Re: Disco Lucas Light switch voodoo

Ok - for anyone who is interested - if your light switch (the multi-switch wand on your steering column) starts to get worn and selecting lights full on becomes difficult to do - replace that switch right away! The reason being - if you continue to let a worn multi-switch run it will eventually start smoking and it may even cause a fire on your steering column wiring (worst-case scenario: your disco will burn down and take anything else next to it along with it; this happened to a motor vehicle dealer with $200,000.00 [Canadian dollars] worth of damage on his car lot)!

For whatever reason, call it Lucas voodoo or whatever you want, that switch will heat up and will not necessarily blow a fuse. I was lucky, my multi-connector (i.e., where you plug the wiring harness into the switch) got a little toasty though; others have not been so lucky.

That'll be 'Lucas the Prince of Darkness' at work.

Hello Spyder,

Yeah - I have seen the t-shirts with "The Prince of Darkness" on them!

The good news about the switch replacement job is that it's an easy one. The book tells you to pull the steering wheel but that's not necessary; all you have to do is to undo the plastic cowl around the steering column (held on with three screws) - seperate the two halves, then undo the two screws in the front of the multi-switch and gently pry the switch out of its moorings and remove the wiring harness at the back.

The bad news is: those Lucas multi-switches are not cheap! $154.00 US dollars.

Changed the Multi switch on my Series III, cost about £18 from Paddocks. The quality of the switch is crap as is the original wiring, have renewed most of it after it decided to light a bonfire in the dash.