General 2001 Punto problem!

[Vaudaz]

My girlfriend's punto elx has been having lighting problems recently. When changing from dipped beam to full beam the lights turn off for a second, then just the full beam bulbs come back on. Then when you change back to dipped beam the same thing-total darkness for a couple of seconds. Also, there's an electronic sparking sound around the steering wheel somewhere but I can't pinpoint where exactly.
Then I noticed that one of the dipped beam bulb connectors had totally melted, changed that but still no joy. Anyone got any idea what could be causing this? Or had any experience of this?

 

[Punto.Power]

My starting point would be, faulty stalk and the contacts in it have worn,could be relays,then the tightness of the battery earth,alternator,starter motor leads, could be a bad earth..

 

[johnswlondon]

lighting relay fault

 

[vtec]

Impossible to say from the description, could be after market wiring., what i will say is if its melting stuff then you' want to fix it quick because the fuse should have blown before the part melted and that can result in a fire or just fry all of your wiring.,.,
I rewired a corsa a few months ago thanks to a cowboy fitting a stereo ar*sways and burning all the wiring.,.,

 

[Vaudaz]

Thanks for the replies guys! There is no after market anything in her car, the whole thing is bulk standard.
I know the relays are to the right of the steering wheel, but which one would be related to the head lights?
What is involved with changing the stalk, is it steering wheel off,air bag out, swap over then back together?