Discovery 2 + interior light issue

Hi all,

I'm glad to report after an extensive period of searching I am now a VERY proud owner of a '2004 Land Rover Discovery Metropolis Automatic', I just picked it up the other day and I couldn't be more happier! (I have always wanted a Land Rover and now I finally have one) Time to sell the shogun (typical, I think the wheel bearing is on its way out)

As it's a clean straight vehicle I look forward to adding a few modifications/accessories.. nothing tacky or pointless.. this time round I want stuff that works and is practical (I believe I owe a number of people an apology for one of my previous threads, I stand corrected, the offending item has been removed and never to return to any vehicle I own again! I hope I can wipe the slate clean and happily join the Land Rover community/following that I have been looking forward to for many, many years!

I would like to kindly ask for any advise you can spare regarding my interior light problem. All interior lights turn on when any of the doors are open, however the front two map lights refuse to turn on, and the front main light will not turn on manual, it will only activate when the doors are open (only then will the switch work and I can turn the main light off/on)

I have checked all fuses and they seem ok, however I have been reading some other threads recently and have noticed a reference to a BCU (which seems to control a number of systems inside the vehcile, one being the interior lights.. correct me If i'm wrong) I no nothing more about the BCU

Can anyone shed some light (excuse the pun) ont he matter please..


Also I did hear a loud crunch/bang the other day when i pulled into a fuel station on full lock, and again when i exited on full lock (I know it's hard to say exactly but it did alarmly catch my attention, I am not too concerned at the moment as I have not been able to get the issue to re-appear by testing the vehicle on full lock in both directions).. any ideas what it could be?

Much appreciated for any advice you can spare - I would like to point out I am a complete noob when it comes to mechanics and this is going to be one steep learning curve! so please excuse any daft questions I might post up.

Thanks.

All interior lights turn on when any of the doors are open, however the front two map lights refuse to turn on, and the front main light will not turn on manual, it will only activate when the doors are open (only then will the switch work and I can turn the main light off/on)

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What do you mean with "map lights"? ...as for the courtesy lamps...the fact that the switch works with doors open it might be an illusion cos then the lamp is on due to the open door and the switch just turns them off... when u move the switch from the off position the light comes on anyway cos the door is open. Make a test...leave the door open untill the lamps are going off(about 10 minutes)... then try to switch it on.... the first to check in this case is the switch itself, cos it might not close the contact on manual on position.

I have checked all fuses and they seem ok, however I have been reading some other threads recently and have noticed a reference to a BCU (which seems to control a number of systems inside the vehcile, one being the interior lights.. correct me If i'm wrong) I no nothing more about the BCU

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About the BCU.... Hmmmmmm... if u want to learn and u have time and patience download a manual from here(rave01.iso) land rover rave technical system then go to Workshop manual > Body Controll Unit > Description and operation ...and start reading ... it's a quite complicated issue... u will find there the courtesy lights management too.

UKAirborne said:

I would like to kindly ask for any advise you can spare regarding my interior light problem. All interior lights turn on when any of the doors are open, however the front two map lights refuse to turn on, and the front main light will not turn on manual, it will only activate when the doors are open (only then will the switch work and I can turn the main light off/on)

.

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little confusing this one..
do disco's have map lights?
well front interior light comes on with the doors but can't manually switch it on, is this correct?

if so you will find the negative lead not connected to the light unit mounting plate.. you will need to remove the whole light and map pockets panel across the car (level the light on the panel). you will find a black wire with a female spade connector hanging loose, and a male spade on the plate the light bolts onto. just connect it up and refit panel.. all sorted

sierrafery said:

What do you mean with "map lights"? ...

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sparky steve said:

little confusing this one..
do disco's have map lights?

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UKAirborne said:

I am now a VERY proud owner of a '2004 Land Rover Discovery Metropolis Automatic'

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The Metropolis edition had the same interior/map reading lights from the 5-door Freelander 1, fitted to its overhead SatNav Console -


Picture from 'monkiefone' on the D2 Boys Club Forum

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Thanks for the information, shall investigate further.. I seriously hope it is just a loose wire, and I was wondering how you get into the light itself, was hoping it was simply a flat headed screw driver job and prise it off.. (guessing its a good idea to go and get myself a haynes manual to do a bit of reading before I break something! Thanks for the advice.

I simply guessed that they are map lights.. as there is a center light and either side it looks like it has two seperate miniture lights (all three have switches, both the smaller lights do not function but the main light with turn on with the doors open and will turn off using the switch whilst the door is open.. if the door is closed it will not work)

However the two rear lights do work by manualy, and by opening the doors.
This is the same interior light I am referring to:

PaulMc said:

The Metropolis edition had the same interior/map reading lights from the 5-door Freelander 1, fitted to its overhead SatNav Console -
Picture from 'monkiefone' on the D2 Boys Club Forum

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Thats the one.. Thanks for the pic, took me ages to find one, you beat me to it I shall investigate tomorrow if I get chance and report back.

Thanks for taking the time to help.. much appreciated!

Hi, i have the metropolis on an 03 plate and i sometimes got the same problem, if your sunroof rubber leaks you will get water dripping from the light cluster depending at what angle you are parked at! i found that removing the light cluster and removing the black plug there was slight corrosion on some of the pins, i gently cleaned the pins and it cured the problem for me, the light cluster just pulls out, may need a gentle prise with a flat blade screwdriver.

cheers Drew9991, wish I had read this post sooner :doh: I removed the whole map pockets/sat nav console to get access to the light, as the Haynes manual was useless in pointing me in the right direction.

I did notice that the contacts where slightly corroded (hardly anything), so I scraped away at the contacts very lightly, also used contact cleaner on all the contacts/plugs, I also changed the two map bulbs for brand new ones, but it has not helped.

The main centre light comes on with the door (on/off switch will work for main light until the door is shut or the timer runs out and the light turns itself off)..

I'm stumped.. either it needs a new unit (Where can you get these from? / guessing they are not cheap?) or there's something else that needs investigating??

Annoyingly the vehicle has developed a bigger fault, when i try to turn her over I just geta "click", and the engine will not attempt to start, I have to turn the key three times quickly before it will start.

Pics below show my light unit and the wiring..



Any help much appreciated.. cheers.

1.there is an earth plug(black) which must bring the earth to the switch....verify with ohmeter between body and this plug u must have closed circuit or give an earth from somewhere to test the switch.... i think u dont have earth there.

2. the click is a very common issue, take off the starter and fit this Kit Details - RepairkitsUK | Starter Motor Repair Kits | Don't Buy a New Start Motor - Repair It

Thanks for the advice, I'm not overly clued up on electrics so i shall try and recruit the electrician at work to take 5 mins out to have a peak, hoping its a simple fix.. I shall pass on the info and come back to update shortly.

As for the "clicking", I'm glad the problem has been pin pointed - easier to fix once you know the problem! .. (Bit concerned to to hear that it is a common problem though).

I did find another post on another forum, and a chap had the same issue, he bought the repair kit but never fitted it as it turned out to be a bad connection (corroded wire).. will need to investigate, and come back to you.

Thanks for the info, pointing me in the right direction atleast

cheers.

sierrafery said:

1.there is an earth plug(black) which must bring the earth to the switch....verify with ohmeter between body and this plug u must have closed circuit or give an earth from somewhere to test the switch.... i think u dont have earth there.

2. the click is a very common issue, take off the starter and fit this Kit Details - RepairkitsUK | Starter Motor Repair Kits | Don't Buy a New Start Motor - Repair It

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Just a quick update, shall post back later to update..

Regarding the interior light, I bit the bullet and ordered a new one from Landrover, as the part numbers were confusing I couldn't be sure a second hand one was the correct part I went through my local landrover specialist (hopefully they got it right) I shall be picking it up on saturday to try.

I decided to try a new light unit first rather than get the specialist to check as it's £45 an hour labour! and a 2 day waiting time to order one it.. so thought whats the worst that can happen, if my unit is broken and this new one fixes it, then it's a £45 fix, if not and landrover specialist needs to take a peak then at least they can then take a look, and I can sell one of the light units on.. mad thinking maybe but if I can get away with out paying more garage bills more the merrier! (crossing fingers! - working off some advice that I was given that the interior light circuit board can get water damaged by a leaking sun roof).

As for the starter motor, the Landrover specialists wanted to fit a new one at £160 + £45 per hr labour, (told them about the repair and they said they would fit if I purchased the kit, but also said it'll be about an hour and a half work, after searching this thread and finding a thread with pics fo the starter motor and where the bolts were secured and getting some further advice on leaving the battery connected to avoid resetting the radio/ alarm codes, etc.. (I placed a + lead to the starter motor in a see through bag and cable tied out of the way!) I thought I would give it a whirl (first time for everything)

After some colourful language and over half an hour I managed to get the right tool to get the dam top bolt off! (what a daft place to put it.. only one tool was cable of coming close to getting it off).. use of a small mirror made locating the bolt a bit easier though. I eventually got the whole starter motor off, got it on the work bench, went to open the solenoid cover and one of the bolts was that corroded the head just sheered off without much force :doh: .. Ended up taking it to work this evening and I got the engineer to use the drilling machine to drill the bolt out without damaging the threads. (much to my relief) new bolt and replaced the copper contacts, they were badly worn!

First thing in the morning I got to put it back on the vehicle and hope for the best! - Thanks for the advice, I know more about the landy (only had it just over a week), than I do with my current shogun that I have owned for over 5 years! (shame to see her go but a SWB shogun just aint cutting it any more, it's either luggage or passengers there's no room for a compromise unfortunately

Plus I look forward to modifying the disco with some nice spots, bumper, under armour, cb.. and get myself to a landrover experience centre to learn how to use it off-road properly! (when funds allow)..

You are on the right road m8, there are gents who gave up the top bolt for good and refited the starter without it to be easyer to remove next time ... they say it works without probs... i tend to believe them, if u put some strong and as large as it gets washers under the bottom bolts i think there will be no trouble. If u put your mind on it IMO u can sort out that earth issue too at the courtesy lamps if the new unit wont work(i really doubt it will but i hope i'm wrong) . If u want to learn more and be a DIY-er download and save RAVE(disc 1) from here land rover rave technical system ... it's an active PDF and u have everything there about your car... in the owners handbook part u will find guidings for off road driving too. Good luck

Thanks 'sierrafery', all info is much appreciated, I'm learning slowly, I managed to put the starter back on, and the top bolt was tricky but I got it on within a few minutes, much to my surprise! All cables reconnected and the vehicle now starts first time, every time without any clicking! to be honest it feels like fixing the starter is a minor victory (first time I've ever touched an engine component, I put it down to advice given on this forum, and reading posts on this and other forums so I had an image in my mind of what the starter looked like, where the bolts were located, and the problems I could encounter .. apart from the bolt snapping on the solenoid cover (Now that really did annoy me! - luckily the engineer was available at work to sort it) :biggrin1: everything else went ok.. Just very cold, wet and windy outside under the landy.. (wish I had a nice heated garage with a lift)

Next job to try to fix the interior light, I just hope the new light unit will work, but I too have my doubts.. worth a try though!.. I shall download that Rave thingy and have a mooch, everyone seems to be "raving" about it thanks for the link shall go investigate.

Cheers.

Just typical.. I picked the light up earlier today, got it home, removed the old light unit, went to unplug it and the little metal connector on the black wire inside the plug snapped (all i did was pull the connector off of the lamp, must have been weak to begin with)

anyone know what this part is called/where you can get a replacement from? (I do have to pop back to the landrover specialist on Monday to pickup a replacement cover for the battery, hoping they might know).

IMO there was the missing earth which caused you trouble... it was weakened from the beginning. Let's hope that PaulMc will see this and enlight you with the type of that connector cos unfortunately i cant.

sierrafery said:

IMO there was the missing earth which caused you trouble... it was weakened from the beginning. Let's hope that PaulMc will see this and enlight you with the type of that connector cos unfortunately i cant.

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Thank you sierraferry


I've been trying for a while now to determine where to get this connector (and the DII's H4 connector, also by the same manufacturer) and/or find a suitable replacement terminal to use with an old connector from the scrappy, but so far - no luck

I have an new Roof Harness from a Freelander-1 5-Door, that also uses this type of Interior Light and connector and I took some pics of the connector for 'IbexMan' who wanted to incorporate this type of Interior Lamp into his Roof Consoles -


. . .



. . .



. .


There are two logos and a number on the connector -

I've determined that it was made by a French company - 'Connecteurs Cinch'

SGE stands for - Société Générale d'Equipements - which was a previous trademark, as was RKG


.

Thanks for the info, I'm popoping into my local landrover specialist later today to collect a battery cover (only £12 new so cant complain) and some body clips.

(I must admit the previous owner didn't really appreciate the vehicle and look after it 100%, only minor things.. (Starter motor I can excuse as there was no sign of a fault when I bought it, and it was a nice cheap fix (Thanks to all those involved on this forum your guidance helped a lot)

Only minor things but it's missing a battery cover/compressor cover (managed to source one on ebay for just over £10, was quoted over £100 for the whole box from Landrover) The interior light is just one of those things, dont know why they never sorted it.

For some bizzare reason the air compressor pulley has been by-passed, the belt doesnt go over that pulley still confused by that, guessing the air con was playing up so they by-passed it .. Also the twit used silicone to stick the number plates on, I spent all day sunday trying to scrape thick chunks of the stuff off of the vehicle.. there was enough silicone to stick a kitchen cuboard up lol.

Don't get me wrong, half the fun of a Landrover is to fix and repair yourself and its a good way to learn, that i'm not fussed about, it's repairing/ replacing things on a nice vehicle that the previous owner should have had more care for.. (the way I look at it, if it's fitted to the vehicle it should be working)

Thanks for the pics, and the info/numbers shall see if my local the landrover parts depart know what part it is.. probably going to baffle them though

With any luck it will be the connector at fault and i'll have a nice cheap light unit for sale, willmpost up when I know more.. cheers.

Just a quick update.. My local Land Rover parts dept was unable to find the part, the parts book had no mention of the connector all they could advise was for me to ask around and try a local electronics repair company, needless to say I'm not overly happy with the outcome, I was expecting them to know exactly what I was referring too.. back to the drawing board, If anyone has any idea where I can get a replacement part from, I would very much appreciate any info as I'm looking forward to having the vehicle on the road later this week and would prefer to have everything working as it should thanks.

UKAirborne said:

Just a quick update.. My local Land Rover parts dept was unable to find the part, the parts book had no mention of the connector all they could advise was for me to ask around and try a local electronics repair company, needless to say I'm not overly happy with the outcome, I was expecting them to know exactly what I was referring too.. back to the drawing board, If anyone has any idea where I can get a replacement part from, I would very much appreciate any info as I'm looking forward to having the vehicle on the road later this week and would prefer to have everything working as it should thanks.

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I was expecting that you'd get that sort of response, most dealers are not a lot of help with wiring or connector problems, their only solution being to replace the complete harness, which in your case, would be the complete roof harness

Without a VIN to enter into Microcat, it's not clear which roof harness is applicable to the Metropolis, as it's the only model that uses that type of interior lamp.

The roof harness connects at the LH footwell and takes-in all the electrical equipment and controls in the roof, as well as the rear power socket, audio controls, rear Aircon (if fitted), rear lighting and towing connector. As you can imagine, it's not cheap and it's a major 'strip-out' to fit it.


I haven't had any luck identifying a source for the connector, or anything suitable to directly replace it or its terminals.

I tried looking at PCB edge connectors, but these are mainly for computer applications and are denser, with many more 'ways'.


My suggestion would be to replace the edge connector with a mating pair of connectors, of a type that are more readily available.

You could solder three short wires onto the Light's circuit board connector pads and terminate these into a 3-way Male Econoseal connector -

3w Econoseal connector male with terms & seals.: ESC3M




Replacing the connector on the vehicles loom with the corresponding Female Econoseal connector -

3w Econoseal connector female with terms & seals.: ESC3F


.

sierrafery said:

IMO there was the missing earth which caused you trouble... it was weakened from the beginning. Let's hope that PaulMc will see this and enlight you with the type of that connector cos unfortunately i cant.

Click to expand...

:doh::doh::doh::doh: Thankyou all for the info.. wish I had spotted the connection problem prior to ordering a new light, I removed the connection from the connection housing and soldered and heat shrunk the connection onto the wiring loom wire, a chap at work recommended a 4x4 breaker (equicar) in Wolverhampton, lucky enough they had the connection, cost me a fiver but postage for double that you could have fitted the disco inside the parcel they sent the little connection in! :doh:

Only one slight issue, although the connection looks identical and the part number matches the wires are a bit thinner, hoping this wont be a major issue .. maybe an idea not to have all of the lights on at once?

For the moments its up and working, so thanks for the advice!

Quite chuffed now.. the Landy is coming along nicely, the missing air compressor cover has now been replaced thanks to ebay, the battery cover was £11 from Landrover, washer bottle cover was £6 off of ebay although only £3 from Landrover (wasnt worth the fuel to go fetch though).. the interior light is fixed (i have the old light unit which is working just fine.. why did i listen to Landrover and not you lot! :doh..starter motor has been fixed, few minor repairs here and there, and its now insured for me to drive

cheers.