Interior courtesy light: 1967 Traveller

[scrooge95]

Having recently acquired my lovely Morris Traveller, I'm looking to sort out a few small jobs - and one of them is the interior light.

It's the later style, with an inbuilt switch, rather than the lever that sticks out. Like the photo below

lmp146-extra-large.jpg (15.11 KiB) Viewed 1392 times

Firstly, the plastic has fatigued so it has a large hole in the rear, and is starting to crumble away; I know I could pay £50 and get a used genuine one on ebay, or I could pay £20 and buy a 3D printed one, also on ebay. (Just the cover, not the actual light)
But the second thing is that the light switch on it appears to either have the light operated by the doors (closed = off, open = on) as per a modern car, or permanently on. There doesn't seem to be a third position where the light can be switched off all the time, useful when leaving the doors open so the battery doesn't drain. Is this right, or is my light unit faulty?

I guess my question is really, if you don't have a genuine courtesy light in yours, for whatever reason, what have you replaced it with?

I'd like to have a three position light, so I can turn it off!

Thanks

[King Kenny]

Hi Scrooge. I have the same problem with the light disintegrating on my 1969 Traveller. I just checked it out but I have made a bodge to keep it going so I can't tell if it is two or three positions on my switch. None of them work. To stop my battery going flat I have fitted a battery switch. This works fine and is also a low tech anti-theft device.

qws.jpg (113.23 KiB) Viewed 1345 times

[nutmegct]

Scrooge - could you post a photo of the internals of your interior light? We could tell from that if you have a later MM fixture, or perhaps something different.

Thanks.
Tom M.

[Classiccars]

There was a post on the FCCOC Facebook site advising that you can buy a kit to remold classic plastic interior light fittings.So one was if sorting the problem if you can find the kit somewhere.

[scrooge95]

Thanks for the replies.
I’ll try to get a photo of the light internals tomorrow after work. It’s being collected late afternoon for a bit of engine TLC, but with luck I can get the light apart before it goes.
Thank you

For the plastic fatigue issue, I could just buy the £20 3D printed replacement cover, it does look very good from the ad, but if the light is just 2 position with no option to turn it off, I might try to replace the whole unit with a different type.
I’ll get a better description of what I’ve got, first

[scrooge95]

Scrooge - could you post a photo of the internals of your interior light? We could tell from that if you have a later MM fixture, or perhaps something different.

Thanks.
Tom M.

Hi Tom, thanks for the reply.
These are the photos I’ve just taken of the interior light. I think it’s correct for a 67?

9618FEC8-F5FF-4329-86D4-B3FADDE151F8.jpeg (1.62 MiB) Viewed 1289 times

0B8F7771-4B9E-4F40-8C00-28D1147E6D53.jpeg (3.2 MiB) Viewed 1289 times

522B567D-04BE-4424-9BE9-4B86B1C9BC13.jpeg (3.21 MiB) Viewed 1289 times

[nutmegct]

Thanks for the photo. That's the same as in my '57 MM. The switch on mine has three positions.
Tom M.

[scrooge95]

Thanks for the photo. That's the same as in my '57 MM. The switch on mine has three positions.
Tom M.

In fairness, mine feels like it has three positions, but none of them are 'off'!
I was told by the chap who is going to be doing some engine work on the Traveller, that there is no 'off' position, and the switch is just passing through a neutral position. This didn't sound quite right to me, so I thought I would ask the collective MMOC brain
From what you are saying, I should be able to turn it off? Is this how yours works? Three positions, including off?
Thanks for your reply.

I have been offered a replacement unit from a kind person on here, so perhaps I just need to fit another similar unit and see if it helps.

[ManyMinors]

I don't think any of the Minor interior lights ever had an "off" position. If you need to leave the car for some time with a door open, just pull the fuse - or disconnect the supply wire from the fusebox? PS: I did purchase one of those new reproduction lights for one of my cars. It was complete rubbish and ended up in the bin where it belonged

[scrooge95]

I don't think any of the Minor interior lights ever had an "off" position. If you need to leave the car for some time with a door open, just pull the fuse - or disconnect the supply wire from the fusebox? PS: I did purchase one of those new reproduction lights for one of my cars. It was complete rubbish and ended up in the bin where it belonged

A-ha, so you're saying that there's no 'off' position... fair enough. I can live with that, if that's how it is. Knowledge is power ;)
Mine needs some form of replacement anyway, owing to the gurt big 'ole in it's rear, so maybe I'll just go 'like for like' and disconnect it if I need to have the door open for any length of time.
Thank you
(good to know about the reproduction version, lack of quality, too)

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

You can’t switch it off. To drain the battery you’d have to leave the door open all day. More important is the wattage of bulb fitted.

[scrooge95]

You can’t switch it off. To drain the battery you’d have to leave the door open all day. More important is the wattage of bulb fitted.

Brilliant, thank you for confirming, no 'off' position.
I'll just get a replacement (hopefully not a cheap new chinese, but original in good nick) as mine is crumbling apart.