Club 80-90 Forums

Been driving my 1st T25 for some time now (being 17), today went onto M4 with the lights on dim and all of a sudden i was smoked out by the dash. I pulled over into the hard shoulder just in front of a cop.... Just my luck, no queries just protocol for me to rectify the problem or he can call for assistance. I should say this was round 11.00 and despite it being daylight, it was really misty and tonnes of spray so would like to have my lights on. Got down the road some more then, again pulled over except the cop that was trailoring behind me past me Anyway, Hazards on, screwdriver out and slowly tried taking apart the dash. By this time every minute spent in the cab made me feel sick. The pungent smell of electrical burning. Anyway continued the journey all the way to Macdonalds (Im a student and on a Macy D run with a mate) with my lights off. The switch is completely seized. Took it out and the whole thing was fried. Set me back another £30 tomorrow. Until then I cant drive in dark which is useless as its getting darker by the day much earlier. Off to pick it up tomorrow and fit it myself to save time and labour. But £30!!!! For a bloody switch! What the hell. Let that be something no one else has to go through.
What should really happened was, as i drove to school, locking the van i forgot the lights were on dim (was rainy and darkish). Opened the door = Door handle wet. One droplet off my thumb into the scroll part and it bites me back. Something that could have been avoided had I spent less than a minute just to wipe it off.
Lesson learned.

S'pose lesson 2 post up for a switch, certainly not £30 dont need the dimming bit either so other switch would get you by
M

I just said at the garage I need a switch. It comes to about £22.50 then VAT which is up to like £28-29.80 in total. I find the dim switch better as Im used to the dash setup now. Id rather just pay the bit extra. Also the dim acts as a setting for the spotlights too. With the dim on, i can have the outer 2 on but not full beam. Also need dim for the fog lights to work rather than having the lights on too bright when they dont need to be. Ill save a bit of money by doing the labour myself as its just a block with connectors on the back. I think in just kampers they only do the light switch with Dim for £30. Just needed it asap so I can go to band prac and be able to drive in the night on my way home after on Friday so needed one fast.

Er are we talking about the same thing? are you using the dimmer on the light switch to dim the fogs or spots?
if you are then this is why it burnt out and lucky you havent started a fire, disconnect this now, the dimmer is solely for the dash light.
mike

maybe move to tech ?
M

Lights now sorted and working brill without smoke Problem is tho I noticed while taking the top part of the dash out someone has botched the speedo cable and has now come loose ffs. How simple is it to replace one of these myself?

Lights sorted until spotlights melt the dimmer switch again

Lights sorted, can you enlighten us as to what exactly is sorted? what do they now do and what exactly does the dash light dimmer fastened to the switch now do or dim

Well if your speedo cable has just 'come loose' then maybe push it back on? or can you see something broken or missing
Mike

Hi sorry for any confusion. Replaced the burnt out switch with the new one . The Dim setting on the headlight switch just turns the lights on 'dimly' and then the next click on to main beam (then with the indicator arm pressed up full beam). The spotlights work off another switch which can be turned on or off but need the lights on for the outer 2 to work. The middle 2 only come on with high beam. But there usually off so I dont annoy anyone. The dash lights themselves dont work anyway so the little scroller is of no use whatsoever but I have aftermarket blue lights that plug into 12v which I use when its dark.
The speedo, from what it looks like the white plastic that is contained within the metal ring has snapped so It can be taken out with ease. Some of it is in the back plugged into the speedo and the bottom bit that has snapped, the metal rod inside can be taken out whilst the other plastic stays onto the speedo socket. The snapped off bit goes into the other half but is very loose and judging by how much the speedo's accuracy is now it will need changing soon. Its the late type plug in ones. But I dont know how simple it is to change. My best bet would be to order one, and look at the haynes manuel. No different as its a diesel is there?

are the spots relayed as the light switch may be overloaded depending how its wired up.

Spotlights have been on there since 2007 and have no problems. They are never on so out of the circuit completely.

Too many big macs can rot the brain

simple, I have my lights on all the time following a small cab fire! Speedo cables are also easy to fit, take off front left wheel, pull out old cable from back of hub, push new one in, cable tie it to various bits of metal and follow the route of the old one. It will then push or screw into the back of the speedo.

The thing i've found with T3 electrics is, though they never work properly, its usually an easy fix, but very expensive at a garage! Get to maplin!

Glad you seem to be getting sorted, what sort of figure are you paying for insurance? and who's covering as a lot of folks on here are finding it difficult for their younger ones
mike

Thanks for the info, I will get that sorted for next week before oktoberfest
@ Mike. Believe it or not its £1344 as a 1st, third party, fire, theft from Adrian Flux (Motorhome) on my OWN Policy. Now they wont insure on a parents policy with an additional driver as they want to make the most money but even by todays standards that's cheap for a 1.7 diesel campervan. I hardly race it..... do try to raise hell with the noise haha but my mates same policy with adrian flux in a 1.2 Corsa £2500ish. The simple difference is mine's a campervan than cant go past 70 and weighs 2.5 tonnes.
Mine also includes key care, Flux Full breakdown cover like homestart, recovery to destination etc
Its ideal as I will start to get NCB every year too that will lower it a bit every year. But then super cheap hopefully by the time im 25 where most insurers will only insure from.

Hope that helps