got my headlights back

[scottbott]

finally got them working,replaced the ignition switch,wash/wipe arm,and the light switch all had burn marks on them cannot find what the problem was but seems ok for know(fingers crossed)

[syncroandy]

Put some relays in. Use the feeds from the stalk for dipped and main beam (yellow and white fattish wires) to trigger two type 53 (40A) relays, taking their feed from terminal 30 (batt) on the back of the fuseboard. Tap into the yellow and white wires before they get to the fuseboard, and the headlamp fuses and dim-dip will work as before.

[ewenmaclean]

Hello,

this is great advice - crucial though that you find the battery tab on the fuse box and not the ignition one for the relays, otherwise you'll just be sending current through the ignition switch again, which is one of the things that failed in the first place...

Last time you posted you mentioned there was already a relay for the headlights - I'd get rid of this, and hook two relays up as suggested, otherwise it'll all just get too hot and you'll be looking at a new ignition switch in no time.

Ewen

[Cruz]

crucial though that you find the battery tab on the fuse box and not the ignition one for the relays, otherwise you'll just be sending current through the ignition switch again, which is one of the things that failed in the first place...

Ewen

Does that mean the dipped headlight don't go off when you stop and turn off the ignition?

[ewenmaclean]

Does that mean the dipped headlight don't go off when you stop and turn off the ignition?

That's a good point, but I think it will still work the same. I'm afraid I don't have my van or books with me, but I think when I looked into this the thing that determines what power goes to the lights in different ignition states is in fact something to do with flasher unit relay and hazard light switch. This is how when the ignition is off it puts parking lights on instead of indicators. Like I say I might well be wrong and I don't have my diagrams, and I suspect other folk will know much more about it.

I think the wire from the light switch goes to this relay first, so if you get there before the fuse and the flasher relay, then the behaviour should be the same... As syncroandy points out - the fuse is after this, so should still work the same.

Ewen

[Cruz]

I remember when I did mine I took the yellow and white feed from the fusebox thus bypassing the ceramic fuses in there and put the main live to two empty terminals from the battery.......though I'm not entirely 100% sure of the latter. Headlights still go off when I turn off the ignition

[ewenmaclean]

Hello,

when I get the van back I'll do this and post some pictures up and will try and set out exactly how the ignition stuff works with the lights. My main point is that the X-contact tabs on the back of the fusebox go through the ignition switch and the load reduction relay, so if you're putting your lights from there, then there will still be a load through the ignition switch, and also the lights will go out when you crank, which they are not supposed to do (not a big deal, but a safety feature).

I know not to use the X-contact tabs on the back because I ground to a halt with a melted ignition switch once, which taught me to check which were track X and which were track 30!

Hope this makes a bit of sense

Ewen

[syncroandy]

The feed for main beam is terminal 30 (batt) via the main light switch and stalk switch, the feed for dipped beam is X terminal (originating from the ignition switch) via the two light switches. Regarding the relay mod, taking their feed from terminal 30, this won't change the way the lights behave, as the relay are still triggered from the same feeds as before.

PS. Dipped beam would appear to get its X terminal feed direct from the ig switch, not via the 'relief relay'.

PPS. The above is for UK vehicles fitted with 'dim-dip', there's a separate diagram for this in the manual. It may or may not be the same for other vehicles.

[scottbott]

while I was poking around the fusebox I checked the relay's and they were from the yellow and white wires as synchroandy mentioned in his post,I changed the lucar connectors for fully insulated ones and covered anything that looked a bit sus with insulating tape,one of the relays had a melted terminal/body mount even though it was fused(the fuse did not blow!),I replaced that relay,the new ignition switch is a fair bit stiffer to turn(as expected) and the rheostat for the instrument panel is a lot firmer than the old one which went from fully illuminated to nothing with barely a touch,maybe it was just old age with one of the electrical components that caused the trouble.hopefuly everything is hunky dory now

[ewenmaclean]

I hope everything will be hunky dory too - good luck with it!

I'm afraid I have to apologise for getting one thing wrong - on my old van the "X" connector on the light switch was wired to the "15" - (it wasn't a diesel). This isn't the case as Andy has pointed out - in fact the X connector goes to the lights and the load reduction relay - presumably so that if the relay fails then the lights still work.

This means the relay directs power from the 30 terminal when the ignition is on "X". Thanks Andy for getting all this right....