Permanantly On Ignition

[gt/e paul]

This one has really got me,as something ive not had with a manta before .

ok so this manta in question is a recently aquired one,so still am getting to know its little quirks.

approx 2 weeks ago used car as normal ,came home switched of ign and came indoors and thought nothing of it.

came out to move car in the morning and found ign,oil pressure and handbrake warning lights on also fuel gauge working and volt gauge reading the normal 12v.

all this was with no key in ignition ,ok so i thought put in the key and turn it as ign swich could have got stuck and i just didnt see panel lights on when i locked the car. putting in key made no difference at all. i could still start car in normal way ,as i had to move it .

stopped car by pulling of the coil lead ,still panel lights were on so i disconnected the battery and left it until i could next have a look. when i next had a look i re-connected the battery and the panel lights were off .turned key as normal they came on.

thought it was just a glitch or maybe was going mad in old age so had a little jaunt round and done 30-40 miles or so. while doing this journey i had to use the rear screen dont know if this was coinciedental but when i came to switch of the engine the same problem had came back couldnt turn off the engine.

had another look at the weekend ,even completly disconnected the ign switch from the square multiplug alas didnt make any difference the ign ,oil pressure ect ect were all still on.

i know this write up seems longwinded but its exactly how its happened. so now im bashing my head up against a brick wall . any help or maybe someone has had this before be greatly apprieciated

[Rab]

Sort of same probs I had with a past hatch, headlights would not go out intermittent fault. If they went out I would find in morning back on shining bright. Traced brocken wire within loom engine/side. Half the car stripped oot mind to find it. Just a thought as soonds aboot thi same bar feeding instrument hoosing and gauges.

cheers rab, hope owe some gid.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Rab

[dynamytedan]

the starter and alternator have permanent live feeds from the battery ... the small wires from both of them go back to the ignition and dash,

the idea being that there might be a short inside the alternator or starter exciting the ignition from the other way .

perhaps unplug one of them when its happening ... go from there .

[gt/e paul]

cheers rab & dan yes thats a thought . i did disconnect the red wire on the alternator just to check if it was backfeeding through the alternator .it all stayed on all bar the ign light which went out.

prob be the weekend again when i next get a chance to have a look. i shall try and disconnect the starter and see what happens.

cheers chaps many thanks paul

[mantadoc]

Head lights not going out on a post 1986 ish hatch or coupe is the dim dip controller on the left kick panel under the glove box on a RHD and is a lot different than the melted ignition switch issues that were commonly reported a few years back.

First port of call, if it was my car, would be to disconnect the multiplug for the ignition switch form the big block by the steering column and then if everything went out is it the switch, but it's not mine and I would not recommend it

Edit - Would also check switch is secured properly to the back of the ignition lock and the bit the lock barrel engages is still the right shape

[gt/e paul]

if only it was as simple as that dim dip controller,i once had this headlights on trouble . unplugged the dip/dim box trouble sorted.

mantadoc i already tried unplugging the ign switch lead at big multiplug .no change unfortunately .ign still on .

so i guess its a lot of headscratching/swearing for me at the weekend

[mantadoc]

Take the fuses out one by one with ignition switch unplugged to see at what point light go out to see if it is a common earthing problem. For example I have had a car refuse to turn off with sidelights on with foot on the brake pedal before now and all that was was a bad headlight earth allowing the sidelight power to go back into the ignition live brake light circuit and hence power all ignition live and keep the car on. Ok random but you see how it happens.

The only fuse you can pull to stop a GTE running is the fuel pump fuse as the ignition and injection aren't fused but if comon earthing from another circuit pulling all the other fuses might give an answer, even if the answer is narrowing down the number of wires you have ot check

[gt/e paul]

Ok so now been a while but finally got to have a good look at this nagging problem this eve ( i do tend to work slow) and there is no real hurry for me to do it.

well after much pulling and tugging of wires it was the fusebox where the problem lies. the heated rear window fuse copper terminal had melted so much it was touching the next fuse to its terminal .

i hadnt realised that the red cable going to the hrw fuse was perm live although the hrw didnt work until the engine was running thus giving switch feed to the relay. the fuse next to the melted one has a black wire going to it so when it was crossed with perm live made all ign circuits live without ign key being on...

now cut off wires to melted fuse and put in blade fuseholder instead.... job done