Side lights and rear lights problems

Hi guys, I have searched and searched as I always do on this forum, but this time I can't find an answer.

Today after starting my 2002 90, I noticed the green lights symbol illuminated on the dash, I got out and found that the side lights and rear lights were on, a little dim but on, I checked the switch and that was in the off position. I then turned the lights on and off, but they stayed on. I turned the ignition off and the lights went off, I turned it back on and the lights came back on. I also noted that if I turned the side lights on they were bright as normal.

Could the problem be the light switch, if so how would I check it please?

Many thanks
Tony.

I don't know the newer models, but is there a parking light option that might be operating?

If not then it could be the switch, but it could also be a short circuit through damaged wiring.

The first test I would do would be to turn on the ignition with the light switch off to get the lights working as you've described. Now remove fuses one at a time until they lights go out. If you find one that does that, keep going because there may be more.

If it's the sidelight fuse that worked, then the switch is suspect, but so too is the associated wiring. Switches aren't expensive, so swap it for a new one and see what happens.

If it wasn't the sidelight fuse it will need further thought once we know which it is.

I'm not great with electrickery. I suppose it could be the switch, however, as the switch is making the lights go bright when on and dim when off I would think the switch is ok. I would first suspect a short in the rear harness. I'm pretty sure there is an ignition live in there and you might have a slight short from it.
If nothing else, this will bump the post up and an electric wizard might see it.

I will go through the fuses tomorrow and report back with my findings?
I will also unplug the harness from the switch to see if there is any difference.

Just a quick note I forgot to mention. The lights don't come on straight away they come on about 3 or 4 seconds later and I can here the relay click when it happens!

agree with the above, probably a short somewhere along the harness, probably where water and sh*te is getting in

Before you look at the harness unplug the switch and see if the lights go out with the ignition on. It may just be crud in the switch - may even be sorted with a squirt of brake cleaner on the contacts.

There must be a rogue 12V live interfering somewhere. The slow relay would indicate the problem is at the switch end before the relay, rather than the light circuit. Possibly the relay itself, I suspect the switch loom

Well, I have followed advice and not got very far, the advice was excellent as always, my 90 is the problem! Anyway, I was able to get to try and find the cause of my issue around 3pm today.
Before I go too far, first thing I noticed today was that even if I turned the key to the first position the side lights came on and the relay didn't make a sound.
So, I unplugged the harness from the light switch, I also unplugged the harness from the indicator stalk, still lights came on.
I then unplugged the relay, still the lights came on.
Next I unplugged each side light individually to see if one of them was causing the problem, and still the lights came on.
I then traced along the harness as much as I could to see if it had been rubbing anywhere causing a short with a bare wire, didn't find anything out of the ordinary.
Time was getting on now and the weather here ain't been great today, so I did as Boguing suggested and went through all the fuses. Pulling out the fuses for the side lights only did as they were supposed to. BUT, fuse number 20 which is apparently for the dim dip and levelling relay and switch illumination, when removed the side lights go out!
I have left this fuse out for the moment because when tested, everything is working fine.
Does this mean I need a new relay, or is there another underlying problem?

Many thanks

Tony

Just remembered. When I unplugged the dim dip relay the side lights still came on when the ignition switch was turned to position one

Your last comment - do you mean that you established that the dim/dip fuse would extinguish the front and rear sidelights, and you then went a stage further by replacing the fuse but removing the dim/dip relay? Or - are you just adding more info about what happened with the fuse out?

Also, in your earlier post you mentioned sidelights and rear lights - was it just the front sidelights that came on in this later experiment?

I'm late for bed and may read it differently in the morning!

Bogging, it is my error for not explaining correctly.
It is still side lights and rear lights, just didn't see point in writing that all the tim, sorry!
I removed the dim dip relay to see if there was any difference, but the lights stayed on. It was later when I was removing fuses individually to see what would happen that I found with the dim dip fuse removed the lights went out, the relay is still in place!

Tony.

It sounds as thought the side light circuit is picking up a rogue voltage from somewhere instead of going to ground.
Do you have a good multimeter and/or ammeter?
If you have, (assumimg that you have a 300TDi) remove fuses F18 and F19and replace the fused link with the meter, which should have at least a 20A capacity.
The draw on each circuuit should not exceed 10A.
Then se if the lights go oiut.

Hi Oldseadog, I have a Td5 with led side and rear lights.
Tony

Tonyj66 said:

Bogging, it is my error for not explaining correctly.
It is still side lights and rear lights, just didn't see point in writing that all the tim, sorry!
I removed the dim dip relay to see if there was any difference, but the lights stayed on. It was later when I was removing fuses individually to see what would happen that I found with the dim dip fuse removed the lights went out, the relay is still in place!

Tony.

Click to expand...

OK, at the moment I can't what else it could be other than damaged wires. I think that you're looking for a white/green (power from fuse 15, passenger fusebox to dim/dip relay) and a red (column switch to passenger fusebox) that have chafed against each other. Location is tricky, partly 'cos I have no idea where the dim/dip relay is!

I'd get a helper, get the sidelights to come on (as they shouldn't) and get wiggling the loom from passenger fusebox to column switch and dim/dip relay - hopefully the sidelights will go off when you dislodge the rogue connection.

Sorry, I don't have any tech detail on either Td5's or LED side lights.

Have a look here:
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/bypassing-a-dim-dip-unit.184641/
and here:


I think you can either bypass or replace

JimS said:

Have a look here:
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/bypassing-a-dim-dip-unit.184641/
and here:


I think you can either bypass or replace

Click to expand...

I don't think that there's anything wrong with the dim/dip relay itself - the OP tried removing it and the problem persisted.

boguing said:

I don't think that there's anything wrong with the dim/dip relay itself - the OP tried removing it and the problem persisted.

Click to expand...

That's correct, with relay removed the lights still came on.
I should be able to get some help tomorrow so will have another go.
For the moment I have not replaced the fuse for the dim dip as everything else seems to be working okay, so hopefully if there is a short somewhere then at least I have possibly stopped it from causing too much damage.

Cheers,
Tony.

Well, I've just been reading the wiring diagram in my Haynes manual, and what a read that is, took some time to understand but I think I need to try a few things.
Through reading it seems that as the lights come on when key is turned to first position, that should narrow things down, i.e. what is actually switched on at this point. Radio, heater fan motor and cigar lighter. The only common wire that relates to the lights and instrument lighting is red/orange, the only other item that uses red/orange is the cigar lighter, so tomorrow I think that will be my first port of call. Failing that, I shall pull out some of what hair I have left on my balding head and start again!
Tony.

IT'S FIXED, Yahoo!
After spending around 6-7 hours playing around with little lights, wiring harnesses and fuses, it was an easy and annoying fix.
Every time I turned the ignition on to start testing a different part of wiring the radio would obviously come on, so eventually after getting annoyed at everything I switch it off. I started to play around with fuses again one by one to try to narrow down my search. I started from top left, the first one being for the radio, I unplugged it switched on ignition, no lights, hurray somewhere to start, just to make sure I put it back in and the lights came on and so did the radio, swearing at the radio I turned it off, guess what? The lights went off as well!
To cut this short, it turns out whoever put the replacement stereo in before I bought it had wired the red/ orange illumination wire to an auxiliary power wire on the stereo, so every time the radio was turned on the wire became live, so I have snipped the wire and isolated both ends, now all is well.
The reason it had never been noticed before is that the wire emitted very little AMPS and normal light bulbs would not illuminate, and I have just recently upgraded to full LED.

Many many thanks for the advice from you guys.

Tony.