HELP. I HAVE LOST THE USE OF MY LIGHTS. SWITCH WONT ENGAGE

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Hello.

My Westfield type rocker switch is not engaging to the second stop. I only have side lights. The switch will not physically move to the second stop to give me driving lights and it has only just happened. Is there anything I can do at the roadside as I am up in the highlands of Scotland with Just me, myself and I.

[SootySport]

Oh dear!    Drive in daylight or if you need to drive in the darkness you can prise out the switch and join the terminals together ad hoc.

Or call the AA.

 

Oh, and what happened to the mrs. has she jumped ship?

[Lyonspride]

If you can prise the switch out you MIGHT be able to disassemble.

 

The switch itself comes apart from the hinges, which gives access to the back light, but there's also a back piece that comes away, if you get the switch out and remove this back section, my money would be on the slide contact being obstructed..... Just don't loose the insidey bits!!

[John K]

Is it possible to swap the driving light contact to the side light terminal?

So the first stop gives you driving lights?

Dont know if it would work, just a SWAG.

Good luck..!

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Thanks guys. I am going back to our digs now in sidelights and will try to find someone mechanically minded who can follow the ideas above in the morning. I drove a few miles in the pouring rain as it is about 12 miles from where we are staying to where we can get a meal and I was not happy about it at all and did not feel safe.

I am driving from Durness to Aberfeldy tomorrow and would feel happier with lights in the rain.

Thank you for the really fast replies.

SOOTY.

Carol is fine and well. She is just getting something to eat.

[TAFKARM]

As above, pop the switch out and move the wires so the middle position gives sidelights.

[Kit Car Electronics]

But what's this rain stuff you keep finding?

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Your not going to move the wires round easily on a standard WF rocker switch, they use a single moulded connector. The electrical contacts are also round pins, rather than flat spades, so even if you cut the wires off, you'd still have to hunt down a replacement connector.

 

On the upside, the switches are classic Mini switches, so not horrendous to actually get hold of. Not sure what your timescale is like, but a worst case scenario would be getting one sent up to you at wherever your staying, you could probably get one for Tuesday, u less you're still in the islands, or extremes of the Highlands.

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Hello men.

Thanks for all your help and replies.

I will try to hunt down a replacement in Aberfeldy which is where I am travelling to tomorrow as I only have two days left now before I go home.

If it was a case of just moving a pin or something then I would have had a go but I don't feel comfortable do anything by the roadside that may make me lose my lights altogether as I really don't know what I am doing.

At least at the moment I have working rear lights which I feel safe with in the rain.

DAVE.

At the moment I am on the extreme top left of Scotland until tomorrow when I start to travel back home.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Was going to say DONT try taking one apart to fix! It is possible, though damned fiddly. However, when they've started to fail like that, the innards have a horrible habit of collapsing when you strip them, which could then leave you with no lights at all.

 

Sidelights are better than nothing. (Trust me, I've been there. Ended up stripping a wire out of a secondary circuit to use to bypass the switch and give me I gets. All while at the roadside at something after eleven, on the way back from a Cheshire meet once.

 

Have also stripped a faulty fog lamp switch down, very carefully on the bench at home, and that just crumbled when reassembling.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

I do have an old one spare, it's serviceable. If I got it in the post at the local Main Post Office tomorrow, there's a chance you might get it Monday. (Obviously, it would need sending to your next stop.) 

 

Thanks to the multi plug for the actual switched functions, it's relatively straight forward to swap them over, though the back light which has separate connectors can be fiddly, that bit could always be left till later.

 

Let me know before 8.30 am tomorrow if you want to give it a try. (Much later and I won't make the Sunday collection from the PO).

[Kit Car Electronics]

I don't suppose you have a heater switch like this? The pins are the same so you should be able to swap it with the light switch...

[Kit Car Electronics]

Here's what the inside should look like, but it's likely your centre sliding contact is broken as Dave says, so best leave well alone unless you lose all lights and need to 'have a go':

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Hello R7WSC

Thanks for spending the time to post the pictures and that has helped me to understand.

Those are the same as my switches and I feel confident to have a go now.

I will leave things as they are for the moment but at least I feel better knowing I could do something in the heavy rain.....

I always thought Scotland was the centre of the universe and glorious sunshine reigned supreme.

[John K]

Btw...

I know this is the most henious bodge ever...

But the screws that hold light switches into the wall boxes fit the plug holes lovely. They might be 4BA

I used them whilst tracing my faults.

Get some from a hardware store (or borrow from the B&B), put them into the plug and bridge with a stainless bulldog clip.

A sort of switch.

And yes I have been drinking, but I bet it would work...