Wot no lights...help please

[JP]

Hi there...

Was driving home from mates the other night and dipped my lights for on coming car and the lights went out! Well the headlights died the sidelights still work fine but no dipped or main beam.  Just prior to this happening light were fine. Luckily I quickly discovered the flashers worked so drove the rest of the way home pulling the stalk towards me..bit tricky that over 5 miles but got me home.

I've checked the 3 fuses and they seem good... had a fiddle with wires to no joy... switch is pretty new so hopefully not that...

Any ideas please ?

Thanks

[nang]

Sorry, but sounds like the switch to me. Try getting a bit of wire and bypassing the switch terminals to be sure.
Tony.

[rotoflex]

I was thinking switch, too.
Look at the wiring diagram, disconnect the switch, & jumper the headlight circuit to "on".

[Nick Jones]

Switch..... seems likely, though check wiring/switch plug connections first.

Relays are a good idea as they
a) take the load of the switch
b) If done right make you lights brighter by reducing volt drop.

Nick

[JP]

Ah right so there is no relay. Thanks for replies I'll check out the switch later.

[WIMPUS]

Do you have the original lights or did you put in H4 halogens ?

[thescrapman]

If you still have the original "Clear Hooters" headlight switch, firstly congratulations on making something last 40+ yeears that had a life expectancy of the time between sale and first operation.

Even the later replacement switches are very flakey at times.

That is where I would be looking first.

Cheers

Colin

[rotoflex]

Colin's got a point!  There was a recall of the Clear Hooters switch for the year of my car - 1972.  However, when the switch broke & I got a replacement from the dealership, they somehow overlooked that.  The recall replacement was a Lucas switch which did not use the metal dashboard insert for mounting.  When that one broke, I turned up a Clear Hooters switch again which has lasted a very long time.

[uksnatcher]

I had exact same problem when i first got my Spit and was a little devil to find, heres what it was in the end:

1: Connector block (at the side of N/S engine mount area ) for the bonnet lights -> loom poor contacts.

2: Connector block (side of steering column) for ind/flasher stalk -> loom poor connection

3: Light switch corroded connections internal

1 & 2 Rectified by cleaning bullet connector blocks with small elec screwdriver and smears of Vaseline , then cable tie them tight back together.
3 Buying a new old stock Lucas light switch

[JP]

Ok

So I tried removing the switch from the equation by hard wiring and still no joy..  so now need to following the wiring through.. I'm guessing, as I lost the lights whilst dipping it's likely to be around the column switch that is causing the issue.

When switching on the side lights there is a clicking from a box in the n/s rear wheel arch.. does that have any relevance to headlight?

Def having fun times atm driving to MOT re-test this morning  (hope they don't re-check everything as it will now fail on lights)  and first temp gauge stopped working then a mile later fuel gauge went then speedo !   fuel gauge did come back but no temp.. does work if I earth it on the sender connector so guessing new sender required.

fun fun fun

Many thanks for help

[bodders1]

Clicking from the box in the rear wheelarch is the night dimming relay - which works off the sidelight circuit and, if still connected, makes your tail lights less bright at night-time as a courtesy to drivers who otherwise might be dazzled by the feeble Lucas lights.  How times have changed.  The received wisdom is that this should be disconnected (it was never installed on 1500s).   This relay has no affect whatsoever on the headlights.

If you've checked the switch and connectors in the headlamp circuit, have a look at the fuse box.   I know that there are no fuses in the headlight circuit, but the power feed to the lights switch is taken from the battery side of the fuse box.   Have a really close look at the clips that hold the fuses in place:  the clip at each end of the fuse is made from two pieces of copper (not one folded piece as you might expect) - the feed from the battery is connected to one side of the clip, and the wire leading to the headlamp switch is connected to the other side.  There has to be the cap of a fuse in place AND MAKING GOOD ELECTRICAL CONTACT WITH BOTH SIDES OF THE CLIP to complete the circuit and allow the lights to work.

[JP]

Cheers for that will check it out... the fact that I can flash the lights suggests power is getting to them and at least the bulbs are good.  

MOT man says yes so clearly didn't re-test the lights thankfully.

[BrendanD]

These multiple intermittent failures say one thing to me...
FUSE BOX......

[JP]

Do people bother upgrading to a modern fuse box?

[bodders1]

Hi JP

Some people do change to a modern fuse box, but it is a long and complex job, and a future owner may not thank you for making such a major alteration to the car's wiring.

The fact that you can flash the lights points further to a problem with the feed coming from the fuse box (brown wires).  The feed for flashing the headlights is drawn from the other end of the same fuse! (purple wires).

Take 5 minutes and try the following:
Disconnect the battery then pop the fuses out  and and thoroughly clean the end caps of each fuse with fine emery paper.  Wrap a piece of fine emery paper around the tip of a small screw-driver and thoroughly clean the contacting faces of the clips in the fuse box.  Put the fuses back in, reconnect the battery and test again.

This problem is made much worse if you don't have the cover on your fuse-box;  many have got lost over the years, allowing the terminals to corrode much faster than they would otherwise.

[jamespworth]

I rubbish with electrics and I upgraded to a modern fuse box there is a guide somewhere, its not a big job and can be reversed.

[JP]

Yay we have lights  ;D

I removed the fuses and cleaned up the contacts which needed doing however did not fix the lights :(

So followed the wiring from the Switch and found the issue to be with the block/bullet connector behind the speedo area.. basically have it a wiggle and there was light !  One thing I did notice is that the wires got very warm quite quickly on this connector block... is that normal?

Thanks all for your help.. all good fun and all part of the shake down :)  

Next... What sort of temp reading should I be expecting as my gauge bearly reaches a 1/4 of the way is this normal in this heat in traffic?  I only have standard set up so no electric fans or wide rads.

[junkuser]

Heating of the connectors means high resistance.
Clean or replace.

Consider using the original wiring to switch a relay to power the lights as there may well be other connections that are not too good but would handle the current required to activate a relay.

[rotoflex]

Clean all the contacts you can find from healights to switches.  You want to polish them up.  Over here, we have a cleaning product called a Scotchbrite pad which is excellent for the task.  You can tear little pieces off the pad to get in smaller areas.

Polish up the bullet connectors at the blocks, polish up the spade lugs & connectors at the switches & connections to the lights.  

It is difficult to clean the metal inside the block connectors - I use a match-sized wire wheel on a Dremel tool.  You may find anyway that the block connectors need to be replaced.  They have a tendency to have the metal parts inside break in pieces & drop away, leaving poorer contact.  You can get replacement block connectors.