headlight switch dramas

[old59]

Hi guys i have been tinkering behind the dash and have noticed that when i put the parkers on the headlight switch arcs on a contact that seems to bridge something. it arcs and gets hot then bends away and makes contact again once cool enough repeating the process. does anyone know what this bridge strap is for and what would be causing this drama.

[mcl1959]

It's a built-in fuse - you have a dead short somewhere in the headlight circuit or in the headlight switch itself - MUST be rectified ASAP.

Ken

[old59]

thanks for that will be looking into it tonight.

[FCRB26]

For how pimitive it is it works well.

Better than driving to work one day the whole car filled with smoke the .22 calibre shells for fuses did not work real well smoked the whole harness..

[old59]

It's a built-in fuse - you have a dead short somewhere in the headlight circuit or in the headlight switch itself - MUST be rectified ASAP.

Ken

All sorted you were spot on dead short in the front right parker Thanks for the help.

[KFH]

Good that you found the fault easily.  The same principal is still used for circuit protection today in the form of self resetting breakers.  These are availavle in a range starting at 20 amps and cost less than $10.  If the one of the headlight switch is a bit dodgy it would be a simple matter to bend the spring contact out of the way and wire a modern one across the terminals that the old one bridged.

Keith