Headlight woes!

[Maki]

I am having issues with my TR7 headlights ( not unusual I know ). They seem to have a mind of their own. They will rise and fall on their own accord with furious clicking of the relays. This without the engine on as well.

Thus far I have:

Cleaned and silicone greased the earths behind the lights.
Replace dodgy looking terminals on the lights, the clear block terminal not the red.
Cleaned all the other terminals as best i can, it is difficult to get in them.
Checked and cleaned the flash switch on the steering column
Had the Pektron unit off and checked, a bad diode was found.
Cleaned all the other earths, rear lights etc.
made and remade connections where it is linked to the lights.
Removed the main light switch and cleaned with contact cleaner.

Has anybody any other ideas or advice where I may have gone wrong. I have owned the car for 28 years and this has been on and off for the past few. It often settles down with use funny enough.

Thank you in advance.

[FI Spyder]

You removed light switch and sprayed it with contact cleaner. Did you actually take it apart to clean it? Although working fine I took mine apart and it had green (copper oxide) grease (goop) in it and no spraying was going to clean it. I took the contacts out and polished them with Brasso so they had a bright copper look and put dielectric grease on them so they wouldn't recorrode. I cleaned all the light connections in the engine bay. Never had a light problem. Warning: when taking out contacts take pictures at different angles and they can go back in different ways and only one works. I didn't and I spent an hour or two with a wiring diagram figuring out NO and NC connections to figure out which way they go. It's not only grounds you have to worry about, it's any/every connection in the circuit. Early lift mechanisms weren't sealed as well as later ones apparently.

- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

[Maki]

I had the switch apart and it was as new inside. indeed I bought it new, a few years ago though. with the front connections I noted down where they should go before spliting them as the colours going in differ to the ones going to the motor. It is not a straight forward as you might imagine. It never is!

I have remembered an earth I have ion the horn under the headlight, I seem to remember it looking in poor shape. I will have a look tomorrow, this could cause and issue.

[John Clancy]

I always carry a spare headlight switch so perhaps the simplest thing to do as this fault is so common and often caused by the switch, is to get a new switch.

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[Maki]

As it happens I have a few light switches around the place and tried three of them, still the problem was there. However, the switches were old and could all be problematic.

I am leaning to the pektron unit still as this is what controls the flash.

[auto_cran]

I had issues with one of my headlights and couldn't figure it out. After cleaning every contact and switch, the problem persisted.

Turned out to be a flacky relay (the one in back of the glove box). Swapped it out - my headlight issues went away.

Just my .02 cents...

Chris
'76 Java Green FHC – a continued work in progress

[Maki]

There are two relays and a flash delay. Which one caused an issue for you?

[auto_cran]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Maki</i>

There are two relays and a flash delay. Which one caused an issue for you?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Hi Maki,

Not sure which one it was - I just recall interchanging the 3 same relays (for the 2 headlights and the brake warning), and getting different results. I determined which relay was bad and replaced it.

Chris
'76 Java Green FHC – a continued work in progress

[Maki]

I did try one relay with no success. I may have a look at the others. It must be something simple.