Austin Healey Sprite Tech Tips

PDLJMPR Web Magazine, July 01, 1996
Written by Norman Nock, British Car Specialists, Stockton, California
Reprinted with Permission of Author

Return to Table of Contents

Make Friends with Lucas

The colors of the electrical wires on Austin-Healeys tell us a story. If you are looking at a group of wires that are going to various places on the car there will be a rainbow of colors.

Plain solid colors like red, white, brown, black, purple, green, and blue tell you which circuit they belong to:

• Black (B) Ground - Earth
• Brown (N) Always Hot, Not Fused
• Purple (P) Fused, Always Hot (Late Cars)
• White (W) Hot with Ignition On, Not Fused
• Green (G) Fused, Hot with Ignition ON
• Blue (U) Head Light Main Feed, Not Fused
• Red (R) Park/Tail Lights, Not Fused (Should Be Fused)

The above wire colors may also have a thin line of color running through them, known as a tracer. For example, blue with a white tracer (Blue-White) is saying that the main color blue is part of the headlight circuit and the tracer color says "I am for the high-beam circuit."

• Red-White (RW) The red wire is park/tail lights. The white tracer is for panel lights.
• Blue-Red (UR) The blue wire is headlights. The red tracer is for low beams.
• White-Black (WB) The white wire is ignition, not fused. The black tracer indicates the coil to distributor connection.
• Green-Blue (GY) The green wire is hot with ignition on and fused. The blue tracer is for left directional indicator.
• Purple-Black (PB) The purple wire is always hot and fused. The black tracer is for the horn button (late cars).
• Green-Black (GB) The green wire is hot with ignition on and fused, the black tracer is for the fuel guage from the gas tank.

With this information and a little detective work on your part, you can now identify and track down all the wires on your Healey.

Editor's note - the original article displayed a complete Healey wiring diagram, color codes included. The examples given are not comprehensive or specifically correct for your Sprite. The general primary color coding (Black through Red) should be true for all Lucas electrical systems. As far as the tracer colors go, there is no substitute for a wiring schematic - complete with color codes. Hopefully, this article should help you understand what the general coloring means and also the purpose of tracer colors. - ed.

Return to Table of Contents