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        General >> Problems >> Headlights stuck on
        
(Message started by: wolfblood on Jan 11^th, 2011, 7:12pm)

Title: Headlights stuck on
Post by wolfblood on Jan 11^th, 2011, 7:12pm

Hi all. Got back to the car after work to go home and the battery was dead. Luckilly a workmate gave me a jumpstart which is when I noticed the headlights were stuck on. All the other lights rear dash etc switch off with the knob but the headlights just stay on even when keys removed. Drove home fine & have disconnected the bulbs for the night to see if it was this circuit that drained battery but confused.

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by Highlander on Jan 11^th, 2011, 7:28pm

Check the back of the headlight switch, they are known to burn out and melt around the terminals

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by Scorpio_Mike on Jan 11^th, 2011, 10:07pm

If you need a replacement headlight switch don't forget there are 2 different types for with or without front foglamps ;)

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by wolfblood on Jan 12^th, 2011, 8:06am

tried to start car this morning & battery flat. I disconnected light bulbs last night as thought this would kill the flow through this circuit? Would a faulty switch drain battery when lights disconnected? Cheers

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by martin_rowe on Jan 12^th, 2011, 9:13am

check fuse boxs, & fag lighter wiring.

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by Cosray on Jan 12^th, 2011, 4:09pm

Hi Wolf B

Headlamps are relay-driven for main and dip directly from the PLUS.

Either relaycontacts are probably sticking or welded together because of time and current.

Relay K37 & 36

See here: http://www.bitly.nl/703855

HTH
Ray

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by Simmo on Jan 12^th, 2011, 4:28pm

The relays are numbers 3 and 6 in the main,drivers side, fusebox.

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by wolfblood on Jan 12^th, 2011, 8:43pm

Thanks everyone.
Got home tonight and removed headlight switch. All looked OK so took it apart. (Tip if taking apart do so in a box to catch springs & ball bearings). All contacts looked OK so gave a clean & put back together. Got a jump start & switch was working fine lights turned on & of OK. Took car for a spin to charge battery. Have parked up for night but still not confident that I have found the drain on battery so have removed switch & the two relays from main fuse box & will see what happens in the morning.

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by wolfblood on Jan 13^th, 2011, 8:53am

Morning all.
Got to the car this morning turned key and battery looked good so connected everything back up and started car.
Turned lights on & off OK and kept at tick over for a while. Then lights stuck on again. Removed switch lights still on so put switch back & moved to relays in main fuse box. With switch in the off position removed relay at R3 & lights turned off. Put it back lights came on. Turned rest of lights on & drove to work. When got there turned light switch off & all lights turned off properly. Have removed relays again til finish work so can see effect on battery. Fingers crossed.

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by Cosray on Jan 13^th, 2011, 9:02am

... stuck on in DIP or MAIN?

Or either?
Or both?

You might change both relays round and observe pattern.

Ray

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by martin_rowe on Jan 13^th, 2011, 9:49am

fuse box

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by Cosray on Jan 13^th, 2011, 10:31am

on 01/13/11 at 09:49:55, martin_rowe wrote:

fuse box

eehhh?

Ray

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by wolfblood on Jan 13^th, 2011, 12:14pm

Thanks for feedback everyone.

Ray it was stuck on in dipped beam. Main beam could flash on/off as normal at all points.

Have taken the relay to work and checked it with a multimeter for resistance.
Reading of 79.4 across terminals 85 & 86 read a steady 1 on all other configurations.

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by martin_rowe on Jan 13^th, 2011, 1:34pm

short in fuse box triggers relays (water ingress/corrosion)

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by Cosray on Jan 13^th, 2011, 3:36pm

on 01/13/11 at 12:14:00, wolfblood wrote:

Ahhhh that might be your problem there... 86 - 85 > 80 Ohms id fine, that's the coil's resistance allowing for 150mA when active.

When NOT activated/energized 30 & 87 should read infinite/OPEN, not 1.

1 / one / Ohm means stuck & closed so always ON.

Are you sure you had your Voltmeter on very very low Ohms range?

HTH
Ray

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by wolfblood on Jan 13^th, 2011, 4:24pm

Cheers for feedback.
Was using multimeter from one of our computer guys at work. Lowest setting was up to 200 ohms. Multimeter was showing a reading of 1 even when probes not touching anything (have just checked).

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by Cosray on Jan 13^th, 2011, 4:41pm

on 01/13/11 at 16:24:50, wolfblood wrote:

Pity, incomplete data arrrgghhh

Best test is pulling both relays, multimeter on 200 Ohms range and apply 12V on 85 & 86 ON/OFF repeatedly on each happily clicking away.

Your computer guys should have a 12V powersupply or even 2 or 3 x 4.5V batteries in series. Should read 0-1 Ohms max. depending on meterquality between pin 30 & 87.

Relays are easy to open for visual contact inspection, just prise the bottom out of the casing with a flat thin knife.

If both are good then we must proceed to other circuitry but first things first.

HTH
Ray

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by wolfblood on Jan 16^th, 2011, 8:03pm

Hi everyone

Have been swapping relays with intermittent results.

Sometimes the headlights stay on sometimes they don't when switch is off. If the lights are already on then swapping the relay for a different one of the same type keeps them on.

Looks like a fusebox then I suspect. As it is constantly raining either lightly or heavy at the moment suspect that moisture in the box could be the culprit as has been suggested & don't want to swap one until I can do it in the dry.

Will have to keep removing the relays when parking until next weekend I suppose. Weather permitting.

Regards

Dean

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by Cosray on Jan 17^th, 2011, 9:18am

... does your car have a daylight dip lamp function? That might point to a clue.

Curious
Ray

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by wolfblood on Jan 17^th, 2011, 11:18am

Hi Ray

Not that I am aware what would it look like?

As a side note this morning when I went to the car the side and rear hazards were flashing although they were not switched on.

I know they flash sometimes when I lock the doors faster than when they are on for a hazard and they did seem to be flashing faster than just as hazards.

Cheers

Dean

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by Cosray on Jan 17^th, 2011, 1:23pm

... Wolf welcome to the Gremlins club...

See my post from 2009 here:

http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Problems;action=display;num=1235484612;start=0#0

I had various crazy situations since, cannot even remember properly since so unusual. Window wipers tarting when parked, windeows opening and not closing, alarm sounding spontaneaously, had horn disconnected etc. dash lighting up, both coolingfans running overnight with no key ON... engine dying and re-starting...

In the end it was all related to the poor quality of my engine compartment loom, see pics here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/babpic123/Aegon?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmu4LaW36q0hAE&feat=directlink

Isolation going brittle and horizontal strands touching, not shorting but causing amazing electronic confusion.

I was lucky to find an indentical AND good one in Germany; had it replaced by a specialist May 2010 and car is like new.

Most bad sections you will find next to your exhaust, top of engine, and near EDIS and ABS.

Sorry no better news but this stuff is now 13 years old and wet and moist and oily and coolant do no good.

Ray

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by wolfblood on Jan 17^th, 2011, 6:58pm

Got back out of work today & battery was flat even though light relays had been removed. Got a jump start drove home & disconnected battery for the night.

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by Cosray on Jan 17^th, 2011, 10:23pm

... bad news... history seems to repeat itself... see above post...

Ray

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by wolfblood on Jan 18^th, 2011, 4:10pm

Have decided to put a kill switch on the battery so that I can leave the car unless I need her without the battery draining until I have time to look in more depth.

One question is that there are two cables coming off the black (-) terminal. Why two?

Was thinking if they go to different boxes I could isolate each in turn to see which circuits are causing the drain?

Title: Re: Headlights stuck on
Post by Cosray on Jan 18^th, 2011, 4:20pm

... so there should be three in all connected: the biggy and the two others of which one goes to the EEC-V.

One loose and you will have malfunctions, forget what.
Best to isolate all three in one go.

When turning your IGN key next you will always see spinning needles as the Instrument Cluster resets, as well as the EEC-V.

No data loss as that is stored in the EEC-V anyway.

In my case I had drains erratically varying from 6 through 2 Amps to 60 and 30mA, the latter values being correct.

The striking thing in your case is that it can hardly be the headlampwiring incidentally touching another PLUS wire as that would create sparking, smelling, corrosion and definitely NOT a stable contact.

So it really points to a malfunctioning switch or relay or both that causes an erratic but "hard" contact. I will study the diagram later on my CD-ROm as that shows the interconnections.

Ray