Intermittent front sidelights

[dp]

Spotted the front sidelights had stopped working. Checked bulbs and all okay. Started to trace back the wire lights started working again. Now they'll work sometimes and not others. So either an embrittled wire or a loose bullet connector I guess.

Question is, is there a bullet connector hidden beneath the cloth and or somewhere just on the cockpit side of the firewall?

Ta

[PSL184]

Most probably a bad earth. The light units are supposed to earth at the point they connect to the wing but corrosion usually makes this fail. Check with a length of wire from the battery earth to the lamp holder and see if it lights up. If so just run a separate earth wire from lamp holder to a suitable point on the inner wing...

[Dean]

If the earth is ok, check the switch. Mine is an early push/pull type and on inspection the switch was breaking up. It was causing my lights to flicker.

[dp]

It's not the earth and not the switch. If the lights aren't on I've found I can make them come on by jiggling the loom near the firewall. Problem is, once I get them to come on I can't make them fail for a few hours. Makes tracing a bit of a pain.

I might just run a new wire and be done with it.

[MoggyTech]

Likely to be the female bullet connectors where the loom from the lights joins the main loom at the inner wing. If you pull the wires out and remove the rubber sleeve, you will likely find that the connectors have fallen to bits inside. Drivers side link connectors are famous for this.

[Luxobarge]

Agree - my money's on bullet connectors. Cheap and easy to replace....

When assembling these, I dip the male connectors in a pot of vaseline - helps them slide together nicely and prevents future corrosion. I've never had it interfere with an electical connection either. I do this with bulbs too.