julianf
Well-Known Member
With electrical stuff you can either replace a whole load of stuff in a random fashion, or just get a multimeter and a wiring diagram and follow the 12 volts until there's no longer 12 volts...
Now my experience is from the 300, but the 200 will be similar, and, this is also from memory, so I'll probably miss or add some bits, but, basically -
Battery to big maxi fuses
...to (probably) little fuses, to ignition switch
...to (probably) more little fuses, to relays
...to big things like the starter solenoid.
So you probe the battery to earth, and make sure it's 12.somthing volts.
Then you probe the maxis (if you have them)
Then the next thing...
And the next...
Until you find where you no longer have the volts.
There's so much going on that you're looking for a needle in a haystack without a method. You might get lucky, but, more likely you won't.
My 300 was parked up for 7 years. All the blade fuses (your 200 will have the cylinder ones) needed pulling and scraping. Various earth's had failed. No end of connectors on the lights etc had corroded.
Even post MOT it kept going bad until, I guess, a bit of vibration cleaned up the joints a bit more. One time I'd just pulled over in a layby to check on somthing else that was the next point of concern and it wouldn't start again. Nothing.
I swapped over all the yellow relays, and was on my way again. None had broken but they had just lost connectivity.
As a side note, the switch on the end of the ignition barrel, not only can you replace the switch itself without the barrel, if you're careful, you can open up the switch and clean up the insides. And then spend an age working out how it goes back together again... : /
But, yes, multimeter and method, else it's just random spending. Print out a good (colour) copy of the wiring diagrams. There's nice ones for the 300. I'd assume there will be for the 200 also.
Now my experience is from the 300, but the 200 will be similar, and, this is also from memory, so I'll probably miss or add some bits, but, basically -
Battery to big maxi fuses
...to (probably) little fuses, to ignition switch
...to (probably) more little fuses, to relays
...to big things like the starter solenoid.
So you probe the battery to earth, and make sure it's 12.somthing volts.
Then you probe the maxis (if you have them)
Then the next thing...
And the next...
Until you find where you no longer have the volts.
There's so much going on that you're looking for a needle in a haystack without a method. You might get lucky, but, more likely you won't.
My 300 was parked up for 7 years. All the blade fuses (your 200 will have the cylinder ones) needed pulling and scraping. Various earth's had failed. No end of connectors on the lights etc had corroded.
Even post MOT it kept going bad until, I guess, a bit of vibration cleaned up the joints a bit more. One time I'd just pulled over in a layby to check on somthing else that was the next point of concern and it wouldn't start again. Nothing.
I swapped over all the yellow relays, and was on my way again. None had broken but they had just lost connectivity.
As a side note, the switch on the end of the ignition barrel, not only can you replace the switch itself without the barrel, if you're careful, you can open up the switch and clean up the insides. And then spend an age working out how it goes back together again... : /
But, yes, multimeter and method, else it's just random spending. Print out a good (colour) copy of the wiring diagrams. There's nice ones for the 300. I'd assume there will be for the 200 also.