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Edit: I'm writing this before posting because I don't feel like rewriting it all but I still want to share as it might help someone else with similar problems. Before pressing post I decided to go outside and doublecheck the stop light switch and the fuse box, which I did before I started writing initially. Low and behold I saw a broken fuse that I had initially missed in the cold. Fuse number 28, 15A, was gone. The fuse responsible for "Instrument panel, digital clock, height adjustment control unit, stop lights, differential lock, ride height adjustment". I replaced it and all my problems went away. Moral of the story, check and doublecheck the fuses and such obvious things before going online. Hi! I've got a -95 405 with a 2L 8v engine. It has worked fine until it got a bit colder and wetter in late september. Since then I've had electrical issues that I just can't seem to hunt down. The first issue (which I solved) was that the ABS brake system was not working and it was due to a burned out contact between the left rear light and the harness. At some point a towing hook had been added to the car and the people that did the conversion used t-tap connectors which had stripped down one wire longer and longer over time and that had caused periodic shorts to ground and as a consequence a burned connector. With the cable fixed and the connector restored the ABS brakes started working and the ABS light isn't shining any more. I figured it out because I noticed that the ABS system would be fine until I either put the car in reverse or if i used left indicators. If I did neither of those the ABS light didn't come on. Now to the second problem which I've not managed to hunt down. The alternator light is on when the engine is running. The alternator is completely fine, it gives good voltage at all RPMs and the battery hasn't shown any signs of running low. The alternator light shines brighter when I press down the brake pedal, and when this happens the clock light goes out as well as the lights for the electrical windows. The electrical windows don't work while the brake pedal is pressed. Further more the brake lights do not come on when the brake pedal is depressed. Both problems started roughly at the same time and all other lights work. The most useful thing I've found in Haynes manual is attached below but it doesn't really tell me anything since all the fuses are fine. To sum up the problem; No brake lights. Alternator light is on despite alternator working fine and shines brighter when brake is used. Clock light goes out when brake is used Electrical window and their lights stop working when brake is used. Thank you for reading.

I've read through a lot of old threads to get my reverse light working but I've hit a bit of a wall! I got the old multimeter out and did some testing: I have a phase 2 with the reversing light on the bottom valance. The bulb is fine and the cabling from the passenger light cluster to the reversing light is fine. I tested by rewiring the brown loom so the revering light was powered from the fog light feed (swapped the red and orange cable over) and the bulb worked as it should. As far as I can tell the is no voltage in the red cable in the brown loom at the back of the passenger light cluster. The fuse is in tact and the other things running off fuse 1 (fuel gauge etc.) work fine. From the wiring diagrams the problem must be between the fuse and the brown loom but I don't know where to look. From old threads people have said check the switch on the gearbox but I have not idea how to access that! Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers Luke

My instrument panel is acting weird. The battery light is burning and all the gauges are working (but reading lower than normal except the fuel gauge which never worked reliably anyway) but the warning lights are not lighting up. The lights for the turn signals, park lights, dipped and high beam all light up but nothing else will light up. The stop light, the handbrake light, the red lights for the gauges, etc. won't light up. And they were all working before.

What colour are the driving light surround supposed to be? I managed to get hold of a set of new very old stock SIEM units. They are the right size, have a slightly different lens pattern to the originals and have chrome surround. Am I right in thinking the original units have a black surround? Cheers Luke

Hi all, The light that tells me my sidelights are on doesn't work - I'm sure it's just the bulb as the sidelights work fine and the dash illuminates properly on sidelights as well as dipped headlights. In my (never ending) quest to fix everything that's wrong/annoying I quite fancy having a go at it. However I'm not a mechanic but I am quite handy and enjoy doing stuff on the car. On the 'Haynes scale' I'd say I'm about a 2.5 spanners bloke and I'll have a go at a 3 spanner job if I understand it properly first and don't need to purchase any expensive specialist tools. So is it worth me attempting to take the dash out (never done it before) just to change this bulb or am I just going to open a can of worms? Cheers all Ian.