P38A Interior lights

Hi Guys, I have a problem with the interior lights on my 2001 p38 diesel. The lights come on when doors open but when pressing the button to switch off the internal lights nothing happens. Used to get a message on the dash to say interior lights off. Have noticed that the map lights don't work. Have checked bulbs and all OK.
I suspect that it might be the light unit - are they all the same?

Might want to read my recent thread https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/interior-lights-staying-on.322711/

Someone's going around sabortaging the diesels. Still not worked out what's wrong with mine!

RRob said:

Hi Guys, I have a problem with the interior lights on my 2001 p38 diesel. The lights come on when doors open but when pressing the button to switch off the internal lights nothing happens. Used to get a message on the dash to say interior lights off. Have noticed that the map lights don't work. Have checked bulbs and all OK.
I suspect that it might be the light unit - are they all the same?

Click to expand...

Hi All,
Just to up-date you.
I had time to inspect and fiddle today. The problem is the light unit terminals in to the connector. They've obviously worn and broken the contact as a slught wiggle about got the lights to come on a bit. Made the mistake of a quick clean with 1200grade. But know what the problem is and all I've got to do is fix it. Possibly solder or glue over the connections or get a new lamp.

Hi All,
Just to up-date you.
I had time to inspect and and test today.
The problem is the light unit terminals in to the connector. They've obviously worn and broken the contact as a slight wiggle about got the lights to come on a bit. Made the mistake of a quick clean with 1200grade. But know what the problem is and all I've got to do is fix it. Possibly solder or glue over the connections or get a new lamp.
Have a concern about s/h units as they may be no better. Any thoughts?

I recently repaired one for an owner and basically cleaned off the corrosion that was there, and scraped off a bit of the coating where the tracks from the connector meet stretch out onto the board. I then added a thin layer of solder over the whole thing for every pin, and it seems to have worked for him.

Absolute worst cast... you could solder some new wires on at the switches/lamps (to mimic the tracks on the PCB) and wire them into a generic 4-pin connector, and do the same on the vehicle loom side of things - cut the original connector off and replace it.

The one I repaired actually has some corrosion on some of the tracks near where the connector goes on, and using a thin layer of solder as mentioned above got it working properly (and more reliably!) again