Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Brake light problems

The LH tail light LED unit failed recently. I eventually traced the fault down to a broken wire under the boot lid hinge cover. When I was moving the wires to find the fault the RH light went from side light to brake light brightness and finally blew the 5 amp fuse. On stripping the cable sleeve back the problem with the wires became apparent with both LED light unit wires having split insulation and shorting out with each other. My car was made in 2013 and gets a reasonable amount of use with 30,000 miles on it. Not sure just how many times the boot lid has been opened and closed but it's a lot. If you get similar problems with the tail lights, check the wires under the hinge cover, I doubt my car will be the only one to have fatigued wires.

Good tip. I have always been afraid to look under there for preventative reasons but you just gave me a good reason.

Have Had the same issue

I suggest you use a rubber grommet to avoid reoccurence. Also check the other fittings.

Thanks for the suggestion but a rubber grommet won't fit in this location, it's not passing through a hole. I have cut away more of the rubber backing block to improve the clearances. The wires are bent and crimped every time the boot lid is opened and closed, another great M3W design feature.

A flexible silicone sleeved cable would be better in this location. These are designed to flex and are widely used in robotic systems.

Plaiting the conductors would help too.


Alternatively, could the brake/tail lights be swapped with the rear reflectors thus eliminating the wire flexing altogether?

Is the wire marked 16AWG or 18AWG? Can't quite see from the photo. Have you worked out what the different wires do?

Had a similar problem after the dismantle and respray post-aquaplane. The 5 minute fix turned into an epic of rewiring, multi-layer heat shrinking and bad language as the guillotine come boot hinge is completely deadly for the wires that pass through it until everything is neatly lined up and securely tightened.

The wire is 18 AWG according to the markings and I have worked out that the wires make the tail lights work 😁. My experience was much like RedThree had, it turned into a major job with the alloy liner removed and re-jigging the boot lid hinge. Solder heat shrink sleeve wire connectors are ideal for this job.

It is also the license plate lamp.