Lancia Motor Club

Ok,

Sorry for the delay.

I have today managed to have a look at the the lack of main beam on my 815 at last.

When I depress the switch on the column stalk there is an audible click from the relay.

I checked the bulbs and they were okay. I took the cover off the relay and operated the switch, and the "Nodding Donkey" bit did it`s job and clicked down on one of the 4 lobes on the shaft and turned it to rotate the rectangular bit through 90 degrees to either be vertical (No contact) or horizontal (Made contact), but still no main beam.

I have cleaned up all of the contact points but am now at a loss as to what is the problem.

Any help would be appreciated.

Bob

If a relay involved, have a close look at the solders, a dry joint may be the cause, if needs be just re-solder them all and see if that helps


P

All the joints and connections look okay, and at the last MOT it was all working well.
Can`t fathom out why it should suddenly stop working, especially as the relay appears to be doing its "Nodding Donkey" thing, and all bulbs are ok.

Unfortunately (Or not) I am off to France on Monday for a week, so please don`t be put out if I don`t reply to any messages of help as I don`t take my lap top when I am away to help, as I don`t take my laptop with me on holiday to prevent me looking at work e-mails !

Any help would be welcome though.

Bob

Chaps,

Okay, back from holiday and I still can`t get the bloody main beam to work.

I think I have 2 choices that you may be able to help with;

1. Does anyone have a spare relay that I could buy or even borrow to confirm that the problems lies in the relay or not.

2. As I NEVER use my car at night, does anyone know how I could rig up a switch to operate the main beam for the MOT test, as that`s the only time it`s ever used, along with the wipers and washers. In fact, the washer bottle contains Italian water from when I bought the car in Turin 5 years ago !

Your thoughts/help would be appreciated.

Bob

Are there 12volts at the relay 'in' side and 'out' side?

Richard,

Sorry to be a numpty, but electrics are not my thing.

How do I check that, as there seems to be quite a number of wires going in to the relay.

Bob

Bob

Its a hard slog going through the wiring diagram but worth it as you understand a lot more about your car afterwards:-)

A simple £5 multi meter is all you need to trace circuits. Everyone is in the same boat unfortunately.

Identify the wire which goes from the relay to the headlamp, then test for voltage between that terminal and an earthing point (ie battery negative post or bare chassis metal) Either with a test meter or 12V bulb. Which terminal? Diagram required or perhaps local garage help required if not familiar with electrical systems.

Okay chaps,

I will have a go at your suggestions at the weekend and update you all afterwards.

Bob

Bob

I can print you an A3 wiring diagram for your coupe if you want.....

Tim

Tim,

That would be a great help, as I am using the A4 one in my Repair Shop Manual and my old eyes just can`t fathom it out.

Bob

Bob

Exact model coupe pls lhd?

Tim

Tim,

You are a star.

1963 815 Coupe Variante 1005, LHD.
Chassis No 8151304632.

Thanks,

Bob

Can do this for Friday eve.

Tim,

That`s great,
let me know when it will be convenient to pop round to collect it.

Thanks again,

Bob

Bob

sent you an email.

Tim

Chaps,

Well Tim kindly printed off a large copy of the wiring diagram, and even spent some time with his multi meter trying to identify the problem, all to no avail.

I took all the lamps out today and checked the in-line fuses which were fine, so I am now at a dead end, so have contacted Martin Cliffe and will drop it up to Omicron in the next couple of weeks and let his chaps loose on it.

Bear with me on this, as I will let you all know what the problem/solution was just in case any of you have the same problem in the future.

I still hate electrics !

Thanks Tim.

Bob

coincidentally I am at the stage of re-establishing some electrics to my Vignale I am restoring. After carefully checking things I attached the battery and got indicators and wipers!!! But no lights. I have just drawen out the CEAM relay as without an understanding I was not sure that the previous owner had wired it correctly (actually it may have been an earlier owner). Now I understand the relay logic sort of I can check the wiring. What is clear is that all systems stop if the side light switch does not provide this relay with initial power (to the middle relay in the box). I may have a wire fallen off under the dash.....

A tedious but successful day under the bonnet. Vignale in their infinite wisdom put the relay board with 3 relays right under the wing so totally inaccessible and has to be unbolted and dragged across the fuse tray to get to the relays and the main relay uses the chassis fixing as its primary earth without which not much works. Anyway after at least 10 times of bolting and unbolting to tweak the nodding donkey I concluded it was easier to set this relay up on a bench with its own battery and exercise leads. The problem (in my car's case) was the nodding donkey (I called it something much more rude) is so precise to flick the cam wheel. A few thou out and it will work 3 times then miss the next segment. A few thou in height and reach the other way will not activate the cam fully. Trial and error!! Any way I am happy to say V has all lights working and indicators, heater fan, and wiper. so more than 50% electric circuits are now commissioned. The fun starts next week when I try to start the engine. Must read the manual re KF injection bleeding....

Update on the electrics in particular headlamp main / dip relay box. After my success back in August, the lights decided to stop working apart from the side lights. Having other more interesting things to waste my time on I left it until yesterday. Fault still there. Finally traced to a poor earth on the relay mounting metal tray which I had previously painted. After scraping away the new paint and re-bolting the tray hard down to the chassis all lights worked dip back and forth.....

Excellent result Tim .... earthing problems seems to the bane of our lives!!!!

                           Andy

Nice little job to get out of the way - you can see where you are going now

Yes Andy (and Dave) no need to "borrow" your spare to update to a modern flip flop relay just yet!!

Tim,

That`s  interesting, I will check the earths on mine this weekend, as I haven`t been able to get it up to Omicron, as I had the brake master cylinder problem as you will know from my previous posts.

I will let you all know if I have the same earth problem.

Bob