Dash and Tail lights flicker

[Jack420R]

I am recent owner of 2016 420R and the other night while driving my dash gauges and switches all go dark for a couple of minutes and did it several more times on that drive for various  duration.   At my destination, I get out with car still running with headlights still on and notice that my tail lights are also off (dash is dark too). Within a minute or two they are back on.  I don't have a wiring diagram, but I have seen a description of the fuse block and it doesn't appear  that the dash and tail lights share a fuse.  Any ideas?  Thanks

[Croc]

 

Welcome to USA7s!  Congratulations on your first post and on recently acquiring your Caterham.

 

The downloads section of this site has a lot of technical materials available.  The build manual at the following link has a wiring diagram for both engine harness (Figure 213) and main harness (Figure 214) at pages 216 and 217:

 

If it is not a fuse then the majority of the time it is a loose earth lead.  There are two earths.  Your engine is good so I would assume it is fine.  Your main earth is connected either on bulkhead in engine bay or a chassis rail nearby.

 

However, you have some unusual symptoms in that dash and tail lights are failing.  If the tail lights are off, are the indicators and license plate light also not working?  Rear fog light?  Brake lights?  If all the lights on the rear are not working then they all share a common earth - that would be the first thing to check.  

 

The instruments and rear brake/night lights do share adjoining fuses - maybe check both are secure.  Fuse box layout for a Duratec can be see at page 46 here:

 

 

 

This is just a starting point for checking.  As you feedback any additional observations, we can better diagnose.     

 

 

 

[7Westfield]

bad headlight switch?

[coffee break]

Welcome to the mysteries of hand built cars that are pieced together from various parts bins. 

As Croc was pointing out loose wire connections especially grounds can be causing intermittent operation. 7s do a lot of vibrating and can loosen connections up, also wires pinched in tight places can also do it.

 

Answer: "Dim, flicker and off" 

Question: "What are the three switch positions for Lucas lights?"