Freelander 1: Indicators and Hazard Lights << RESOLVED >>

Hi All,

I have been experiencing some weirdness with my indicators and hazard lights not working that I'm struggling to fix.

Car
- 2000 (W reg) Freelander 1.8 with a towbar and wiring (wiring is a complete "plug & play" loom - Britpart IIRC)
- Flasher relay is an unbranded four pin "heavy duty" towing one from (ahem) eBay.
- Towbar & wiring loom were fitted nearly 18 months ago.

Everything worked absolutely fine until a few weeks ago, including towing trailers at least once a month.

What's happened?
- About three weeks ago I noticed the indicators would stop flashing after maybe 8-10 flashes (I'm pretty sure the hazard lights were not working at all either).
- This steadily worsened until I could only get one flash out of them (left or right) when the car was first started. Additionally, the hazard lights were definitely not working at all and the indicators didn't flash when arming / disarming the alarm.
- By last weekend I had no indicators at all.
- The recent cold snap over the past few days has partially "reinvigorated them" (3-4 flashes at most; still no hazards or flashes with alarm arming etc).

What have I done?
- Figuring my cheap unbranded relay was not built to last, I bought a genuine "towbar compatible" Lucas flasher relay (YWT10002).
- First one didn't turn up and I had to complain to get a refund.
- Second (from a different seller - allegedly removed from vehicle when new, which I have no reason to doubt) turned up today.
- I fitted it and I have indicators again, but no hazards and no flashing when arming / disarming alarm.

Can anyone suggest what I should look at? Could this flasher relay be faulty too?

(PS - I have looked for the original, non-towbar compatible flasher relay to see how that behaved, but irritatingly can't find it).

Cheers,
Malcolm

From circuit looks like the arm / disarm signal comes from the CCU via a relay in the passenger fusebox and then via a couple of diodes to the left and right lamps.

The hazards appear to be fed from the same flasher via the hazard switch.

It has been known for the 2 diodes which are on the back of the internal fuse box to fail which could prevent the arm / disarm.
Also check the relay.

Can't see a common failure that would affect both hazards and arm / disarm flash.

Will carry on looking !! Maybe 2 faults.

Check Fuse 7 in drivers side fusebox for 2001 onwards. Common to arm/disarm and hazards.

But on a 2000 MY it appears to be Fuse 4 in the engine bay box !!

Thank you very much (yet again..!) Andy

Yes, it turned out Fuse 4 in the engine-bay fuse-box had blown. Replacing it has fixed both the hazards and the indicators flashing when you arm / disarm the alarm. So I'm back to normal.

I was half expecting the replacement to blow too, but it seems fine so far (I tested by leaving the hazards on for 20-30 seconds with no ill effects). I am guessing (hoping) the failing flasher relay caused that fuse to blow.

Moral of the story is a cheap (£6 or there abouts) unbranded flasher relay off eBay turned out to be a poor purchasing decision less than a couple of years later...

Note for others: mine is a 2000 model (before the mini "facelift" they did at the end of 2000 which introduced the Euro-4 certified version of the 1.8 petrol engine, clear indicators etc), so it's worth noting the engine-bay fuse-box is small and lacks any printed or moulded numbering for either the fuses or fusible links. Fuse 4 was easy to find by a process of elimination as there are only six slots and it's the only 15 amp one.

Cheers,
Malcolm

Yah. Could.have been fault in flasher unit that popped fuse as the hazard and ind are all interconnected through the switches.

Good result.