110 Defender dim headlight and sidelight

J

JohnPort

Member

Posts

15

Location

portugal

• Jan 25, 2019

• #1

Hi All,

got to have a look at a wiring problem over the weekend for the MOT on my old Defender. One headlamp and sidelight (drivers side) are much dimmer than the other side - so much so that it got picked up on at the MOT. I am a complete novice at car wiring and electrics, so just wondered if you guys had any tips on where to start when fault finding - bad earth connection, maybe? Thanks. John

 

Flossie

Well-Known Member

Posts

11,050

Location

Shropshire

• Jan 25, 2019

• #2

Bad earth, it will be behind the light in the engine bay.

 

wireman

Well-Known Member

Posts

1,169

Location

Warrington

• Jan 25, 2019

• #3

+1 for a bad earth. Find the earth, disconnecting, clean up the area to shiny metal, reconnect, test, then cover with Vaseline.

 

mick 1986

Well-Known Member

Posts

2,537

Location

Lost

• Jan 25, 2019

• #4

JohnPort said:

Hi All,

got to have a look at a wiring problem over the weekend for the MOT on my old Defender. One headlamp and sidelight (drivers side) are much dimmer than the other side - so much so that it got picked up on at the MOT. I am a complete novice at car wiring and electrics, so just wondered if you guys had any tips on where to start when fault finding - bad earth connection, maybe? Thanks. John

Click to expand...

It’s on the inner wing normally. If I were you, I would run a new wire between the two earths, one each side, and head back the battery, or main earth point (bulkhead or gearbox bolts).

 

doriz

Well-Known Member

Posts

17,312

Location

Linconeshy're, not far from Carrington

• Jan 25, 2019

• #5

A complete PITA with the wings on, expect grazed knuckles, good luck

 

nobber

Well-Known Member

Posts

10,551

Location

Arse!

• Jan 26, 2019

• #6

What year is it? Mine at the moment is suffering from hot fuses, ive made a 17 amp fly lead for the earth, straight from battery down near side wing, it picks up the earth stud on this side with a soldered ring connector (will bolt to the earth stud) then carries on to the off side and the same. My guess is though I have a problem at the fuse box but this seems like a good place to start to eliminate a loading problem due to bad earths.