The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Fed up with fitting panels, I decided to have a bash at the non functioning main beams. Well I got them working, but only by getting a piece of wire and by-passing the column stalk. Which suggests the switch is at fault. Can these be repaired, or is replacement the only option? (stalk for 1500HL 1976).

Replacement is the best option. These are quite delicate items and frequently fail.
Try http://www.mickdolphin.co.uk/. He may have some NOS about.

If you take off the column shrouds and have a look at the stalk you may be able to see if the contacts for main beam
are faulty, or if the wire for the flash has dropped off. Without seeing one in skeletal form its hard to describe. If beyond repair
you have to replace the whole thing with loom, which means column out and cable guide off. Dont throw the old one away...
sometimes we can make one good from two bad....

Jonners

Jon Tilson wrote:If you take off the column shrouds and have a look at the stalk you may be able to see if the contacts for main beam
are faulty, or if the wire for the flash has dropped off. Without seeing one in skeletal form its hard to describe. If beyond repair
you have to replace the whole thing with loom, which means column out and cable guide off. Dont throw the old one away...
sometimes we can make one good from two bad....

Jonners

I've managed to fix it. Easy enough in the end. Take the switch off the coloumn, but leave it connected. Then use a piece of wire to directly connect the mainbeam wire to the copper contact in the switch, till you find where there is no current.

In my case this was the bullet contact. Next step was to get out the soldering iron, and solder on a new contact. All those years of soldering model railways paid off. Stuck it in the car, and mainbeams are back, and no shorts. Bad news, one of the inner sealed units had blown, multimeter says power is reaching the plug, but no light.

So I guess the next question, is which headligh conversion kit is best (quillers quoted me £100 for a set of sealed beams, no chance).

I was looking at these (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Dolom ... 1170021399), but I think it is best to ask advice before buying anything.

Anyway thanks for the replies.

IIRC the inners are the same as the Stag & 2000 range so it opens up your options. Long term, the best option is halogens with relays.

That's a good deal but do fit the relays first else you'll be back onto that switch

I had a similar problem, Main beam working but dip beam wasn't, I had an MOT coming up and don't know how long it would take to get a new stalk so I swapped the wiring so the dip worked (albeit with the dash light permanently on) and then added a switch so I could flash the main beam on and off. The MOT Tester was happy with that. I'll look for a stalk for a more permanent fix.

I ordered that exact same halogen conversion kit too and the fit was fine (although my sprint already had relays fitted for the lights) but two of the bulbs supplied seems have the wrong connectors,a although this wasn't much of a problem as I just got bulbs to match the others that had the right connectors.

cleverusername wrote:

Jon Tilson wrote:If you take off the column shrouds and have a look at the stalk you may be able to see if the contacts for main beam
are faulty, or if the wire for the flash has dropped off. Without seeing one in skeletal form its hard to describe. If beyond repair
you have to replace the whole thing with loom, which means column out and cable guide off. Dont throw the old one away...
sometimes we can make one good from two bad....

Jonners

I've managed to fix it. Easy enough in the end. Take the switch off the coloumn, but leave it connected. Then use a piece of wire to directly connect the mainbeam wire to the copper contact in the switch, till you find where there is no current.

In my case this was the bullet contact. Next step was to get out the soldering iron, and solder on a new contact. All those years of soldering model railways paid off. Stuck it in the car, and mainbeams are back, and no shorts. Bad news, one of the inner sealed units had blown, multimeter says power is reaching the plug, but no light.




Hi, I'm in the process of fitting halogen headlights but was having problems with the relays, one would work but when I connected the 2nd one I lost all lights. Eventually traced to a bad earth and faulty dip switch ( which started smoking!!)

So, can you explain the procedure described above in more detail? I've taken the stalk off the column, there's no obvious signs of burning on the switch or wiring that I can see. Thank you.