Morris Minor Owners Club

I have a problem with the driver's side headlight it won't come on it only glows a little when I put full beam on doesn't come on at all when dipped any suggestions? I also have only recently bought the car and it's my first car so I don't know a great deal about the electrical system of a morris minor it is a 1960 and I can't seam to get into the headlight to take the bulb out it seams to be sealed hope that helps explain it all tips and advice is welcomed thank you in advance!

Start by checking the earth connection, it's on the inner wing behind the headlight.
About 3 Black wires into a bullet connector bolted directly to the inner wing.
If unplugging and re plugging the black wires makes no difference you will have to remove and replace the sealed beam unit.

As Marky says - it is almost certainly an earth connection problem. Quick check with a length of cable held against the lamp body - and touch to the earth terminal of the battery.

Tezm8, it will be an earth fault, most likely at the inner wing bullet connector. Using a length of wire from the headlight body won't prove it though, as the earth for the headlight is completely insulated until connected at the inner wheel arch.

Alex

Call me stupid but how do I go about fixing it then if it's an earth connection problem?

Hi Tez,

Under the bonnet on the inner wheel arch you'll find the hole where the wires from the headlight come through. Next to it, there's a metal connector, for want of a better word, bolted to the wheel arch. The ground for the headlights is pushed into this. Its an area prone to rust and corrosion so a good starting point.

Hope this helps...

I have added a picture and some notes, hope this helps.

As suggested above, check the earth first and then the single wires to the driver’s side headlight, as I had problem with one being loose and caused similar effect. If they show signs of rust, clean with fine sandpaper to remove rust.

The earth connector is in the middle of this picture held to the wing with a screw (now showing surface rust). In this picture you can see the main wiring loom coming down from top right. A number of wires come out the loom for the front lights. Most have two wires from loom, one wire is the feed from dash switches etc (these are larger for headlight on my car) and the other is the feed to the lights on the passenger side. There is then one wire to the driver’s side front lights.

Wire colours are:-
Main Beam - Blue/White
Dip Beam - Blue/Red
Side Light – Red (this is the top connector in picture)
Indicator Driver Side– Green/White on loom side of connector. Green to light
Indicator Passenger Side – Green/Red on loom side of connector. Green to light
Earth - Black[frame][/frame]

Hope this helps

You will probably find that just by pulling the wires out of the rubber connectors,and replacing them (pull the wires from one end of the connector at a time, so you keep them in the right order ,ie, colour to colour)will sort out the problem,very common fault,if the ends and the connectors are green then you need to clean them,before refitting,bit of fine sand paper,Boiling water poured over them can also clean the corrosion off. But sometimes you need to fit new rubber connectors if badly corroded.

Kennatt is spot on above. Once you've cleaned the connectors its worth smearing the bullet half in silicone grease, copper slip or similar to help keep moisture out in the future.

Thanks guys for all your help, that's really made things clearer will try to tackle this job tomorrow