Help please! Ignition fault.

Dashboard lights flashing & relay clicking noise from engine fuse box area. Changed ignition switch but still same. Disconnected starter motor but same fault, could this be a faulty relay somewhere or sudden earth fault??

engin start relay?

"Dashboard lights flashing & relay clicking noise from engine fuse box area"
When does this occur?
Always?
Ignition ON?
Whilst attempting to crank the engine?

Have you checked the battery voltage? (e.g do the headlamps appear to be normally bright?)

have a look at this thread, this guy has had the same problems as you and it turned out to be a dodgy connection under the battery/engine fusebox, might be worth dropping him a pm to find out exactly where it was..

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/1438165-post25.html

Dann said:

"Dashboard lights flashing & relay clicking noise from engine fuse box area"
When does this occur?
Always?
Ignition ON?
Whilst attempting to crank the engine?

Have you checked the battery voltage? (e.g do the headlamps appear to be normally bright?)

Click to expand...

Lights flashing & clicking only when i turn the ignition on (position 2).
Battery voltage 12.5 volts. I tried starting with jump leads but no joy. Managed to bump start it though, so think the fault is in the ignition circuit somewhere.
Cheers.

markyzs180 said:

have a look at this thread, this guy has had the same problems as you and it turned out to be a dodgy connection under the battery/engine fusebox, might be worth dropping him a pm to find out exactly where it was..

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/1438165-post25.html

Click to expand...

Will do, thanks.

freelance said:

engin start relay?

Click to expand...

Swapped the relay with a spare, but still same fault. Thanks anyway.

Think I'll start checking all leads & connections & see how I get on.

Checked all wiring & earth connections. Cables checked under the battery & seem ok.
Traced the clicking noise to the glow plug relay when ignition switched to position 2.
Disconnected the glow plug terminal & clicking stops!
Checked resistance of all glow plugs - 1ohm on each so suspect these are ok.

Any ideas where to look next???
Cheers

It's certainly an odd one. My guess is that the flashing lights/clicking relay are due to the current flow being interrupted as a poor connection in either the earth or live line is creating heat which breaks the connection, cooling then takes place and the current flows briefly once again. I would be looking for signs of unusual higher temperatures at connections, fuse holders and relay base plates.

whats yer battery like, is it producing enough amps under load?

Thanks guys,
I will check the electrical connections & see if any heat generated. I suspect an earth fault somewhere or the battery itself. When I hook up jump leads to another car, the fault clears. Could be the battery, or poor earth connection I guess.
I have a spare battery, so will start there.

"When I hook up jump leads to another car, the fault clears"
Well, this would seem to indicate either poor connections to your own battery or internal battery fault?

Faults found!! Glow plug lead earthing on engine body, starter motor earth fault on coil too. Fitted re-con starter motor & some insulting tape - job done! Thanks for all your help guys!