lights or lack of them

[DavieK]

Hello all,

Been a while since ive been on here but between family and work the poor elise has almost been forgotten.

Had the MOT today in which the neglected plastic car failed on more points than I dare count, although nearly all were related to the lights not working, the fog, side and full beam lights.
After managing to spend a huge 5 minutes outside having a quick look it looks like the switchs work as the stack lights up when the buttons are pressed but no lights come on also the full beam comes on when you use the stalks to "flash"
Any obvious things to check out so I can get the damn thing through its MOT?

Cheers in advance

Davie

P.S. one of the failings was the indicators were not yellow enough and after looking I think they are havering is it worth arguing the point or just buy new bulbs and be done with it.

[robin]

If you can post up which model of elise you have and exactly what happens for each of the switches I'll look at the wiring diagram and try to work out where the failure is.

Cheers,
Robin

[DavieK]

Hello Robin still coming to the rescue of the uninitiated I see

Just nipped out and this time the lights did start to work after a while. What happened was.....

Tried the side lights and the stack lit up and this time so did the actual lights all be it only one of them, next I tried the head lights and nothing happened same with the fog light. I then flashed the lights with the stalk and it flashed but there was a click and when I let go of the stalk the head lights were on. At this point I tried the fog light and it also now worked, I switched the lights off and then tried them off and on a few times and they all seemed to work. No sure if there was something sticking as its been neglected for so long.

Hope that makes sense, oh and its a S1 S160

Thanks again

[robin]

I suspect dust/condensation/corrosion of the contacts of the dash switches.

I would suggest operating them repeatedly for a wee while and see if they become reliable. If they are still flaky after a minute of on/off/on/off/.. then you might want to pop the switches out of the dash and try to get some contact cleaner squirted up into the switch body, or just replace them (they are from some Peugeot or other).

Cheers,
Robin

[Shug]

This may or may not apply to front lights, but it has just popped into my head. I had an issue where I had a rear light that would refuse to come on. Tried all the wiring near it (and of course, bulb replacement) Craig at Murrays diagnosed an issue in the front fuse box (mounted to nearside front inner wheelarch, under the front bonnet) and fixed with a few new fuse holder terminals and a lot of WD40. Like I say - may not affect front lights, but have a check that the underside of the fuse box isn't badly corroded - this was what was causing the random lighting on mine.

[tut]

Also the S1 switches are pretty ropey, had to change them several times over the years.

Worth taking the panel out, unplugging the switches, check the contacts for corrosion, clean both male and female connectors, then spray with a proper electrical silicone spray, not WD40.

tut

[DavieK]

Thanks for the pointers the car is now through it's MOT and fit to put a smile on my face again

[robin]

No need for lights until this time next year then

[DavieK]

Sadly thats very close to the truth Robin