Headlights don't work

[LeslieHedley]

Help. I know from searching the forum that it's common to have problems with the pods, but I've got a problem with dipped beam. The pods work fine and when I put my sidelights on the pods rise and I get dim dip. But when I click the switch to the second position for full dipped beam, they go out! It's just started doing this, last week they worked fine. I still have main beam, so it's not the column or dash switch. It can't be the bulbs because I get dim dip on the sidelights position and that suggests the wiring is ok. So what's the difference between dim dip and full dip? It's got me stumped. Oh, and I can hear the relay click when I switch from sidelights to dipped beam, so I guess that is working too. Any electrical experts out there have any ideas?

[wedg1e]

I'm no expert, but I do have some ideas! Trouble with electrics is that it's easier to get the meter out and go looking, than to talk about it.
My '87 car doesn't have dim-dip, so I'm a lttle short of diagrams to study.
You mention that you can hear a relay click when you switch from side to dip; that doesn't mean that it's the only thing that SHOULD happen, so I'd be heading down that road. Check fuses, wiggle relays. My money would be on the column switch or its wiring, though. There are actually two separate feeds to the column switch: one is from the lights dash switch and the other is permanent (so you can flash the headlamps with the main lights switch off): maybe what's happening is the permanent feed is OK and the other isn't.

Ian


Ian

[father ted]

It sounds like a relay contact problem ....try transposing another relay from a serviceable system(i.e. horn or similar....most relays are interchangeable) and seeing if the defect clears.

[shpub]

The switch assembly is not that reliable and go the same way. You can also get some funnies if the two diodes/links that control the pod operation/headlamp main beam etc die. Covered in the bible.


PS If you get a replacement switch, might want to chcek that its connector is the right one (several varients) and that the cables are in the correct connector. I had to change the switch and it took several hours to work out that one wire was in the wrong connector location. Swapped it over and it was OK.

Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk

[york33]

I don't have dim dip on mine but had a similar (ish) prob a few weeks ago. Side worked, dipped didn't but, main did. There were a few other quirks to it. Main would only come on when switch was in dipped position, not sidelights, as it should, but dipped would never work. Anyways, that confusion aside, turned out to be the connector on the column switch that goes to the main light rocker switch.

good luck
Dave

[jvaughan]

my 92 400SE does have dim dip, didnt realise until I changed the lights for the quad setup I currently have

[LeslieHedley]

Thanks for all the advise chaps. It turned out to be a relay. The circuit diagram in the bible doesn't have the dim/dip wiring so my wiring didn't match it. I had to try every relay in turn until I found it. There are more relays for the headlights than you can shake a stick at. But at least I managed to identify it eventually.

[father ted]

Yaaay ! do i win a prize then?

Well done on the fix,always feels good to 'bust a snag'

[streaky]

I'm shocked!

A devout priest and religious icon such as Father Ted saying "feeling" and "bust" in the same sentence!

O Tempora, O Mores!

Streaky