Dash wiring problems

I have a couple of problems with my dash wiring.

The first problem I have a am guessing is an earth fault. When I turn the headlights onto main beam the speedo dash light goes off and the glow plug light comes on. Does an earth fault sound right?

More worrying is that on my last journey the battery charge light came on. It was full brightness but it did not come on and stay on. It would occasionally go out but then come back on. Does this sound like it is likely to be related to the other problem or is this a new problem with the alternator?

First one definitely sounds like earth fault.
Dunno about the second.sort the first one then see if it gets better, if not it is another problem.

When you say the speedo light goes out....which bulb is that...is it the back light.

nickjaxe said:

When you say the speedo light goes out....which bulb is that...is it the back light.

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Yes the backlight bulbs for the speedo. But the fuel/temp gauge back light is unaffected.

SpringDon said:

First one definitely sounds like earth fault.
Dunno about the second.sort the first one then see if it gets better, if not it is another problem.

Click to expand...

Is there a common earth point for the dash or does each item have it's own earth that I will need to trace and repair?

Yes I think it is common...all the blacks go to one of the clamps on the speedo I think.

Great, thank you. I'll start by looking there, will probably add an earth cable running direct to the battery and link everything to that just to be sure. Hopefully that will sort the problem

Mine was doing that the other day (flashing headlights whilst flickering back-lights). There are a couple of earths on the back of the speedo housing that are held down by the thumb screws on the back of the speedo they probably just want tightening up.

Disconnect battery, undo two dash screws and pull dash toward you and then slice all the skin off the back of your fingers and hands trying to do the screws up. By the time you've done that all the warning bulbs will have popped out and so you can spend a few minutes working out which one is which by comparing colours with the wiring diagram in the books - except someone will have replaced one of them with one that is the same colour...

You should have a good earth on the lower of the aux power sockets.