elctrical problems

car: Peugeot 205 1.6 GTI (F reg)

The fog lamp does not work

One brake light does not work

One dipped headlight does not work

The fog and brake light bulbs look ok. I can't get the electrical
connector off of the back of the headlight, so I can't check the
filament. Manual says just pull it off. It wont move?

Fuses look ok

Is there a common lnk?

Thanks

A

 

Making some progress.

Fog lamp, and headlight now working.

Still got a problem with the brake light.
The tail light is working, and the bulb looks ok.

I am not sure how thes stop/tail lights work.
There are two electrodes in the housing and two filaments in the bulb.
I am wondering why both lights don't come on simultaneously.

A

 

Because only one electrode is required for each filament. The circuit is
completed by the bulb housing earthing through the holder. One filament is
the tail light, the other is the stop light. Likewise one electrode is tail
and one stop.

 

ok, thanks

so, the fact that the tail light works means that the bulb must be
earthing through its holder.

The filaments are alright, so it looks like the elctrode in the housing
may be causing the problem.

Any idea how I can remove the housing so that I can check the wiring.

Thanks

A

 

Sorry. Mine's a 406 so I can't help on that question. Is the other stop
light working, if not you may have a switch or fuse problem.

 

Yes, the other stop light works.

I still can't see how to get at the wiring

Evidently there is a plate inside the boot that can be removed. I can't
see it

Thanks for responding.

Best wishes



S

 

In my experience, failure of lights in old cars is usually caused by
bad earthing.
In practice this means that the bulb outer body is not making good
electrical contact with the lampholder.
Spray everything with WD40 and leave to cook. Wipe off the excess and
then try to remove the bubs.
Then thoroughly clean the inside of the bulb holders if there are
signs of corrosion. After cleaning, a bit of petroleum jelly
(Vaseline) smeared on the surfaces will help to prevent further
corrosion. Don’t forget to clean the bodies of the bulbs, too.

 

ok,

But wont the vaseline act as an insulator?

Thanks

S

 

Grease will insulate but Vaseline acts as a conductor. It is also good
practice to smear the battery posts with Vaseline before fitting the
terminals.

Keith

 

ok,

I'll give it a go.

Best wishes

A

ps. I always thought that vaselene was a type of grease

 

Just a thought.

I have no problem with the tail light in the same bulb. Does this mean
that the earthing between the bulb and the case must be ok?

Thanks

S

 

You can only tell by experiment. I had a car years ago where only one tail
light came on. When you pressed the brake pedal down that tail light went
out and the stop light on the otherside came on. That turned out to be
earthing. Bear in mind that one filament is a higher wattage than the
other, I think sometimes the easiest path to earth is through the other
filament. You could try getting some long lengths of flex to connect both
bulb holders together and run straight to the earth post on the battery.
That will tell you if earthing is the problem after which you can sort it
out.

Keith

 

Thank you

Sp