Hoping someone can help me - was driving back last night in my 1956 Minor (Flossie) with lights on - fine, pressed main beam down - fine. after a few on and offs of the main beam whilst passing other drivers when i then went to turn it on again all my lights went out. EEEEEEK - no other devices going (no wipers, don't have a stereo or workin heater). tried again and headlights came on - pressed down on pedal again and all went off - very scary!
needless to say in the meantime i am driving in the day only and on my usual headlights until this is fixed!
Aah excellent, thank you PSL184 - will give that a go is this fairly easy to come by (halfords, motor world and the like?). Is it quite literally called "switch cleaner" ?!
I usually get mine from RS Componants or Maplins but I would assume Halfords would sell it - Any kind of contact cleaner, switch cleaner etc should do. Use the flexy nozzel to get right up inside the switch....
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Compare the Minors - Simples !! http://mog.myfreeforum.org/index.php
Just use WD40 - but first make sure the carpet isn't all fankled up inside the switch - stopping it from throwing over from one set of lights to the other. Park facing a wall - and try the switch 100 times to make sure it's working as it should.
Other possible explanation of course is failure of the wiring going to 'main beam' - the switch working fine, but when switched to main beam - there is no connection to the filaments. Could be connection come loose at the switch - so check that out too.
Make sure that the connector is actually plugged in properly. I had a simiilar problem and it was the connector on the top of the switch working loose...
Have been at the switch with the WD40 as have that to hand (obviously!) - pulled up carpet around switch and sprayed - tried lights again and main beam switch still sending all lights off. boooooo
How do i get to the connector ?- are we talking underneath the car underneath where the switch is screwed into the floor or is it in the bonnet (somewhere...) I am not terribly offaaay with wiring - have a feeling i am going to be soon !
On a positive note - a fast flashy rear indicator i had and a non working front indicator is now working thanks to a "wiggle here" a "wiggle there" - god i love these cars
The connections go into the switch on the floor inside the car. Should be a cable harness with three wires at the switch - it runs from the steering column - which is the other place where the wire may (but unlikely) have come undone. Does the little blue light come on - even though the main beam lights do not - or is it not showing either ??
The fast flash indicator and not working indicator were the same problem - bad connection at the not working light. But fixing it by 'wiggling' is not satisfactory - will fail again at any time. Find the fault and fix it properly!!
On a split screen the wires come up through the floor behind the switch from the engine bay were the wires are open to the elements. The wires are on with wee brass screws, I had one of these switches fail last year and had to alter a later one to suit.
Oops -sorry - don't know anything about the peculiarities of these early cars! Went straight form Morris 8E to Minor with full screen! Well done David for pointing this out.
Have been looking at wiring diagram, and then into my bonnet and can't seem to tally up very easily. note the wiring diagram is for 1965 model - has it changed alot from 1956 or am i being dense ?!
The wires coming from the control box (with the screws) don't seem to be different in colour at all - in fact they seem quite old and brownish looking. Have tried following wires from their origin into engine bay to see where they go Will unscrew the dip switch on the floor and have a look underneath to see if the wires are connected in ok. I have a later model which i can try dipswitch from too (1964) - thank you David
Wires probably just faded out with age - pull back the outer cover and you may find colours. May be wise to pop the battery connection off while you fiddle with the wiring!
Your problem should be between the dipswitch and the main beam of the headlights. If you can identify any of the colours you should be looking for blue/white wires. Check the terminals on the dipswitch which you will need to unscrew from the floor to see the terminals. Check the bullet connectors where the wiring looms for the left and right headlights join, there should be three double connectors. If still no luck follow the loom back towards the dip switch and there should be another set of bullet connectors.
The correct wiring diagram for your car should be on P. N30 of the workshop manual
my mechanic happened to be passing this morning so stuck his head underneath the car for me - think a wire had become trapped so wasn't working properly - now sorted.
When i get some proper time (i run my own business 24/7 pretty much) will get stuck in and investigate where all my wires go so i can fix things myself
so i can fix things myself