Headlights - electrical problem?

[Matt Maz]

Hi, can somebody please help?? :lol:

when I got my van, the headlights would never stay on full beam and I had to hold it in place. the blue dash light came on
and you could hear the relay click when you pulled the stalk.

Went out the other night and the headlights were stuck on full beam with the blue light on the dash...I couldn't get them to go
off. It didnt bother me as I could actually see where I was going, however I think the oncoming traffic were getting a little annoyed!

So, I thought I would replace the relay, I got one from GSF, plugged it in & turned headlights on and no blue light. I thought it was
fixed but went to put full beam on and nothing, the relay still doesn't click???.......put the old relay in and stuck on full beam again.

I am unsure if my lights are always stuck on full beam, regardless of the relay and maybe the swapping of relays just effects the
light on the dash?.

I took the headlights off today to check connections etc, and noticed that the passenger headlight seems to have melted slightly
on the back of the lamp. there is a spring on the headlamp and this has melted and broken. I wasn't sure if this was because my
full beam was on for around 2 hours and had just got hot?.......I am not technically minded so please forgive me if these are really
stupid questions.

Has this happened to anyone else, if not do any of you helpfull people know what I can do???

Thanks

Matt

 

[chippi]

Almost sounds like a live wire has shorted out on the body, i doubt the full beam being on long is the cause of this.
Its worth pulling the instument panel out a bit and the glove box to see behind the dash and the wiring, check it all starting from fuse box to switch then back to lights etc...are you sure its the right relay also (i know it sounds obvious) dodgy wiring and bad earthing can play havoc and be a fire risk too so check any after market wiring also.
Let us know how you get on :wink: .

 

[Mike F]

If the worst seems to be happening and you need a new wiring loom don't panic - I bought one from 58Herbie on here. I wasn't brave enough to fit it myself but my mechanic was well impressed. Not too expensive either.

 

[Matt Maz]

Thanks Chippi,

I have had the bus for 18 months and they only electrical work I have had done was a leisure battery about a month after I got the van. Could it be anything electrical causing a problem or just the headlamp wiring??

I am concerned about the fire risk with electrcal problems. Do you think that the bus will be ok to drive if I don't switch the headlights on??

A couple of months ago I had the headlights out to do a repair to the headlamp bowl. I made sure that the I put the wires back where they were - there was a conector to the bulb which only goes one way & 2 wires to the side light which I put on the correct way. I even tried swapping them today just to make sure & this had no effect, the side lights still worked but the main beam was either stuck on or wouldn't come on, depending on which relay I had plugged in.

I wondered about the relay as lots of people say that the brazilian ones are not very good quality, but having seen the damage to the headlight, I believe there is something more serious.

If there was a problem in the wiring behind the dash would it not cause problems there as opposed to the headlight itself??

Thanks for your help

 

[Araon]

First of all what year is your van and whats its origin?

 

[Matt Maz]

First of all what year is your van and whats its origin?

Hi Araon, Its a UK van and the year is 1971.

Thanks

 

[Araon]

its stuck on with the new relay would suggest lo and hi are swapped around white and yellow feeds I would say you will need to trace the cabling colours from H/lamp to fuse box, fuse box to relay..

http://www.oldvolkshome.com/headrelay.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.vintagebus.com/wiring/Transporter_from_August_1970-1.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

may help in this regard....

 

[cyberdyne systems]

How about the stalk, is that all working ok? If the relay is good but not getting the connection from the stalk it would stay in the position its in. You can use a digital multimeter to check continuity as you pull on the stalk to see if its working.