Lighting fault - sidelights will not switch off.

[jackois]

Ah, found them in the bottom hinge...

sad to say, they are both free, which means more delving!

[piman]

Hello Jackois,

the first thing to do is unscrew them and likely you'll find the wires still connected. Usually it's corrosion on the plunger and the body where they make contact. Easily checked by toucking the wire to a clean bit of the body.

Alec

[jackois]

Hi all,

just a follow up to the original problem on this thread, as I hate reading right through a thread that doesn't have a conclusion.

I finally found the time to order some spares for the car from SNG & amongst them a light switch. This having arrived, I decided to bite the bullet & fit it this morning.

Switch duly changed out, fiddly & tiresome as it was, electrics switched back on, I was greeted with the heartbreaking sight of the sidelights still on!

Cycling the switch didn't alter anything other than showing me that i'd got a connection slightly wrong (sides & heads on at sidelight position, sidelights only at headlights position, and sides & fogs only at fog position - I'm sure I can suss that, it's due to the new switch having an extra connection over the old one).

Having purchased a set of Coventry Auto Components' wiring diagrams & having had the foresight to enlarge them to A3 & plastisice them, I stopped banging my head against the wall & started looking through them. These have been split into systems and are a lot less cluttered than the workshop manual drawing. I've traced everything through & can find no faults with the wiring, but whilst following the wiring, removed the sidelight fuse from it's holder to confirm I was following the right circuit (sidelights extinguished - so that was correct) & after replacing it the sidelights stayed off. Initially I thought it was murphy's law & I'd blown the fuse, tried the switch anyway to find it working as detailed above. I am still at a loss to understand why these actions should have worked & need to look further into it, when time allows.

However, when switching the lights from off to on, the radio aerial cycles through an up & down & the modern stereo fitted in the glovebox won't work without the headlights being on! This should be easy to re-wire to another fuse holder so I don't need the lights on to listen to music.

However, this & the correcting of the lighting order can wait until later in the week, as I've had enough for one day & friends have offered a sunday roast... I'll put a final update when I sort these little things out!

cheers, Peter

[jackois]

the final update.... hopefully!

Yesterday, I re-fitted the original lighting switch, as the replacement had an extra connection screw, & I think this is how I managed to get the odd lighting order.

All is now well, with the lights operating correctly & no need to use the battery kill switch when parking up.

While I was at it, I altered the radio (after-market) connections across to fuse 7, which allows it to work only when the ignition is on, rather than the lights.

The next jobs on the electric list are the front courtesy switches, which are fitted but not working, & remove the original pye radio to check it's polarity before having it modernised & re-commisioned in place of the glove box one. It does feel daft having a remote control & the glove box lid open when you want the radio on.

cheers, Peter

[Martec]

I rebuilt mine from a wreck that had been off the road for 30 years, I made new looms for it from modern wire, but was really please to find that all the switches could be stripped down and cleaned and are still in use. The bigger problem was the original grease inside that had solidified and acted as an insulator, the quality copper terminals just needed cleaning.

[jackois]

fingers crossed!