Electrical issues

While correcting many of my new toys little quirks ... (like light do the opposite to the stalk) ... I must have knocked some of the quality wiring.

Being a hybrid and on it xx rebuild, the electrics could have come from anywhere. Started a 2 1/4 petrol 88", new chassis and loopy 4.6 v8 with defender body work, now 200tdi from discovery.

The problems that all seemed to start at the same time -
Dash lights not working
Fuel gauge not working, reads empty
Hand brake light not coming on

This happened after working near the bulkhead wiring loom in the engine bay, drivers side. Correcting the headlight connections, replacing horns, wiring in the heater plug relay.

I have checked fuses, had the dash out to look for loose wires, got really confused at all the plugs that are not used in the engine bay. I even put some more fuel in!

From what I can see the two cable that come from the fuel gauge are not connected to anything but the only empty sockets are multi plugs.

Any ideas?

Learned something about landy wiring, it all comes down to grounding.
It seems that your dashboard lacks grounding. Get it out, and look for black wires. Take your multimeter and set it to measure resistance. Put one cable of the meter on the - of the battery and the other one on a terminal on one of the black wires. If the meter reads something other than 1, you have grounding, else check your earth straps, or make a temporarily earth connection direct from the battery and use this to test everything again.

Keep in mind that most of the bodywork is aluminium and that you cannot use alu for grounding.

9 out of 10 problems I had with wiring were earth problems.

regarding your fuel gauge, did it work before?

good luck!
joachim

Thanks - looks like it out with the multi meter again.

The fuel gauge seemed to work but did drop to 1/4 full faster than I expected and when I filled up it only took £20. The tank must be bigger than that. A few days later it packed up.

Nigel888 said:

The fuel gauge seemed to work but did drop to 1/4 full faster than I expected and when I filled up it only took £20.

Click to expand...

Heavy foot and cheap fuel?

No kidding, fuel sender also heavily depends on correct grounding. Don't have my schematics at hand (lying somewhere in the workshop at the other end of town), but I think there is a earth wire to the sender and also to the gauge. I took a picture of the sender connections before removal of the tank. here it is:

As I remember correctly: The black wire is earth, white/black(ish) is positive feed, green/black to the gauge. Hope it's of any use.