More light issues.

[mike wilson]

Just had to change a stoplight bulb.  All of the "how-to"s show the left hand side, which seems fairly simple.  Mine, of course, was the driver's side; the one where you need an arm with the length and flexibility of a gibbon and the finger strength of an adult chimpazee.  Whoever designed them should be granted eternal life and then made to spend all of it replacing bulbs for people.

Afterwards, I thought I should check all the other lights.  All fine until I came to the glovebox.  Total gloom but there is a switch next to the catch so I suppose there should be a light.  I cannot see where it would be however - although I wasn't going to be grovelling on the ground to see the top of the box in this weather.  There's nothing in either the driver's handbook or any of the online parts cats.  Does anyone know if, where and what should be there?

Whilst I have your attention, I seem to remember that projector type lights can be manually switched between left and right hand dipping.  Is the same true for HID?

Many thanks in advance and enjoy your festive season.  I'm looking forward to being spiked next year and getting back to a semblance of normality.

[johnnyroper]

On cars I have had with OE xenons there has been a little metal flap to move that flattens the cut off just like halogen projector units.

[brianh]

If you've got the owners manual for it, that usually describes how to adjust this (certainly I remember doing this on a Fiesta for one of my neighbours as they were struggling to follow the instructions given there and it was fairly straightforward once you found the bit you move up/down to switch between sides much like described above).

Agree on the comment in the first paragraph - whats the point in requiring people to carry spare bulbs if fitting them at the roadside is close to impossible anyway.

[mike wilson]

I was hoping to get around to sorting this stuff out during lockdown but the weather has been consistently foul (storm?  what storm? the weather's the same as it has been for weeks) so I have done nothing except refill the washer bottle and tank and drive it.  Not too much of that either but I'm doing shopping for two other households (is that legal or do I need to let them starve?) for the duration.  I do hope we have a spring like last year, so that doing stuff outdoors becomes possible again.

[mike wilson]

OooooKkkkkk....  Nice day, so time to sort this out.  No previous amount of contortions would allow me to see the roof of the glovebox, so it was time to resort to intelligence.  A mirror with LEDs around it was pence online and arrived fairly sharpish.  Using that, I could see that there was a unit with a bulb in, next to the switch but no obvious way to take the bulb out.  Then I realised that the unit was held into the lip of the glovebox with some clips.  It was fairly easy to push it away from the lid and into the glovebox, unplug the wire and remove it.  The bulb needed prying out as there was nowhere to grip it.  It was obviously blown.  You can see the attachment clips and the blown bulb below.

[attach=1]

Prised the bulb out and replaced and went to shove it all back together.  Reconnected the wiring and idly pressed the switch to watch the light go out.  It stayed on.

Much fiddling and disassembly later, it became obvious the the switch had been incorrectly assembled, probably from new.  When we bought the car we discovered, to our dismay, a receipt for new alternator and battery when it was two years old.  I bet that was because the battery kept discharging if it was left for a week or so.  Not being able to find the drain the Ford techs (it was a lease hire vehicle at the time) just replaced the major components and I am guessing the bulb blew around the same time.  Two years constantly on is good going for one of those.  Happy days.

Just need to find the beam dip lever, now.

[mike wilson]

Just had to change the stoplight bulb on the other side and I've dropped _both_ of the damned stupid plastic screws into the rear wing.  It looks like I am going to have to do some serious dismantling to get them out.  Funny how you can go right off a vehicle over really quite trivial things.

[mike wilson]

Well, with a whizz-bang camera on the end of a fibre optic cable, I can see them but, so far, no success in retrieving them.  It looks like I will have to remove the inertia reel part of the seatbelt to gain access and, to do that, I need to remove the rear fuse box, which appears to be held in by magic.  Anyone know how to just free it from the body so I can move it to get at the belt attachment?

Alternatively, does anyone have a pair of the fixings lying around?  HN2 on this diagram.
http://catcar.info/ford/?lang=en&l=bWFya2V0PT1ldXJvfHxjYXRfaWQ9PTExMDAxfHxjYWJicj09R0NBMXx8dGhrPT0zfHxzdD09NjB8fHN0cz09eyIyMCI6IkV1cm9wZSIsIjMwIjoiUy1NQVhcL0dhbGF4eSBDQTEgMjAwNi0yMDE1IiwiNDAiOiI0IEVsZWN0cmljYWwiLCI1MCI6IjQxNzAzIEVsZWN0cmljYWwuUmVhciBBbmQgUm9vZiBXaWR0aCBNYXJrZXIgTGFtcHMiLCI2MCI6IjQxNzAzMDVEIFJlYXIgTGFtcHMifXx8YWxwaGE9PTR8fGdyb3VwPT00MTcwM3x8c2VjdD09NDAxNEFPVHx8c2V0PT1BMTQxNzAzfHxpbWc9PUswMzI2MjYzMDJ8fGYxMj09LTY4Nzc2NzU1MisxMzU%3D

Back to sticking pins in models of Ford designers for me.  It doesn't solve the problem but it makes me feel better.

[SirDavidAlhambra]

Could you suck them out using the hoover?

Or grab them using a metal coat hanger with a blob of plasticine on the end?

[mike wilson]

Only if I get the seatbelt bobbin out of the way.  And we don't have a metal coathanger in the house.  I managed to get close to them with blutak on the end of a welding rod but there just isn't enough space to manoeuvre once you get down to them and I think it would be too bendy if I did.  Got really close with blutak on a cable tie but couldn't press to make it stick.  Most frustrating.

[SirDavidAlhambra]

Could you get a thin-ish plastic or rubber pipe, duck tape one end to the end of a hoover nozzle, and then insert and wiggle the other end of the pipe around down there until it sucks onto something and lets you gently lift it out

[Chrispb]

What about one of these, have had one for years there a life saver.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274893889360?hash=item4000f3df50:g:up8AAOSwtKVaesS~

[brianh]

Those work quite well if you can see but not reach the item. Alternatively https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381050974355

[mike wilson]

Thanks for the suggestions, folks.  I have multiple versions of the giant pickle grabber but they are all too inflexible.  It needs to go in a hole and turn an immediate right angle and they are just too stiff.  The vacuum sucker idea is favourite at the moment.  If I could pull the seat belt bobbin, there would be much more room but the fusebox is in the way.  If anyone knows how that is attached, I would be very grateful.

[mike wilson]

Test

[SirDavidAlhambra]

Test passed

[mike wilson]

I was having difficulty posting but it seems to have cured itself.

Soooooo....  I managed to push the dropped fasteners into a totally inaccessible place, so I'm waiting for the new ones to arrive.  When they do, I'll tape a supermagnet to each one so that they will be immesely attracted to the screwdriver I'll use to put them back.  And I will be able to retrieve them if I do drop them again.  I think there may be enough room to superglue a small magnet into the bore of them, so I'll do some measurement once they arrive.

Also, once the new ones are installed, I will undertake some dismantling of the rear to see if I can access the place the old ones have dropped to.  Can't decide if it will be better to try to pull the boot side panels or lift the floor, which means removing the rear seats.  Oh well,  it'll keep me out of trouble for a while.

[mike wilson]

Time for a sizeable portion of humble pie. 

Even with new fasteners, I am not going to be able to reattach the light without considerable risk of dropping them again. 

So as I wait for someone with much smaller and beautifully formed hands to appear, I try to retrieve the lost parts.  Pull the back off the seats and it's obvious I will need to do much more disassembly before I will be able to get access under the floor.  So let's try the side panel.  The B&C pillar coverings will need to come off to remove it completely, so lets try to undo the bottom in case I can reach in that way.  The boot rim capping on the floor needs to come off first.  Luckily, it's split into three segments so I pull the relevant side part off.  It just comes straight up.  Two seconds' work.

And there are the errant fasteners, peering up at me with a "who? us?" look on their faces!  I was sure they were much further down than that.

I need to go somewhere dark and quiet and swear a lot.

[Chrispb]

Well at least they were together and probably glad to be screwed again to their respective stud

[brianh]

If they are anything like the ones on the C-Max of the same era, I know where your coming from, Trying to change a blown bulb on one of those was an absolute pain!

[mike wilson]

I think I've mentioned the lights that go on when you turn the steering wheel.  turn left and the bulb on the left lights up the inside of the corner.  Same but opposite for the right.  Drive down the road, alternately lighting up pavements, and your beloved smacks you on the back of the head.

Now for a really interesting part.  If you reverse, the lights work but in opposition to the steering wheel.  Turn the wheel left, which makes you go to the left but would appear to the right if you were sitting facing backwards and the light lights up on the outside of the curve, in this case the right hand side of the car.  This iluminates the part of the road where the front of the vehicle will swing out and hit anything there that you did not see.  Jolly clever.

[Mirez]

Really? That's the first I've heard of that is that clever with its cornering lights, most seem to put both lights on when in reverse. Is that on the Gal?

[mikewilson]

Sorry for the delayed reply; busy life.
Yes, it's the MkIII.  Surprised me when I first spotted it as well.  I've demonstrated it to a few people now.

[mikewilson]

And there's more; HDI headlamp washer is not working.  The rear washer also seems to need priming when it has not been used for a while.  Once flow gets through it works fine for the rest of the journey.  No leaks that I can find.

I had to strip the previous Focus washer battle for similar reasons - the pump pickup points were nearly blocked with a sort of blueish gel.  I assume that the non-return valve in the rear washer line is partially held open and the feed to the lamp washer is blocked by something similar.  Anyone know if there is any other likelyhood, such as an electrical fault, for example?

[mikewilson]

And any advice about accessing the washer bottle and rear line would be appreciated.

[brianh]

Not sure on the MKIII Galaxy, but the Espace I've got has HID and the required washers, they only operate on that when you have the headlights on, and then only on every 3rd pull of the washers.

The Disco I've got also has headlight washers (though these are conventional ones) and they only work on a similar basis (only when lights are on, and only every X operations of the windscreen washers though can't remember how many it is offhand. Not that they do much of any real help there anyway).

I did think the disco ones weren't working as they rarely seemed to be wet, but they turn on via diagnostics ok, but its noticable that they take a few seconds operated like that to actually spray anything out, Suspect as you do, that whatever passes for a one-way valve in the system isn't working as well as it should be there.

It might be worth testing with Forscan if you can, as you may be able to trigger it for longer than pulling the stalk would do. Plus you may be able to test in isolation that way?

[mikewilson]

Thanks; I realised after posting that it may work on a "not every time" basis.  I would have thought that first time would be one of those, however.  makes sense to me that your first squirt would be because of perceived dirt and suBsequent ones may just be to continue the process.  I'll try them again tomorrow - I only did them today because I was parked facing a plate glass window so checking was OMO.

The rear line really does need attention, though.

[mikewilson]

Looking around, it does seem the many of these washers work by fluid pressure causing the door to open and the jets to come into position.  So the slightest weep or weakness of the pump will inhibit function.  Spouse is using the beast for work today (an uncommon occurrence these days) so it will be this evening before I can have a play, at the earliest.

[brianh]

The few I've seen (apart from the Disco ones, which are fixed and like the windscreen sprinklers) tend to have a high pressure pump thats designed to propel the jet housing up and then lets it return by spraying out as it drops. As you say, slightest leak can seriously impair it doing this, or a weak pump.

Don't know the mk3 to advise on the rear one, the pump generally can be accessed from underneath, the bottle can be more difficult to remove, but doesn't sound like you need to do that anyway. Need someone whos had a look underneath to help there.

[mikewilson]

Just did a proper test and no go - but big puddles under each headlight.  Not 100% that it isn't drainage from the screen, much of which seems to appear at the back of the wheelarch but I predict some time grovelling on the ground in my future.  Aliens* pull out and up easily, so no problems there, unless it's an issue with seals and valves.

Oh, for a hoist....


*  8 -)

[brianh]

A hoist (or a 2 post lift, which is what i think you mean) isn't as expensive as you might think. The issue is having a suitable area to put it into, both a solid enough floor and enough height to make it usable.

[mikewilson]

Agreed.  If I could find a weatherproof one, I'd have it in the drive in a heartbeat.

[mikewilson]

So it looks like the pump has died.  No noise when the switch is triggered and the fuse is OK.  Access is not possible from above by removing the headlight, so the front valance has to come off.  Not going to happen in the near future as we have bought the house next door and repairing the massive (and dangerous - can you believe an electric fire run off a flying lead that went under the fitted carpet?) bodgery is going to take most of the summer.