Headlamp Woe

[RichardR]

My nearside headlamp dipped beam packed up on Tuesday evening. Obviously the bulb gone, I thought, and the perfect opportunity to upgrade to Vision Plus.

So, the bulbs turned up yesterday, and I duly changed the faulty one - still no dipped beam - doh!

Although I haven't specifically checked yet, I'm pretty certain that no voltage is getting to the connector at the bulb (full beam still works, so it's not the earth). What I therefore need to find out is where the supply for the dipped beam splits. According to the wiring diagram in the bible, the feed goes into the switch, then through the dim/dip unit (back to that in a minute), then through the fuse (single fuse for both headlamps) and then on, but no split is shown. Does anyone know where the feed actually splits?

Also, on the subject of the dim/dip unit (for anyone who is unfamiliar, this is the device - a legal requirement for a few years - that makes the dipped beam come on a half-brightness when the sigelights are on with the ignition), does anyone know where this would be located. If I have one fitted it's certainly not working, but I'm pretty sure that the pertinent regulation was in place in '92 that says it should be there (previous G and J reg cars I've owned have both had the unit).

Any suggestions or hints on where to start looking at the light problem would be most gratefully received!

Thanks,
Richard

[Mel-S3]

Well, to try and rectify your loss of nearside dip i would first take a look at the connector, the one you disconnect to remove the bonnet (usually sited by the radiator), they are notorious for bad connections, may just be this.

Melvin

[RichardR]

Good call. Can I get to the connector without having to remove the inner wheelarch?

[shpub]

RichardR said: Good call. Can I get to the connector without having to remove the inner wheelarch?

Depends where they routed it....

[GreenV8S]

RichardR said: Good call. Can I get to the connector without having to remove the inner wheelarch?

On mine, yes. The connector lives inside the wheelarch itself but there's a gap in the lower corner of the wheelarch where you can reach through to pull the connector out.

The connectors used here are notorious for corroding and failing and almost anything you do to it is guaranteed to cause a lighting fault. If in doubt, replace the whole thing with a decent waterproof connector, not the interior grade connector that TVR chose, in their infinite wisdom, to put in the most exposed place in the car.

[RichardR]

GreenV8S said:The connectors used here are notorious for corroding and failing and almost anything you do to it is guaranteed to cause a lighting fault. If in doubt, replace the whole thing with a decent waterproof connector, not the interior grade connector that TVR chose, in their infinite wisdom, to put in the most exposed place in the car.

Presumably all the metal parts on my connector will be completely rusted together so that I'm unable to do anything with it!

Thanks for the pointers guys. I'll have a dig and see what I can find.

P.S. Another gold star for the bible Steve. If I'd followed the TVR handbook I would have also removed the two adjusting screws when I took the headlamp unit out! Lucky I had my trusty bible handy.

[Mel-S3]

Richard,

If it is the connector block, it is possible to dismantle the block and clean/open the individual connectors, they don't usual corrode right out. Once you take a look you should be able to figure it out.

[RichardR]

Located the connector and managed to bring the light back to life with a bit a vigorous jiggling. This'll hopefully give me a temporary fix until the weather's a bit warmer and I'm feeling a bit more double-jointed at which point I can investigate properly.

Thanks for the help guys. Much appreciated, as always.