Ok! Just back again from the garage... Nothing like an indoor garage and a camping light. I've rewired the light switch. I know why it ended up the way it did. It's quite simple, really. What happened is... The previous owner installed the little ignition/switches panel upside down or back to front in the dash. Thus, when he put in the light switch, he expected to have the 'up' position on the lights as off, but, if you install that panel upside down, 'up' is headlights on. So, I've rewired the switch, it's now wired as per the diagrams... So, down is off, up is lights, middle is parkers. All wires going as per the numbers on the back of the switch and the manual. But the parkers still stay on when the headlights are on. Is that right..?

In terms of the headlights... I'm more confused than ever. I took the headlamp assembly back out, started playing with it... Turned the lights on, still no high beam. Flicked to low beam, it was still there. Flicked back to high beam, it worked! Flicked back to low beam, it didn't. Same light, just decided that it would work on high beam but not low beam. With this being the case, I decided the problem must be on the earth. So I grabbed a wire to short out the earth to the body, and put the lights on. Nothing. Shorting the earth had no effect on the light. Shorting the low beam and high beam to the solenoid (it was the nearest source of power) worked well - instant light. Clearly the bulb's still good.

So... Shorting the earth has no effect. The problem's moved from high beam to low beam. Moving the wires behind the light has no effect (even when power's connected). The connections didn't change, but the problem switched. It makes no sense!

Rubber buckets..? Well, with all the crud on the back of the buckets, they seem to be rubberized... It could just be that they're plastic, like these.

Oh, and I managed to get the LH Outer Rim on. But it's 90º out. I put it on, and just kept turning it until it went on. At that point, it was about 135º out, but simply wouldn't turn the short way. Fussy thing...

Are you working on clubby or roundie electrics?
The clubby switches can cause problems, one of mine is a bit tempramental.

Otherwise, the wires that turn on your relays, check them with a test light - not a led type or multi meter - they should behave how the switch wants them to, and so the relays should copy the switch.

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Dean Hutton's first car was a Mini.

Yes - with the parker in the headlight and you blow a filament the parker still 'marks' the front corner of the car to oncoming traffic and doesn't look like a motor bike

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

Roundie roundie roundie Tombo! It's a K. I'd try a test light, but the only test lights I've ever had I made myself, but gave away 7 years ago... They were 240/415V, too.

But is there any point checking the relays with a test light..? Given that the LH lights have worked consistently? I can hear the relays clicking away in the dash, too.

Wombat - thanks for the confirmation. I don't remember my old 63 car doing it, but that was a long time ago... Makes sense the way you've explained it! And I should've Googled for the wires... I think I found that website. The only reason I didn't at first was because I was hoping to work on an abbreviated timetable - but given I didn't get it done last weekend, I probably had time to do it Monday/Tuesday last week... Then I wouldn't have heaps of Red cable running through the car. Although, I guess at least it's all power cable... I didn't end up having the patch the High Beam for the Relays (had enough cable length), and the Low Beam I only had to patch the low voltage circuit about 6".

Long time ago they didn't do it - it's a later 'safety improvement' -I've switched my parkers to the headlight as the new one came with the fittings to do so and I put orange LED bulb replacements in the beehives - that way the beehive stay clear looking ( as opposed to having an orange tinge with coloured globes) and will flash orange where people are expecting an orange flashing light instead of a white flashing light that some people don't seem to recognise

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

I've thought about getting orange bulbs behind the clear behives, but while those bulbs aren't blown, I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of the chrome lock rings... It's just a shame that there aren't orange [i]and white[i] LEDs available... Just thinking about it, where'd you buy them from..? I've been thinking about going LED for the tail lights... They're easier to reassemble than the beehives. I'm just not sure how the codes work. But I love the look of clear/white beehives on a dark coloured car.

Still no progress on the headlights...

I got then off Fleabay - from HongKong I think - you need stagered pins unless you what to change the sockets (too much hassle) - one wire has them 'on' the other just makes them brighter - work out which is which and hook up the bright one (or both - won't burn out ) Might have to get a different flasher can if you have front and back.

Beehive comes off and on easy with a small screwdriver with a bent tip

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

So... Does anyone have any further tips for what might be the problem with my headlights..? Or should I try to find a local auto-sparky?

Also... Any tips as to what to try with my LH Headlight Locking Ring..? It's pretty stuck there... I've tried putting a screw driver into the screw hole and pushing that, but to no avail... I've got to take the car out tomorrow - kinda hoping I can either get it right or that it doesn't come off.

I have come across some odd headlights, I think - not sure - they were fitted to Holdens at some time, anyways, the pins on the back of the headlight itself are different to the mini ones. The Mini ones use the 'centre' pin as a common (connected to earth) where as these others use one of the side ones as a common. Have you tried making some different connections on here?

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Thanks for the idea GT. If you say the middle pin is the top pin, on my Mini the Earth is on the right (looking at the pins), Low Beam is in the middle, and High Beam is on the left. I've tested the bulb each way, and it seems to match the plug. In that, it lights up regardless of which pins I connect, but if I connect the left and middle pins, it's pretty dull... Duller than connecting any other pair of pins.

To do the testing described above, I've been using the earth pin in the plug. So the Earth looks to be conducting nicely... I've just tried connecting a wire to short the low beam from the union (where the two wires split) directly to the back of the bulb. That gives me light. So it must be a break in the wire between there and the bulb... I'll add a parallel wire and see what happens - it's just a pain the wires are twisted together. Hopefully it's not a break at the bucket.

So... It's working. I've put in a parallel wire (only 4mm/15amp) from the original splitter to just behind the bucket. It didn't work at first, then I pushed the joiner together a little more firmly, and it worked...
So, it turns out that not having a relay eventually burns out the switch(es), and fitting a relay can burn out the wires.

Still haven't managed to get that other headlight ring rotated. I'm going to buy some silicon spray and some rubber grease tomorrow. And maybe I'll try a little armor all... Not expecting huge results, not sure what to do. But, at present, I don't see anything bumping it off. And I've got a spare. And at least I've got working headlights - so I'm legal for tomorrow.