headlights dont work

T

thorpeyx1/9

thorpey
hi i have a 1978 x1/9 which was originally a 1300,when i turn the side lights on they work but the pods dont pop up,then when i turn it on to the driving lights they go out completely but the rear lights stay on,any ideas? could it be the light switch? thanks pete
 
There are others on this forum that can probably give a better answer than me, but when I had pop up problems with my lights it turned out to be a bad connection in the fuse box. It may be worth removing the main fuse panel (passenger side under the dash) and check all the fuses and contacts for oxidation. Give anything that looks suspect some attention with a bit of fine sand paper to clean it up. A good spray with some high quality switch cleaner can`t hurt either.

Also, in each headlight well you will find an earthing terminal with 6 or so earth wires going to it. Give them a good clean up in case you have a bad earth somewhere.

Hope that helps!
 
It's complicated...

The power comes out of the ignition switch on two wires for the lights; black and blue switched power. The blue is for pod motor power and parking lights, and the black is for headlights.

The headlight switch meanwhile uses the blue power source for the first setting, and the black for the second setting while also using the blue to keep the pods up. Or something like that.

Anyway one of the two is not working right. Does that help? :dunce:

This post might help:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/12159/message/1149194698/Ignition+switch+rebuild+(photos)
 
Ross and Gregory are right - BUT...

With an X as heavily modified as yours (I like it!!) it's hard to say what else has been changed. One of the previous owners may have redone the lights to open only when the headlights are on and stay down (or go down) when the parking lights (that's what we call the first setting in the US) are on. Relays may have been added (there were none on the '78) a newer switch to replace the older one, or even the wiring harness upgraded or changed out. I would double check with the PO to see if upgrades or changes were made to the lighting circuit. Having the fronts out and the backs on seems a little odd to me...
 
I spent a lot of time troubleshooting my lights when I first got my X. Turned out the PO had rigged some extra toggle switches to interrupt the juice to the headlight motors, allowing them to be disabled for running the "parking lights" with pods still down. It was pretty funny in hindsight. All I had to do was throw the switches and the headlights worked fine. Got any switches you haven't tried yet (watch out for the ejector seat one).
 
Ulix designed a brilliant mod to enable this............

jvandyke said:
..allowing them to be disabled for running the "parking lights" with pods still down.....
Click to expand...

........MANY years ago - it will be in the early N54 archives!

A very simple "add one short wire - disconnect another" 10 minute operation at the fusebox!!
Just have a bo-peep up into the fusebox and see if this mod may have been done by a PO at sometime.

cheers, Ian - NZ
 
This one?

hmmm, is it that easy? I use my switches a lot as I often run with the "running/parking lights" and no headlights and hate having the pods up. I don't know if I'd ever want them up while off. I should do this and free those switches up for ......something. Don't even remember what would ahave been there, anymore. Sorry for hijack.
 
Yes... and no. The Ulix mod works on the early models with the fusebox on the left side under the dash. With the later cars, you would have to go with Mac's mod. I'm still thinking there's an even easier way by changing where the relevant wires hook up to the switch and slightly changing one. I seem to remember doing something like that on my '87, but it was long enough ago that I don't really remember. It doesn't help that any documentation I did with that car was lost in a hard drive crash...

Oh, and for wiring diagrams, I think there's an earlier one in the wiki...
 
No, not that one.........!

...I've just finished hunting thru my hard copy 'collection' of many of the BRILLIANT mods, etc that have been posted on SeaX and Xweb over the years!

I found my copy of Ulix's little gem re the ' park light' mod discussed above - it is titled "Here's how to do it on a 1300" , the post is dated Jan 23, 2000!! (You may have to call out to JimD for help in finding this in the N54 archives - I gave up after about 10 mins fumbling thru them)

As DaveM has said below, this mod suits X's with the ceramic bullet-type fuses - dunno if it works with the later type fuses.

Hope this helps!

cheers, Ian - NZ
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top