Help Please,.. a couple of questions.

[Rome]

Ok,.. so I have my Cobra on the road (finally) and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. However I'm having a couple of immediate issues that hopefully you guys can advise me on.
First,.. while my headlights come on, the rear lights do not. nor do the lights for the gauges. My question is where should I look for this problem? the underdash wiring of the headlight switch? which wire would affect the rear (head) lights (brake lights work fine) and the interior gauge lights?

Second, since getting my car back from a garage (which had to reinstall my engine...long story) I've been getting this weird, WOOO sound from the rear end. it sounds like rusted metal rubbing together but in a drum kind of way. it is also circular. By that I mean it occurs as the wheels turn. If I push the car, the sound will come on as the wheels rotate. WOooo Woooo Woooo.

I took the rear wheels off and tried to pin point the sound, and it seems like it is coming from the passenger side rear wheel. Maybe like the disc brake rubbing on the cailper. But the disc brake rotates just fine by hand. does this sound familiar to anyone?

Should I keep driving it?

[Mustang Man]

OK, the first question, definitly look at your headlight switch. These "classic" switches have a terminal where the front parking lights go OUT when the switch is pulled to headlight. If you have parking lights (and gauges) wired to that, they will work on the first click of the switch (parking lights) and then go out when the switch is pulled to the second click for headlights. Go ahead, check it, I'll wait...
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OK, what did you find? LOL

If that's what's happening you just need to move that parking light wire to the right terminal. Of course we need to know what harness you are using, what switch, etc., but it shouldn't be hard to test with a test light to find the right terminal yourself.

As for the second question, you could have a binding or mis-adjusted brake caliper causing the rubbing. Unbolt the caliper, wire it up out of the way and bolt the wheel back on. Push the car back and forth. Is the noise gone? If so, you need to look at the caliper mount and try shimming it so the rotor is dead center in the caliper and that the bracket is not damaged...

HTH...
Mark

[Rome]

OK, the first question, definitly look at your headlight switch. These "classic" switches have a terminal where the front parking lights go OUT when the switch is pulled to headlight. If you have parking lights (and gauges) wired to that, they will work on the first click of the switch (parking lights) and then go out when the switch is pulled to the second click for headlights. Go ahead, check it, I'll wait...
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OK, what did you find? LOL

If that's what's happening you just need to move that parking light wire to the right terminal. Of course we need to know what harness you are using, what switch, etc., but it shouldn't be hard to test with a test light to find the right terminal yourself.

As for the second question, you could have a binding or mis-adjusted brake caliper causing the rubbing. Unbolt the caliper, wire it up out of the way and bolt the wheel back on. Push the car back and forth. Is the noise gone? If so, you need to look at the caliper mount and try shimming it so the rotor is dead center in the caliper and that the bracket is not damaged...

HTH...
Mark

Thanks so much for the response.
So I tried that trick and unfortunately nothing happened. The parking lights did not turn on with first click. However, your answer helps me a lot, as I now know where to look. It did work before and stopped working for some reason, so I will play around with the headlight switch. btw, I have a Mark3 electrical harness and wiring.

I will check the caliper. That's what I thought as well. I will let you know how that turns out.
Thank you SO much for your response.

[riptide motorsport]

check your fuses first, then your grounds. the brakes could just be from not using them and the pads touching tthen not at diferent points on the rotor. drive it alittle and see what you get.

[Rome]

well I checked the headlight switch and this is what I found. When I played around with the sleeve that holds all the wires in place the interior dash lights and the parking lights would flicker on and off. SO that told me that is where the problem was.
However, it was inconsistent. No particular thing I did made it work. So I removed the wires from the sleeve to make sure all the connections were being made. As you can see in the pictures.
Again, nothing, but if I moved it around, touched it, it would come on and off.
I noticed finally that when the Beige wires made contact with the blue wires (the two interior wires), that it would come on and stay on. IOW, it worked.
so my question is, are the wires put in wrongly? or is the headlight switch defective?

Also, can I just place an electrical wire which connects the two plugs?
As for the Sound coming from the rear end. Off course I just took the wheel off and it is not making any sound. The brakes did however begin to screech a bit. So I'll remove the caliper and see what is going on with the pads and the rotor any way.

[Mustang Man]

If that is the supplied FFR switch my friend's Mk 3.1 had a similar issue. I could reach up behind the dash and just grasp the switch and twist/wiggle it a little and the dash lights would come and go. A new switch fixed it. If you had all the wires in the proper locations then it's most likely the switch itself...

HTH...
Mark

[edwardb]

Hard to say for sure, but the sound you're hearing from the rear brakes could be classic brake moan. Do you have anti-moan brackets installed? There are several versions. You would need to get the right ones for your set-up. If that's what it is, I don't think it hurts anything. My Mk3 with 11.65 Cobra disks in the back moan a little. But I can never hear it with the engine running!

[Rome]

If that is the supplied FFR switch my friend's Mk 3.1 had a similar issue. I could reach up behind the dash and just grasp the switch and twist/wiggle it a little and the dash lights would come and go. A new switch fixed it. If you had all the wires in the proper locations then it's most likely the switch itself...

HTH...
Mark

It is the supplied FFR switch. did your friend get a new FFR switch? Guess I'll have to call them to replace it.

[Rome]

Hard to say for sure, but the sound you're hearing from the rear brakes could be classic brake moan. Do you have anti-moan brackets installed? There are several versions. You would need to get the right ones for your set-up. If that's what it is, I don't think it hurts anything. My Mk3 with 11.65 Cobra disks in the back moan a little. But I can never hear it with the engine running!

I've taken the caliper off and when I spin the wheel it sounds really smooth. That tell me that it is a passenger brake problem. I will go to an auto parts place to borrow their brake assembly kit to replace the pads in the caliper. Hopefully that will do it.
I will keep you guys updated.

Thanks again for the help

[Rome]

Pk, to update you guys.
I called FFR about the switch and explained it to them. I was told that I could in fact splice the two middle wires by connecting them with electrical wire. I have done so and it is working just fine.
Any opinions?
as for the noise in the rear end, I removed the caliper on the passenger side (as I thought that was were the noise was coming from). When I did, the noise seemed to go away, but when I checked again the next day it came from the other wheel. I removed the rear driver side wheel but not the caliper. noise seemed to come and go. I can't figure out what is causing it.
I checked to see if the disc pad was warped. I checked the pads, nothing seems to be wrong.
Problem is, I'm not even sure if the noise is still there as it comes and goes.