Disco 2 Passenger fusebox. Worth clean-up!

Gooday all. Hadn't drove my 2003 D2 TD5 for a week and when I went to start it couldn't get in. No red flashing led. Opened with key and tried to start and got split B icon,M&S lights flashing,etc. Checked up on LZ forum and quickly found that engine bay fuse F13 blown. Replaced and back to normal until I tried to start and F13 blew again. Noticed that many on here say that the passenger fuse board is a likely cause of failure so have just removed and opened it up. No obvious blow marks, but tracks on PCB are very dirty and there are signs of slight white tracking marks around solder connections. I would use some electrical cleaner to remove debris but the board is a sandwich and can not see if there are problems between boards. Don't want to replace and still have a problem so asking if others have cleaned up the board and remedied the fault or quicker to replace. Are the fuse box's still available or can they be reconditioned. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

shedpuller said:

Gooday all. Hadn't drove my 2003 D2 TD5 for a week and when I went to start it couldn't get in. No red flashing led. Opened with key and tried to start and got split B icon,M&S lights flashing,etc. Checked up on LZ forum and quickly found that engine bay fuse F13 blown. Replaced and back to normal until I tried to start and F13 blew again. Noticed that many on here say that the passenger fuse board is a likely cause of failure so have just removed and opened it up. No obvious blow marks, but tracks on PCB are very dirty and there are signs of slight white tracking marks around solder connections. I would use some electrical cleaner to remove debris but the board is a sandwich and can not see if there are problems between boards. Don't want to replace and still have a problem so asking if others have cleaned up the board and remedied the fault or quicker to replace. Are the fuse box's still available or can they be reconditioned. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

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I will follow this with interest, as I intend to remove mine soon, and the BCU and clean up all the terminals and connections. I have had electrical issues over the last few years which I have not fully resolved, and my hopes lie with this.

shedpuller said:

Are the fuse box's still available or can they be reconditioned. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Depends on what's wrong with it, if you see the problem(usually corrosion or dry joint) you can fix it but if you can't see anything obvious the only way to rule it out is by replaceing it, you can find good used ones, search for YQE000251.

As about the blowing F13 it can be due to the BCU or engine bay fusebox too or in the worst case a wiring issue but the interior fusebox is the first suspect

Gooday Sierrafery. Glad you replied. Can I run this pass you. The F13 fuse is live and not energised by ignition switch. Being that as far as I could tell alarm system,windows,central locking, etc all came back to life and only blew F13 when I tried to start. The starter motor just started to turn engine then F13 blew. Being that fuse was ok until then would that count out a BCU fault as that is being powered all the time. Ancillaries are fused so a fault on starter would possibly blow S/M fuse. Travelled home from Rye about 40 miles and parked up and all good so if I am really unlucky a wiring fault possibly could be counted out as locked vehicle ok. As you say the only way to know if F/B is causing this issue is to change it. Any suggestions that you may have would be most welcome.

Personally, I'd disconnect the starter, replace F13, and repeat your startup process again, and see if F13 stays intact.

tilly2 said:

Personally, I'd disconnect the starter, replace F13, and repeat your startup process again, and see if F13 stays intact.

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Why would you do that as long as F13 has no connection with the starter circuit whatsoever?

Reading the thread, I thought operating the starter was being highlighted as the cause of the fuse blowing... Was just trying to eliminate it as the cause.

In this particular case IMO it's not about operating the starter but more about turning the key to crank position which powers up some circuits within the fuseboxes/IDM, IP and BCU and if it's some leak/corrosion in the interior fusebox/IDM it can exceed the load on F13... replaceing the interior fusebox would be a good start as it's the most common failure so it must be ruled out before going further.

Putting my electricians fault finding head on, would removing all of the fuses in the interior fusebox, so to isolate any output load, and powering up the fusebox, identify if the fusebox has an internal fault. That would be a cheaper option than blindly replacing the fusebox as the first step.... just asking for a friend... lol

Removing the fuses would not 100% rule it out cos the leak can be on the PCB against earth or to other circuit before the fuse so it will do the same with or without fuses though if the symptom goes away with fuses removed makes the fusebox more suspect albeit a wiring issue on a circuit after the fusebox is still possible .... i've seen too many oddities created by these IDMs to know that the simplest way to rule them out is to replace it with a known good one, troubleshooting other things without knowing that the fusebox is 100% OK is "feckless" IMO... i have a perfectly working spare prepared for such situations

Gooday all. Fortunately I have been able to cure my fuse blowing. Thought I would use some electrical solvent cleaner on my fuse board as unable to purchase a replacement until after break. Replaced fuse board / BCU carefully into car and attempted to start car. F13 blew as before. Replaced fuse and as nothing to loose tried what tilly2 suggested. Took out starter motor relay and attempted a start. Fuse remained ok. In case there was a fault within engine fuse board after relay, replaced relay and disconnected Brown/Red trace wire to solenoid. Fuse remained ok. Thought I would check continuity of cable in case shorting out somewhere. Got under car to disconnect cable at solenoid and noticed a fair bit of oil over starter motor. Oil seems to be coming from alternator/vac pump area.....job for next week. Cable was clear so cleaned up the oil from motor / cable and replaced cable onto solenoid. Thought I would try a start and engine started ok. Tried several times and started every time. So fuse blowing possibly down to oil contamination shorting out to earth. Always thought oil was an insulator in electrical circuits but apparently not as automotive oils contains additives. Found this reply on Quora :-
"Carl Griffiths
Former Founder Fellow of Inst of Diag. Engineers Author has 5K answers and 5.3M answer views4y

Motor oil is a very bad conductor , but Geoffrey White is wrong to say it is a good insulator. Motor oils contain a lot of additives, many of which tend to conduct electricity to some extent. Motor oil is nowhere near as good an insulator compared to transformer oil. Believe me, I used to test both products and they are very different."

Who am I to argue with Mr Griffiths. Thank you all for your input, especially tilly2 who hit the nail on the head. Can not see why F13 would blow though. From the fuse it seems to go through under bonnet cut out switch and then to ECU. But will have to remain a mystery to me....as I have an oil leak to now address. One of the joys of Land Rover ownership. Many thanks.





https://www.quora.com/profile/Troy-J-Carpenter

remove relay to isolate circuit

Glad you sorted it....

Thanks for your input tilly2. In a masochistic way i'm excited to get problems on the D2. Had a Beemer up until I retired and even changing oil was a major job....mainly trying to get under it!! Spark plugs a few hours. The fault I had seems to be covered on forum......possible fuse box. Bit of a red herring in the end. I seem to have had a lot of the symptoms of fuse box probs....with a blown fuse thrown in. Under D2 today trying to find the oil leak around the Alternator/Vac pump. At least weather better for investigations.