lights switch off at night time (scary)

Post by **NafemanNathan** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:55 am

Sounds like a bad earth or a dodgey switch.

You say you've had a freshly painted valve cover put on... Have you reconnected the earth strap on the cam gear side? And if so, have you exposed bare metal underneath the connection on the valve cover to make a decent contact?

Ted · Post by **Ted** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:59 am

switch.
that is all.

Ted · Post by **Ted** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:04 am

i have had this on other cars and yes its been the stalk, in fact its a common fault on a lot of the ford range and has the same symptoms.

Post by **vanzep** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:10 am

headlight connectors sometimes fail as the contacts corrode inside and this leads to the plugs melting. normally only happens on one side at a time - but might be worth checking condition of the plugs first.

bb1boy · Post by **bb1boy** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:22 pm

vanzep wrote:headlight connectors sometimes fail as the contacts corrode inside and this leads to the plugs melting. normally only happens on one side at a time - but might be worth checking condition of the plugs first.

That happened to me, so I bought a set of heat resistant ceramic ones from eBay for about a fiver:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/H4-472-3-Pin- ... 41638307fe

Supermarine Blues · Post by **Supermarine Blues** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:39 pm

Is it ALL the lights go out, or just the required beam doesn't come on?

If the latter, probably the switch. But you could clean up the relays and the bulb connectors.

It was a common occurrence on old FIATs, because they didn't use relays (!) & the switch would melt. It IS scary when it happens on an unlit road at 60...