What you will need:
• Voltmeter
• 12v interior car light bulb
So the boot luggage light wouldn’t illuminate when opening the boot and it was bugging me. I started by opening up the little light area to inspect the bulb / bracket. This just clicks off if you push your hand up behind it – removing the rear light plastic panel.
Upon checking all looked well. There was no missing bulb and all wires seemed to be connected. Using my trusty voltmeter to check the current i found that there was and no voltage was being recorded.
I thought best to start with the switch – its actually quite hard to find! I looked through the Haynes manual and found that the switch sits on the negative earth cable. Following this it seemed likely that the switch would be on the rear tailgate lock mechanism.
Once again – I gingerly prized away the plastic boot lining panel and gained a clearer access to the rear boot lock mechanism. I could see a wire unattached dangling and a short metal pin on the boot lock itself with no wire attached. Seemed simple enough – I removed the rear tailgate lock by unscrewing the 3 8mm bolts
Carefully I re-attached the cable onto the pin and then reattached the boot lock to the car. Checking again with my voltmeter I now had 12.37 volts! Hooray! But the light still refused to illuminate
I removed the bulb and re-checked and from what I could see the filament looked fine. I pushed it in a little harder in its seat and after a small spark – I blew the fuse!
1 15amp fuse later and the 12.3 volts returned. I decided to check with another bulb my dad had lying around and voila! We have light!
I removed the rear parcel shelf and on closing the boot the light switched off! Result! Now I have a working boot light. All trim was clicked back into place. I’d advise taking time over this to ensure it doesn’t fracture on re-assembly.
Part 5: Front Wiper Arms
What you Will need
Admittedly – I do think these probably would have been better powder coated as I'm told this provides a more durable finish. Nevertheless, the look of the old wiper arms was bugging me so I set aside some time and some leftover hammarite smooth black gloss spray paint to tackle them both
Before they were pitted, rusty and tired-looking. I think small details on cars like this are a great DIY job and do help improve the overall appearance of the car.
I removed both using a 10mm socket. I then prepared for paint by providing a light key over them both, taking away the surface layer of paint. Once keyed I wiped clean with some white spirit.
I hung the wiper arms on the coat hanger and sprayed outside. I ended up spraying 3 light coats on each wiper
Pic of wipers before spray
Leaving overnight to cure, both were smooth and shiny the following morning and ready to re-fit. This was simple enough – just had to be careful not to chip or scratch the paint. I re-attached the wipers and ensured that they clicked into place.
During 2nd coat
Once fitted, they still seemed to catch on the top of the bonnet when removed. I read that moving the bonnet forward a few mm helps to avoid this.
I carefully unscrewed the 4 bolts (2 on each side) of the bonnet hinge and gently pulled this forward.
Now both wipers are in place and nothing is catching!
(Pic of car with wipers finished)
Next Job - to tackle the rear plastic numberplate panel and re-spray
