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Troy Christopher Quigley

EF high beam problems

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the relays in front of your over flow bottle ,2x are for low beam 2x are for hi beam ,but it wont be them ,there is alittle tin with either 2x thick yellow wires going to it ,this is the hi beam biometalic strip, replace this and all will be well!

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hi peoples  my xh has just started this crap last night of flashing hi beam and it only does if I let it idle for a couple of minutes.   when on the h/way travelling an hi beam is on its fine

so doctor rev do you think it will be the tin box doing this or light switch or  something else  could it be heat related due lack of air in the bay when stationary? any ideas of help will be apprenticed as my mechanical knowledge is zero

cheers demmo

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man I lay $10 bucks on the little tin gigger, I worked for ford for many years I must have replaced 100 of then ,also if you have fitted 100wat bulbs get rid of the little 30amp relays and fit 50wat plus

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thanks rev got hold of the "tin gigger " tonight so will fit 2moz  if I can loose enough grape juice to be able too see straight that is              don't have 100 watt lights ute is all standard ford factory   so hope you are right an sorry think I drank your 10 bucks + already haha  so I owe ya

cheers demmo                              

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If your alternator isn't charging properly - outputting at a lower voltage, this will in turn cause the current draw of any accessory loads to increase,

as the battery charge is slowly depleted.

 

If the alternator has dead diodes, then it's amperage capacity will be reduced, thus will dull the lights, slow the power windows,

(and in extreme cases, can blow fuses) etc.

 

Dead diodes and/or capacitor, or faulty reg, will also cause AC interference/ripple into the vehicles electrical system - since an alternator output, is a rectified 3phase AC power source.

This interference can upset vehicle electronics, causing all manner of weird things to happen - depending on the functionality of various sensors, the ECU itself, etc.

 

ie, - some sensors generate their own AC output, which the ECU expects to see.

A faulty alternator can mimic sensor outputs and confuse the ECU, without ever logging any fault codes.

 

Further example -

A faulty alternator could have AC ripple from a voltage regulator, that exposes itself when the headlights are turned on at idle.

The fuel injection system could then see the ripple as engine RPM and began injecting mass amounts of fuel.

 

Always verify your alternator operation first, when chasing oddball electrical faults.

(hard to do properly, without access to an oscilloscope)

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thankyou for the info Dave    I didn't  think  of the alternator as I have never had one die on me so  now before I replace the tin gigger  I will have a play and  see if ac triggers it  have a couple of 100 watt spots I  can plug in as well should be interesting to  see what happens.  my first thought was that it be heat related due to no air movement under the bonnet when stationary as the xh has no grill and the bay  is very enclosed with sump guard  restricting air in low down under bumper so when stationary with fans not on there is no air movement.

anyway thanks again for info  always good to learn something new to keep the brain awake

cheers demmo

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ok  rev was on the money replaced the tin gigger  an all works fine.  not sure how long as the old unit was quite warm while lights were flicking on/off  the replacement also is quite warm although the lights work as they should.  so is it normal for  do these units to  heat up when in use.   anyway all good for now  thanks for the reply's guys

cheers demmo

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whats in the little tin box is 2 contact points and a strip of copper ,what happens is as the voltage makes the wiring hot it also affects the copper strip, making it heat up and pull the contacts ,or breakers apart causing this sudden off or flashing affect ,a new will prob make it for 6 months before it to goes poooo!

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On 7/6/2014 at 8:52 PM, revhead said:

whats in the little tin box is 2 contact points and a strip of copper ,what happens is as the voltage makes the wiring hot it also affects the copper strip, making it heat up and pull the contacts ,or breakers apart causing this sudden off or flashing affect ,a new will prob make it for 6 months before it to goes poooo!

 

This explanation is not entirely correct, electrically. It does explain it and gets the message accross to most people, though in electrical law it is incorrect.

Voltage does not, will not, and never will be the cause of heat in wiring, or anything else for that matter.

It is Current (Amps) that creates the heat, the more current, the more heat, and a bi-metal strip is constructed of 2 dis-similar metals which have different characteristics at diferent temps. The expansion of those 2 metals (caused by the flow of current) increase at different rates, meaning one will expand more than another. Once the pre-set temp cut'-out (max current) has been reached, the  metal of the bi-metal strip which expands more will spring the opposite direction to where it was. This opens the contacts in the circuit and disconnection occurs. Current is now broken, the metal cools and resets over time and the cable/elec equip has been protected from over heating or worse, fire.

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Rather than raise another thread, can anyone advise what this silver boxed “relay” is called and if they have a part number for it.

 

is it common to ea,  eb, ef and el’s?

 

mines an EF and I’ve lost both low and high beams . Ji can hear a scratching clicking noise if I cycle between low and high beams, but no constant output, so either both relays are cooked or it’s this silver box described by others....

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40 minutes ago, GF0012-AUST said:

can anyone advise what this silver boxed “relay” is called and if they have a part number for it.

 

It's an auto-reset circuit breaker - usually a 30A rating.

Uncommon, but they CAN get corrosion internally, which trips the circuit when it shouldn't.

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Thanks for that. Is this Ford specific or will a general purpose 12v 30amp circuit breaker be suitable?

 

I’m hearing a “sizzling” type noise when I flick between Lo and hi beam, like an intermittent connection. Hazards and Parker’s/indicators are fine.. I’m assuming that as both  Lo  and hi are gone that losing both relays at once would be unusual 😳

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2 hours ago, GF0012-AUST said:

Thanks for that. Is this Ford specific or will a general purpose 12v 30amp circuit breaker be suitable?

 

Could always be dodgy relay contacts?

See if you can track down, where the noise is coming from.

 

Yes it's Ford specific, and not available aftermarket, that I've ever seen.

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Looked next to fuse block and relay block, looked at relay block under expansion tank and couldn’t find the circuit breaker. Vanilla EF, so nothing extraordinary about the car from a electrical layout perspective.

 

however, reseated all fuses, relays along the fender, scrubbed the battery terminals and it all came back on, both Lo and hi beams.

 

so maybe dirty connections?

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Failed again. Stuck on the stethoscope and isolated the dead relay. Went to the local pick a part and grabbed a bag of spares off an EL and an AU as supercheap had nothing.

 

Sprayed relay seats, gave relay terminals a quick brush with a brass brush, problem now fixed

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