Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Help please

I am swapping dashboards and switches on my 1976 +8, i have connected everything but i have no electric to the dash or the starter .
The only things with power is the Horn and hazard warning lights ?
Any ideas please ?

Expect it in the future ignition feed as the horn and hazards will work without the ignition on

Have a look on GoMog for a wiring diagram.

Ok 👍 thank you .

The standard wire colours are described here:

https://morganrebuild.co.uk/TheWiringLoom.html

It is possible though that a previous owner has modified the wiring and not necessarily used the same wiring colours.

Your car's wiring will be something like:

https://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/wiring44diagram1973.jpg

or

https://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/Plus81977to1982.pdf

or

https://morgan-spares.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wiring_69_73.gif

Again, these may not exactly match your car. They certainly don't quite match my 1977 plus 8.

The best way to proceed is to use a multimeter and to proceed in small logical steps. A simple multimeter is sufficient, eg: https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand...-ranging-digital-multimeter-285990.html. (one with an audible beeper for tracing wiring is useful)

First, are all the fuses okay? There should be 4 fuses in a fuseholder on the right side of the bulkhead in the engine compartment. Make sure you have some spare fuses just in case.

Then pick a gauge or switch on the dashboard and test to see if there is the expected voltage at that point. Eg the red ignition light (with the ignition turned on). If there is no voltage trace the wire back to the ignition switch and check for voltage there. Etc, etc. This can be awkward because it is hard to access this stuff when the dashboard is installed and there are no exposed test points. (That is to say when everything is installed the switch/gauge connectors are in general insulated so there is nowhere to put a multimeter probe - the ignition switch and lighting stalk has exposed contacts usually so that is a good place to put the multimeter probe - you may like to get some insulation piercing probes such as: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BG5DPPV9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - these do damage the wire a little though).

Apologies if you know all this already - your post is quite short so it is hard to be more specific.

The fact that you have no power to the starter is perhaps the most significant thing. I would perhaps start by checking the wiring at the ignition switch and proceed from there.

Alternatively, if the headlamp dip beam is not working then that may be a good place to start. The dip beams are fed from the 12V battery side of the ammeter through the lighting switch on the dash and the dip switch on the steering wheel stalk. There is no fuse and the circuit is independent of the ignition switch being turned on so this is in principle a simple connection. Not that anything is that simple on a Morgan.

Good luck!

Have a look at gomog wiring diagram download here. As suggested hazard warning lights for obvious reason as well as horns of that period were traditionally wired direct to battery and not even through ammeter, so would look at ignition feeds to and from switch. You will see the switch feeds various white wires when in the on (run) position. I suspect one or other of these are not connected or possibly switch's main feed from ammeter (thick brown/white) missing, could even be a faulty switch. Suggest checking all your dash wiring against this diagram before connecting battery.

Does it have the battery cut off switch on the board behind the seats. They can sensitive. Make sure it is fully over to on.