I've had my Cougar for a few months now...

martw80888 said:
To be fair, that was just after a wash and a going over with some Demon Shine, it certainly doesn't look like that everyday, especially once the seagulls at work have had their way with it! But yes, very pleased thanks.
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You might've seen pics of my Tiger. She, uh, isn't as pretty as the pics make her out to be. I go with Poor Boy's Black Hole and she looks great for shows but if you own an Ebony you're in a world of beautiful pain.


martw80888 said:
Almost hate to admit it now, but yes, the nearside one does look newer - a whole lot newer as it happens. I don't know when it was done - I got very little history with the car (I got the service book full of Ford main dealer stamps but no receipts for anything). However, at the risk of incurring your wrath, at £150 a go I'm only doing the one for now.
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I know it's an extra £80, but... unless you can professionally assess the nearside one, my advice is to replace both. I'm no expert at all, just experienced in this. You wouldn't get any wrath from me, but I'd like you to be safe. It's your call though obviously, and I know you're not stupid and I'm possibly more cautious than necessary. But I don't mis-match suspension components.


martw80888 said:
Odd one this. When I indicate left, the left rear indicator is dim and the left brake light flashes dimly in time with it. If I brake while indicating left (therefore lighting up the brake lights) the indicator doubles in speed - come off the brakes and it slows back to normal. The sidelight and reversing light on the left side behave completely normally and don't seem to be affected. This only started happening in the last couple of weeks, and annoyingly it doesn't happen all the time which makes it even harder to pin down.
I've had similar problems in the past with other cars (an old Sierra and my wife's old Escort), that was caused by water ingress causing corrosion inside the cluster.
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Well, you know it's a dead short if you've been through it before. The usual place is where it passes through the rear bulkhead. I'd start by getting a rear loom from a scrapper.

martw80888 said:
Subscribing will happen, it just has to wait until payday. Of course, I would never just expect the help, especially with me being a complete stranger to all of you, and if I did need to ask I would be more than happy to attempt to find a suitable place nearer to those doing the helping.
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Just to reiterate, not everyone here is a subscriber and it's not a prerequisite to getting help. But if you do, you'll have access to so much information and brilliant guides. And if you don't? You're still a valued member as far as I care.
 
The lighting issue sounds like a simple bad earth to me, have you tried scrubbing up the earthing rings and points on the bodyshell where they mount?
 
spjmorris said:
The lighting issue sounds like a simple bad earth to me, have you tried scrubbing up the earthing rings and points on the bodyshell where they mount?
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That had already occurred to me, it will be one of the things I try first when I get a chance to look at it properly. Although, if the earth was bad, wouldn't it affect the whole cluster & not just the indicator?
 
Mako said:
Well, you know it's a dead short if you've been through it before. The usual place is where it passes through the rear bulkhead. I'd start by getting a rear loom from a scrapper.
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Aha! It appears that you are correct sir! (doffs cap) Just went and had a quick play with it on my lunch break, and sure enough, fiddling with the wires just there makes the fault appear and disappear. I guess there's a dodgy wire in there somewhere causing an intermittent short.
 
martw80888 said:
Aha! It appears that you are correct sir! (doffs cap) Just went and had a quick play with it on my lunch break, and sure enough, fiddling with the wires just there makes the fault appear and disappear. I guess there's a dodgy wire in there somewhere causing an intermittent short.
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Nice one! Now you just need to see if Matt can come up with the goods for you.

Failing that, I do know an excellent online breaker that I've used a few times in the past...
 
I now have properly-working rear lights! Many thanks to Mako for the spot-on diagnosis-at-a-distance and Backseateducation for the new loom.

I'm liking this place already, glad I signed up :)
 
backseateducation said:
Good news mate.
If these are going to possibly be a troublesome item I will liberate some more.
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They are, from what I've seen. A couple of years ago it was the S and T reg ones, so if it's perishing rubber it stands to reason that the V, W & Xs are going to be suffering now.

I suppose it would be easy enough to re-loom existing connectors, but there's no harm in stockpiling parts...
 
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