hi brought said mpv well cheap hence following problems,no indicators no lights working and electric windows not working.said story goes like this brought mpv from mrs uncle who brought from freind in leicster imported 2000 done bout 1oo thou her uncle was driving back from sgeggy and smoke came through the dash pulled over cleared truck still ran said windows were going up and down really fast then truck left alone for about 3 months as would not start due to flat battery then i got checked alternator seems fine lot of fueses blown replaced all went as far as i dare now have auto electriction in there seems to no stuff but still hasent found falt has burnt strange things out need new cluster for headlights indicator switch [can you advise were from] burnt back of clock[melted] but still works auto electriction thinks may have fried fuesebox.as truck is stripped out ive been looking now on the live feed to the battery there are thinner wires ive found 2 are chaffed enough to see copper now if this earthed could this cause this to short and send it down the line to melt things as uncle numpty had not long fitted new battery oversized and not fixed thinking mabey chaffed them when fitted battery need parts [cluster]before get auto elec back any uther idears would be great also new to these looks like major brain surgory now dash is out just hoping for any clues cheers daz

- (#6486) darren, 28 Dec 02

Your chafing probably caused the problem, but you mention the windows working ay high speed? That could mean a daffy'd alternator, or battery, or both. I'd be inclined to say a duff diode in the alternator (caused by the short perhaps) is sending AC out...
Are the chafed wires under the dash or beside the battery?

- (#6487) david miller, 29 Dec 02

My God, almost impossible to read your post, Darren, use some punctuation, I had to read that at 100Mph, God knows what speed you typed it at. I'd be inclined to agree with David, could be a faulty alternator, putting many volts & possibly AC rather than DC into things that should only run in DC. I would get the alternator off & checked by a Lucas dealer or someone similar, as you might cure all the damage, start her up & wallop, same problem, same results, then yes you will have to replace any damaged wiring, then onto any damaged components. I'm afraid it's just a case of working through it. Depending how much you paid for the whole vehicle, have you considered 'BREAKING' it, as I'm sure there would be plenty of customers on this forum who would have parts off you. Regards Rob.....

- (#6488) Rob Drinkwater, 29 Dec 02