Common cause?

[kernowdragon]

Since buying my 55 plate Connect the horn, intermittent wiper and dipped headlights have stopped working. I've got the horn working via a new switch and the dipped headlamps working after adding a new switch across two wires behind the light switch (I've already replaced the actual light selector/adjuster switch with new and it made no difference). Question is could they all be related to a common cause? e.g. a particular bad earth or common feed. The van had had a lot of additional electrics added and buried behind the dash which I carefully traced, determined to be obsolete because whatever they were attached to had been removed, and took out. I guess I could have disturbed something?

[metalworker0]

Take your old switches apart and you'll see the cause

All switches if not damaged, cracked or broken are fixable within: If you have the time and the patience and mechanical aptitude you should be good to go ......after all with nothing working you have nothing to loose.


PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION - There are strips of copper that make contact with other strips .......normally the strips have a bit of springyness in them and exert a bit of pressure against the other contact surfaces.
As time goes by they exert less pressure, on top of this, there is grease in there that gets dirty preventing good conductivity. then they finally stop working .....

THE HOUSINGS - note: not meant to be taken apart -They have little catches that you have to prise apart: many at the same time
Assembly and disassembly - .they have parts in them that fall out, springs and contact strips , levers and rockers, not giving you a clue as how they go back together. so study carefully as you dissemble! . work within a large roasting tin ..then anything that drops out/ flies out does not get lost

FIXING
All tarnish and corrosion and grease should be removed off the copper contact surfaces - note this is special electronically conducting grease.
Take apart apart the switches and bend the contact strips a tiny amount so they are pre-loaded. before assembly, new electrically conducting grease has to be applied.

How much did you pay for those switches new .....i would imagine second hand ones ..are going to give trouble later. as all Mk1s are now over 8 years old , some nearly twenty years old .