Hi all,

 

So the usual has happened - the headlights function but will neither pop up nor retract.  They were working after a fashion until recently so I'm suspecting/hoping relay failure.  I know the two actuating relays are under the driver's side pod but I was wondering the best way to access them.  Can I reach them through the hole underneath?  Or do I need to take the pod out? And if they're accessible through the hole which way do I need to wriggle my hand?  Are they attached to the firewall or somewhere else?

 

Any advice gratefully received as always, Dan

They seem to be in different places on the cars I've owned. Can you get to them with the bonnet up or off?

The bonnet is currently off if that helps. Are they in the engine bay? From descriptions in the Forums I'd assumed I was hunting in the headlamp cavity itself.

Edited July 25, 201410 yr by directordanw

If the problem is with both headlamp pods then it could be a bad earth or poor feed, if it was relays then one should work even if the other fails.

On my car it was a bad earth grounding to the chassis bolt on the right hand front wheel arch.

Or could be the light switch, try using the flasher on the stalk.

They failed independently of each other, not at the same time. That being said I'm going through the car and checking every earth and changing every relay.  So even if it's not the relays I still need to know where to find them...

were they moving quickly and cleanly when they were working? Or was there some slowness and stuttering - which you may get with bad connections.

 

If you can find a relay elsewhere on the car that is the same type and known to work, try swapping it out and seeing if that works.

 

Mat.

They were pretty smooth before they failed. I've got a bunch of spare relays in the garage so that's easy enough. I just need someone to help me find them before I waste hours groping around under the pod! Thanks.

Dan,

There is one relay under the dash, mines fixed to the steering column support bracket, this is the main operating relay, there are two more located in the off-side headlight pod, mine are on the wheel arch ie rear of the pod looking from the front, there is a thread from me with a link to the TVR website ( provided by Duncan ) which has a excellent description of how the headlights work. managed to fix mine in a couple of hours. Also managed to get a couple of serviceable motors from the TVR section on e bay for next time.

Raise by turning knob on base of lift motor, then the best way to get to them is remove the head light unit, turn the headlight on, then turn the knob on the bottom of the motor from underneath, (through the large hole below) if its the brass strip in the motor they will drive up and or down. if they do nothing its more likely to be a relay, disconnect the battery at this point. when disconnected swap over relays one at a time putting the battery back on each time. you do not want your hand in through the light pod when they move.

i can see both mine from underneath but not through the headlight hole, you can however feel them they are quite high in the pod.

 

John

Also - a good source for replacement recon motors is Rimmer Bros. under TR7 (which is where they are from).

Dunc

Thanks for all this gents.  I found the relays at hack of the cavity on the wheel arch, had to remove the whole pod eventually because one of the relays was rusted solidly into its holder.  That'll need a new relay & holder.  The other one I cleaned up and fitted a brand new relay and that now glides up and down as good as new.  I'll post pictures of the old relays - they really were quite something!

 

Lots of posts talk about these copper strips.  If it turns out I need to have a look at those is it a case of pulling the whole lift motor out of the cavity?

Yep...

 

Not as hard as it sounds tbh.

Dan, can be done without disconnecting the wiring but you do need to de-mount the motor, which is how I did one of mine, its a lot better to take it right out and do in on the bench, easy to test as well I used a battery charger as a 12V source.

John