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No dipped beam, help!!


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Hi All, ive got another problem again on my 1995 defender

Lastnight driving home after leaving the vehicle for a few minutes with sidelights on and the ignition off i found when driving back from there i had no dipped beam.

The headlights were working fine before hand, but were now intermittent. I went over a bump in the road, and they came back on. Then they would go back out again. I tried turning the ignition off and back on, no joy. Same with flicking the switch. I still could use main beam luckily to get me home by pulling the stalk towards me.

Has anyone got any ideas of what this could be?

And could it be related to the temp gauge reading hot, but engine not hot.

Many thanks in advance

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Forgot to add, there is also an electrical whining noise that seems linked behind the instrument binnacle.

The electrical whining noise stops when the headlights come back on. And vice versa! I also have this noise when i first put the headlights on, for about 10 seconds. But this time it was constant from behind the gauges

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A couple of things to check straight away, that the fuse and the fuse holder are not corroded, that the connector for the headlight switch is secure, and that your headlight switch is not melting inside, a common fault that will require a replacement.

HTH

Mo

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A couple of things to check straight away, that the fuse and the fuse holder are not corroded, that the connector for the headlight switch is secure, and that your headlight switch is not melting inside, a common fault that will require a replacement.

HTH

Mo

Thankyou Mo! I'll check those things out then firstly. I know the switch is secure as i checked that, but I'll remove it and inspect it. Cheers

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Not 110% but given the buzzing it sounds plausible

Not easy if they are not working but.......

The easiest way to tell if you have dim dip is to have engine running, put side lights on. If you have NO illumination in headlights, you don't have dim dip. If you have a dull glow from the headlight you HAVE dim dip.

Pulling the pink thing icon_eek.gif (removing the relay) does stop the dim dip but it also kills the dip. IIRC (the resistor is buried in the front wing wiring loom )

Found this - Use a fused link to test.

post-17-0-52575800-1418046499_thumb.jpg

Disclaimer - check with wiring diagram first I'm at work so cant really double check

Defender300Tdi-HeadSideTailLamps.jpg

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Thanks Les. I'll look into that! Ive deffo got dim dip fitted to my vehicle

Not 110% but given the buzzing it sounds plausible

Not easy if they are not working but.......

The easiest way to tell if you have dim dip is to have engine running, put side lights on. If you have NO illumination in headlights, you don't have dim dip. If you have a dull glow from the headlight you HAVE dim dip.


Pulling the pink thing icon_eek.gif (removing the relay) does stop the dim dip but it also kills the dip. IIRC (the resistor is buried in the front wing wiring loom )


Found this - Use a fused link to test.


file0001t.jpg

Disclaimer - check with wiring diagram first I'm at work so cant really double check










Defender300Tdi-HeadSideTailLamps.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Guys ive still got this problem.

Ive done the dim dip mod, and i thought it had cured it. However the same has happened again tonight.

I also removed the main light switch, cleaned up contacts and applied petroleum jelly. Couldnt see any issues at all.

Was driving down a lane tonight, dipped beam on fine, applied main beam for a short while, as soon as i switched it off i lost all my headlights again. Main beam stalk pulled towards me a few times managed to bring dipped beam on, but from there they were intermittent on the way home.

Anyone any other ideas?

Not sure if its related. But i seem to have a clicking noise down by the fuse box, similar to a relay click, or like a press stud intermittently. Similar to indicator relay click. But this could be totally something else.

Lastly, temp gauge is still wrong despite new sender. Related?

Sorry for the long post, thanks all

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I had intermittent headlamps on an old 300tdi 90 I had when I took it to Isle of Man some years ago, sometimes they would work, sometimes absolutely nothing. I found that it was the headlamp switch at fault, although there was no visible problems with it, no melting of the plastic and all the contacts were spotless. The fixed contact points are riveted through brass strips, the sprung loaded pressure of the moving switch contacts was causing the rivets to lift by a minute amount and cause a high resistance or total lack of contact.

I did a temporary fix by buying a soldering iron and soldering the rivets to the brass strips, intending to replace the switch when I rturned home. That was probably 8 years ago, My brother ended up with the 90 and the soldered switch is still going strong today.

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Thanks Guys.

Just checked the headlight relay western mentions.

And one of the connections has started to melt. Which is actually a blue wire coming out the back of the relay holder. The relay doesnt look too healthy either, looks like its been exposed to some heat from electrical fault

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