I said let there be light, and there was NO light

[cl_miata]

I was driving home tonight, everything going great, and then out of no where, no headlights, tail lights, dash lights. But my turn signals and brake lights still worked. The fuse in the fuse box still is good, jiggled around the wires and nothing more happened, could the switch have suddenly went bad. I will start looking into the wiring, but didnt know if anyone here has had a similar issue with a fix.... Finally after all my troubles a Lucas one

 

[RickB]

could the switch have suddenly went bad?

heh - need you ask? Really?

Try up & down on the hazard switch a few times first.
Then - well of course the switch could be bad.
You also could have lost ground in a big big way...

 

[bugimike]

Lucas, Prince of Darkness strikes again!!!

 

[tweety]

what? do you think you're god or something? Then again, not even the almighty himself can make all the electrons in an LBC do their thing.

Ironically, I pulled into the drive this evening, and noticed that I could only see one of my front parking lights reflected in the fence.... So I check all the lights.... front left marker light in bumper dark, that turn signal works. Front left fender marker dark. Rear right marker dark, brake light ok.

Gremlins travel in packs.

 

[aeronca65t]

Yes, check for grounds to headlights (or add an extra, temporary ground to see if that helps)

And buy "contact cleaner" (from Radio Shak, etc.). Spray it like crazy inside the switch while moving the switch to various positions.

 

[lesingepsycho]

I've never had a Lucas switch go bad. I have however had wires pop off of switches or fall out of the butt connectors that are everywhere on a Midget. I know you said you checked the fuse box and jiggled the wires but the only time I had a headlight failure like you're talking about was when the lead power wire fell off the back of the switch. It can be easy to knock that one loose especially when resetting your tripometer.

JACK

 

[nomad]

If my memory serves me correctly, you have early rocker switches that can be troublesome. Aeronca65t's advise is sound. If that dos'nt do it a switch replacement may be neccessary.
I carry an icepick test light probe in my tool kit and have been going to get one of those laminated wiring diagram's from e-bay but believe I almost know the circuits by heart now!!
KA

 

[bill_young]

The plastic rocker switches used on the later Midgets were known to have problems with poor connections causing them to heat up and actually melt the plastic causing the switch to fail. The new switches aren't much better. There is just too much current flowing through them with all the load of the headlights, especially if you've upgraded to halogen bulbs which draw a bit more current. If the switch has failed I'd suggest installing a relay to carry the main current load and just use the new switch to control the relay. Be careful removing the switch retainer, these are very brittle after all these years and I'm not aware of anywhere you can get new ones.

 

[cl_miata]

Okay thanks guys, I will look into the back of the switch today after I officially get up. What type of switch was used in the earlier cars, maybe I use of of those since they seem to be better

 

[aeronca65t]

The early switches have a small round hole. Your's have a large, rectangular hole. So it's not that easy to just swap them.

For what it's worth, my MGB (same switches) did the same thing......keep "working" the switch while using the contact cleaner. Good chance it'll help.

Also, many of these car use a type of push on wire connector to switches and relays that can become corroded over time. Sometimes, just pulling them off and pushing them back on can fix the problem.

If you decide to change the switches anyway, you can find some low-cost, good quality stuff at Summit Racing (online).

 

[JPSmit]

before you do anything with the switch, clean and tighten the spade connections at the fusebox. I know there can be problems with the switch, but fusebox is much easier, much more accessible and much more likely to corrode.

check if you have a horn? if not, then purple wires at fusebox is most likely. I can't remember if the headlights are purple or green

 

[jvandyke]

On my '63 the foot dimmer switch (dipswitch) was toast. I put one in from a 60's era Comet or something. I also did the relays which helped with much brighter headlights. I'd highly recommend putting in a relay (two actually, one for low beam one for high).

 

[cl_miata]

It did turn out to be the headlight swith, I went to advance to buy a rocker switch, only when I put it in, I found out I bought a "momentary" switch, and since I have to leave for work, quickly put in the fan switch in its place since I dont use it anyways

 

[bthompson]

If you have a spare hour to kill and want to have some fun, you can take your old switch apart and clean the corrosion out of it. You'll be able to see pretty quickly how the sliding contacts work inside of it. Use a bit of fine sandpaper on the contact nubs until they are bright and shiny again, and put a dab of dielelctric grease in there. Work it back and forth a few dozen times, check it with a continuity tester, and slap it back in. Worked for me when I was re-doing my dash; I haven't had any trouble from it since. :thumbsup:

 

[Sarastro]

All these fixes will work--for a while. Given that the switch died, it seems likely that a new one eventually will, too. Might be a good idea to start thinking about adding relays. No urgency, since you're replacing the switch, but still worth considering.

 

[bthompson]

Eventually, sure, but it took the first one <span style="font-style: italic">thirty years </span>to go bad. The switches are pretty stout; if you don't have halogens and foglights and such, I don't see why the switch couldn't handle the current as well as when it was made. Nothing against relays, but they <span style="font-style: italic">are </span>just more components and wiring to potentially fail. :wink:

 

[jvandyke]

Relays let the voltage get to lights without having to go through the wires and switches and loosing voltage. Relays=brighter headlights. Maybe not if all other switches and connections are nice and clean and solid but, they never are.