Help 🤯

Good morning guys.

Defender 1998 300Tdi 110.

Ok so i know this issue i have could be a million and one things but i just need to clarify one thing before i move on with my problem solving.

The issue is this, When i put the left hand indicator on it flashes fast and the wipers come on and wont stop until i pull the fuse and the gauges all drop then when the indicator is off all returns to normal.

At night with the headlamps on the same happens and the lights go dim and so do the dash lights but when i turn the indicator off the lights stay dim as so do the dash lights.

The above was intermittent but now it does it all the time and some times when the ignition is off the right side light stays on and the left hand indicator are on but very very dim on the front and the rear left hand indicator

I have checked the earths and they are good. In fact they were newly made myself 18 months ago correctly crimped with adhesive heat shrink. No cheep china crap!

I think my problem is i have a permanent live has gone to ground.

I have put a multi meter on the + and - on the indicator and it buzzes. Now i am not sure about continuity with DC systems. Is this correct?

Photo is just to help explain

Would that not just show its making a circuit?

Possibly a chaffed wire in the loom inside the chassis? Can you pull a few inches of loom out the chassis at each end to check for bared wires. Other thing could be the trailer plug corroded

If you test like that with the indicator "off" for that side you should not buzz. Cos there should be no circuit.
Turn the ignition on and check for any voltage in the same condition as you had. It maybe very low

You have a leakage of some volts somewhere but where .

Trailer socket is a good call to check.
If the test you did was without ignition on then your indicator stalk and ignition switch needs checking.
as the lights stay on although dimly with no ignition then you need to check both ignition switch and light switch.
Fuse box?

With so many issues you are going to have to bite them off 1 at a time, did you fit new looms when you rebuilt it (i cant remember)

But at the end of the day it will be an earth, its always an earth............. until its a switch
Good luck.

J

Anaconda said:

Would that not just show its making a circuit?

Click to expand...

Like i say i am not 100% about checking for shorts on a DC circuit.

marjon said:

If you test like that with the indicator "off" for that side you should not buzz. Cos there should be no circuit.
Turn the ignition on and check for any voltage in the same condition as you had. It maybe very low

You have a leakage of some volts somewhere but where .

Trailer socket is a good call to check.
If the test you did was without ignition on then your indicator stalk and ignition switch needs checking.
as the lights stay on although dimly with no ignition then you need to check both ignition switch and light switch.
Fuse box?

With so many issues you are going to have to bite them off 1 at a time, did you fit new looms when you rebuilt it (i cant remember)

But at the end of the day it will be an earth, its always an earth............. until its a switch
Good luck.

J

Click to expand...

Cheers mate.

We are thinking on similar lines. I will carry on and report back.

landy-lee said:

Like i say i am not 100% about checking for shorts on a DC circuit.

Click to expand...

Its quite simple if it bleeps or buzzes then it has a connection to each other somewhere. Doesn't mean it will carry 12v though. maybe 2v to dimly light a lamp.
Thats when you need to check the actual resistance number. But you dont need that. you have a connection somewhere somehow.

J

Oh,
dont forget hazard switch, and relays.

J

Wires can and do chafe through inside the bindings in wiring looms. I had a problem a couple of years ago in that the lights seemed to have yoked themselves to the heated rear screen so that they came on together. Everybody says 'earth' as if this were some sort of profound wisdom, but in this case the culprit seemed to be the wire that went from the heated screen switch to the warning light on the instrument cluster. After some thought as to whether this really was the problem, I cut the wire at either end and crimped a new one in place and capped off the ends of the old one with heatshrink and it's been fine since. The element of the heated screen itself has long since given up the ghost, but I've not found it worth buying a new one. I tend to use my side mirrors anyway, as I can see more in them than by trying to look through the rather narrow gap between the spare tyre and the high level brake light.

landy-lee said:

Like i say i am not 100% about checking for shorts on a DC circuit.

Click to expand...

I'm far from an expert but if that indicator is on you will light up your test light, multimeter if the other probe goes to the earth wire (if the earth wire is working as such).

Good morning guys.

Here is an update and a little more info for you.

So after yesterday's input from you all i have gone out and done some more problem solving.

I am now starting to think it is glow plug related and heres why.

So when i turn on the ignition the LED display on my EGT gauge goes from a pluss temp reading to a negative temp reading (see photos) and after the glow plug relay/timer clicks the EGT will go back to a plus temp reading.

But this morning i spotted that the glow plug timer did not click off and i also spotted that when i first turn on the ignition the glow plug light on the dash comes on and then slowly fades out after 5 seconds and no click from the glow plug timer.

So i went under the bonnet to look at the larger amp fuses and gave them a wiggle and now the glow plugs work as they should but i still get the issues i explained yesterday.

My thinking now is the clean the contacts on the fuese and possible pull the glow plug fuse and then unplug the relay.

Glow plug relay falling apart inside you think??

EGT with ignition off.


EGT with ignition on wile glow plugs on to.


Fuses


Cheers Landy Lee

Can't see how it's related but interested to find out if it is.
Indicator flashing too fast can be a bulb out or faulty, guess you checked them?
I had a headlight fault on the Mustang which at first I though would be all sorts of expensive problems. I took the bolt out holding the earth to the front panel, put a new bolt in and hey presto all was fixed.