Spare
14	Spare	Spare
15	7.5A	Sidelamps/No. Plate
16	5A	Sidelamps

Useful wiring tips:

To choose the size of fuse to use on a circuit, then you nees to know the wattage of the component - eg a 21 Watt lamp, the voltage is 12V (of course), then 21divided by 12 = 1.75 Amps. However, there is a surge current of approx 150% when turning on a circuit, so 1.75A x 150% = 2.62Amps, and then you would add a little just to ensure the fuses don't keep blowing....so call it 5 Amps for this example. From this rule, you can also see what sort of wire to use - so maybe you would select a 5A or 8A wire for this circuit - 8A would be sensible.