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This isn't rocket science, but I see so many bodges on here with wiring that I thought I'd take some pictures while I did mine this afternoon.
Takes under an hour to do both sides.
Tools needed: Soldering iron, solder, cutters, strippers (the wire cutting sort....) insulating tape, small heat shrink, heat shrink gun, Copaslip.
I bought these:
2 x H4 Ceramic Bulb Holder Plug Headlamp Wire Wiring Headlight Connector | eBay
Not the cheapest, but they look good and the cables are a decent size and pre-stripped.
You have to take the headlight(s) right out and store them somewhere while you do the work. I did mine a side at a time as a large storm was coming over and I could close it all up quicker if I didn't have too much stuff out.
My two connectors were pretty much shot, and I was losing a light at a time intermittently. Then the lighting switch went on the blink! More of that later.
I cut them off fairly tight to the connector, you have 5" or 100+mm on the new connectors, but no point in making it too tight for the future.
Strip back the insulation and check that you have clean and bright copper wire underneath. Mine was and it's a 1998 build, so later ones should be OK. Make a note of the colours and which is which, another good reason for doing them one at a time.
Cut the heatshrink sleeving and put it on the wires on the new connector, away from the solder joint so the heat won't affect it.
Tin both the old wiring and the new wiring on the connector and make a nice tidy lap joint.
Use the heat gun to shrink the sleeving:
Put the wires into a neat bumdle and feed back into the split PVC tubing, taping it up afterwards:
Refit the headlight, putting Copaslip on the mounting balls.
That's it, job done. There's plenty of room for the connector behind the light assembly.
Regarding the lighting switch, I was losing all my lights in France and it was made worse by the indicator stalk disturbing the whole thing, but we didn't travel too much at night so got home OK.
The problem was that the single large Lucar in the connector block tro the switch was overheating and the contact was failing. The operating of the switch was getting stiff or would not work at all on sidelights, which was the heat from the bad joint getting into the body.
I had a spare with me in France so wasn't too worried, I chucked it in the back last winter and never bothered to take it out.
Once the old switch was out (steering wheel/airbag removal) it is simple to undo the two self tappers, get a thin small screwdrover and lift the holding housing up over the pip on the switch body that holds it in place.
I tightened up all of the female Lucars in the connector block which made it nice and tight to refit.
So two jobs in a couple of hours, MOT on Thursday, which will be 5 years we've had it on the road and 69000 miles we have covered.
Peter
Takes under an hour to do both sides.
Tools needed: Soldering iron, solder, cutters, strippers (the wire cutting sort....) insulating tape, small heat shrink, heat shrink gun, Copaslip.
I bought these:
2 x H4 Ceramic Bulb Holder Plug Headlamp Wire Wiring Headlight Connector | eBay
Not the cheapest, but they look good and the cables are a decent size and pre-stripped.
You have to take the headlight(s) right out and store them somewhere while you do the work. I did mine a side at a time as a large storm was coming over and I could close it all up quicker if I didn't have too much stuff out.
My two connectors were pretty much shot, and I was losing a light at a time intermittently. Then the lighting switch went on the blink! More of that later.
I cut them off fairly tight to the connector, you have 5" or 100+mm on the new connectors, but no point in making it too tight for the future.
Strip back the insulation and check that you have clean and bright copper wire underneath. Mine was and it's a 1998 build, so later ones should be OK. Make a note of the colours and which is which, another good reason for doing them one at a time.
Cut the heatshrink sleeving and put it on the wires on the new connector, away from the solder joint so the heat won't affect it.
Tin both the old wiring and the new wiring on the connector and make a nice tidy lap joint.
Use the heat gun to shrink the sleeving:
Put the wires into a neat bumdle and feed back into the split PVC tubing, taping it up afterwards:
Refit the headlight, putting Copaslip on the mounting balls.
That's it, job done. There's plenty of room for the connector behind the light assembly.
Regarding the lighting switch, I was losing all my lights in France and it was made worse by the indicator stalk disturbing the whole thing, but we didn't travel too much at night so got home OK.
The problem was that the single large Lucar in the connector block tro the switch was overheating and the contact was failing. The operating of the switch was getting stiff or would not work at all on sidelights, which was the heat from the bad joint getting into the body.
I had a spare with me in France so wasn't too worried, I chucked it in the back last winter and never bothered to take it out.
Once the old switch was out (steering wheel/airbag removal) it is simple to undo the two self tappers, get a thin small screwdrover and lift the holding housing up over the pip on the switch body that holds it in place.
I tightened up all of the female Lucars in the connector block which made it nice and tight to refit.
So two jobs in a couple of hours, MOT on Thursday, which will be 5 years we've had it on the road and 69000 miles we have covered.
Peter
