ffs its one fault after another recently

couple of nights ago a couple of cars flashed me, as if to tell me either my lights werent on or they were on high beam [they were dipped, and on]

had to nip out half hour ago and headlights are flickering onto high beam when dip is on, when it does this the blue light on dash doesnt come on. fiddling with the stalk dont do anything to make any effect, apart from switching lights to fully off [no flickering at fully off]

at one point, even with just sidelights on, the headlights were flicking to high beam

I will check the relays tomorrow in the engine bay, give the fuse box a blast of air from compressor and some switch cleaner

any other suggestions?

levemircento said:

ffs ..

I will check the relays tomorrow in the engine bay, give the fuse box a blast of air from compressor and some switch cleaner

any other suggestions?

Click to expand...

The airline sounds sensible

Time to throw that Renault key chain away

all completely dry in that fuse/relay box, pulled relays and had a look, all dry and good

its probably the stalks, tried the lights and its still playing up, there was a variety of stored codes via MES which I have cleared and one of them was for the control stalk

just had a look on ebay

can only stretch to a used set, but I bet its a swine of a job to change the assembly.

found this video, I have nothing to lose so might as well give it a go

basicalyl pull off the end of the stalk, inside which are the switch contacts for the lights, clean them up, put back together.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqFS3yHu6MA

I think its fixed!

with headlights and high beam on, removing and installing the high beam relay it wasnt clicking within, unlike if I did the same with the dip beam relay

so I decided to try another relay, bought for £2.40 off ebay.

it arrived today, put it in, and all seems normal now

so, a cheap fix, hopefully!

You would assume any other fault would still be there..

So does sound like a fix

so to close this topic, its a couple of days on and the fault is properly sorted by way of that replacement relay.

FFS!

I am ready for pushing the car off a cliff now

headlight dipped beam is on all the time now, although it will go off when key is off

can only really be the stalk switch, I have sprayed some contact cleaner into it but no effect, totally fed up now.

Don't worry! Changing a light stalk isn't going to be expensive. It's a very minor fault on any used car. They do fail sometimes.

On these cars also a wiring inside the stalk may snap. Infact there may be some threads about that on these forums. Some have changed the wire successfully however the new stalk won't be very expensive.

might not be the stalk

I had a wobble of the fuse/relay box in the engine bay today and the problem sorted itself, although the top of the fuses and relays etc are dry, I think theres moisture underneath in the wires/plugs

perhaps from when my screenwash pipe to the front nozzles came off, I can feel screenwash residue on the wires into the fuse box

if its a good day tomorrow, I am going to take battery out and remove the fuse box, it comes free and the wiring attaches underneath it via plugs, I will get a better idea with that out the way.

so it was a nice day, time to have a look at my connections under the fuse/relay box in the engine bay

first you need to remove the battery, I do have a battery saver which you plug into another battery and into the OBD2 socket to keep memories, no point in this as there will still be live connections floating about under the area I am working in, so its a complete battery disconnection and removal

pic 001


remove fuse box cover

at the back of fuse box in a 12v positive feed, undo it with a 10mm socket

put hand underneath and pull the fuse box round so the fuses are facing the inner wing, this reveals the three large connections to the wiring

pic 002



each connector has a clip, press a tab in and move the lever, it releases it from the box, undo each one.

fuse box can be lifted away, this is the underside

pic 003



fuse box removed, cables etc, some of the insulation tape was missing or had come adrift in places, I put some new in before refitting, and used a heat gun to tighten the tape, also used heat to dry out the sockets because they were damp

pic 004



underside of one of fuse box connections, there was dampness and corrosion of some pins, I cleaned it up with contact cleaner and a brass wire brush, and also my toothbrush. used heat to make it all nice and dry.

pic 005



after this, just put it all back together, I used some grease around the inner edge of the connectors to help keep water out [not on electrical contacts]

tried the lights which appear to be ok and also my rear parking sensors arent having a beeping fit for no reason.


will just have to see how it goes



might consider some product [what?] to put onto the contact pins to prevent further corrosion, I left them dry at the moment, but it only takes around 10 mins to get to them again if I have to.