Light swith

[H48HPE]

My dip headlights failed ( a common fault i know) nearly a year ago now, after investigating the cause i found the actual swith to be broken. upon removing the old switch I found one of the terminals on the 4 pin plug (pin 3)had been subject to enough heat to melt the plastic around it. this explained the strange smell coming from the switch whilst the lights were on. any way I fitted the second hand switch i had got ( which had no burning on it), and for a year i havn't noticed the burning smell. (You can guess whats coming next)

the other day it was raining and i had the lights on for about 35 mins, i could smell a faint plastic burning smell towards the end of my journy and the steering column cowl felt warmer around the switch, so i suspect somthings going wrong again.

has anyone experienced anything similar?

any one any ideas what the fault could be to speed things up for me trying to find it?

andy

[H48HPE]

Ive only got round to looking at this today and im at a loss, Ive decided that my next attempt will involve fitting a new dimdip unit and im going to fit a new relay whilst I'm in that area, also im going to try a different switch and I'll get another connector incase its making cross connections in there.

Its the blue wire with brown tracer colour thats burning, but its only burnt as it enters the connector at the switch, the wire terminates at terminal 8 of the dim dip unit.

any other suggestions welcome if anyones got anything to add?

andy

[G Force]

Hi Andy. I think the problem will be being caused because the connection between the multi plug and switch on the blue brown wire is not tight enough. when this happens you get arcing between the connection causing it to heat up, which is what melts the plastic. you need to try tighten and clean the female connection to make a good contact, and that should sort it.

cheers gary

[H48HPE]

I think your right gary, as i read the post back to myself the connector seemed the obvious problem. The bigest problem now is putting a new connector on, i cant stand the wiring around the column, its all crampt up and difficult to access.

andy

[G Force]

Hi Andy, can you not try clean and tighten up the original connection first before you go to the trouble of renewing, it might be enough to solve the problem.

regards gary

[H48HPE]

my next chance to have a proper look will be next weekend, the problem is its one of those molded connectors and its melted/ distorted around that connection, i might try and tighten it up with some foil down the connection.

andy

[G Force]

I see Andy. sometimes it is possible to run a small probe (say electrical screwdriver) around the outside of the female pin, crimping it tighter and hence making good the connection.

cheers gary

[mn757]

headlight switches

I have also had lots of problems with these switches. MInes is an early model with the switch on the side of the steering column cowling, not in the indicator switch. I burnt two switches out in as many months, but sorted it by adding a relay into the circuit. I dont know if the later models have relays or not, but this made a difference to mine. The switch now stays cool, whereas before it was so hot you couldnt touch it. A potential fire risk. Only takes half hour to relay, and cheaper than buying new switches...

[Guest]

headlights

The only answer, ultimately, is to take the load off the original switches, which simply can't take it.

Use the outputs from the dipswitch to energise relays (pin 85 or 86 on a DIN standard relay) and use the outputs of the relays to supply the power to the lights. This means the dipswitch is now lightly loaded. Leave the exisiting relay alone, if it's got one. Cut the two outputs, UW for main beam and UN (I think) for dip. (U = blue, W = white, N = brown, standard electrical abbreviations in B.S. system).

Use decent connectors, and good thick wire. Even better than a relay for each service would be a relay for each bulb filament, i.e. one for each dip and one for each main, total of four relays. Works very well, I had this in my rally car, plus another two for spots.

Derek.

[H48HPE]

I had considered adding a relay but the problems stopped again now, it was just lose connection in the multiplugm sorted as suggested by g force.

Andy

[Guest]

hello everybody
I have already changed two indicator stalks on my monty 94 clubman estate 20TD I am now about to fit a third one !!
all melted on the terminal 4 and 3
took one apart to look inside a few parts melted and too far gone and it does look really fiddly to reassemble it if one wanted to .
so glad I found this thread .....I will try to improve the contacts before embarking on the extra relays option .....

[H48HPE]

I was 20 years old when I wrote this thread originally now I'm 33 - how time flies!

I think a relay is probably a good idea also, but I never fitted one...

[Simon]

Inside the multi connector are female terminals (basically rolled hollow brass cylindrical recepticles which are sometimes a loose fit loose. They are crimped to the wires but held in the moulding by barbs. As G force mentioned, they can be made tighter by pushing a thin screwdriver between the moulding and terminal, effectively reducing the diameter for a tighter fit, or removed from the moulding and pliers etc can be used to the same effect. Either way it is a good idea to ensure any discolouration of the terminals either in the switch stalk or multi plug is cleaned off for a better contact. It's happened to me before with the wiring being frazzled...

[Russ]

I have thought about putting relays in the head lamp circuit,not only to preserve the switch but I've experimented in the past and with a direct battery feed the lights are noticeably brighter