Help please....200tdi rear indicators driving me mad!

Hi all,

I have a 1994 110 CSW that is driving me potty at present.

last week the indicators just stopped working without rhyme or reason. I was able to diagnose it as a hazard switch problem and after installing the new switch+ a new fuse everything was up and running.

Now the weather has turned I thought it time to do something about all the leaky light fixings and their perished plinths. Wanting to keep it original I bought some Britpart standard replacements. 4x indicators, 2x stop/tail & 2x sidelights

Installing wasn’t quite as simple as it should’ve been. The old gal has lots of old connections, old wiring and the odd bodge.Everything now in place when I test the lights everything* works as it should apart from the indicators

I have hazards but no indicators again. Having just installed a new switch I think it unlikely that’s the fault this time.

The only thing I did different from what I found was someone had bodge spliced the - for the rear fog into the rear driver side indicator. I did away with this and routed the off to a spare - at the rear loom cluster

Could that have caused my indicators not to flash?...surely not?

Can anyone tell me which wires at the drivers (RH) side rear cluster should run to where?....thanks in advance

TheCornishman said:

Hi all,

I have a 1994 110 CSW that is driving me potty at present.

last week the indicators just stopped working without rhyme or reason. I was able to diagnose it as a hazard switch problem and after installing the new switch+ a new fuse everything was up and running.

Now the weather has turned I thought it time to do something about all the leaky light fixings and their perished plinths. Wanting to keep it original I bought some Britpart standard replacements. 4x indicators, 2x stop/tail & 2x sidelights

Installing wasn’t quite as simple as it should’ve been. The old gal has lots of old connections, old wiring and the odd bodge.Everything now in place when I test the lights everything* works as it should apart from the indicators

I have hazards but no indicators again. Having just installed a new switch I think it unlikely that’s the fault this time.

The only thing I did different from what I found was someone had bodge spliced the - for the rear fog into the rear driver side indicator. I did away with this and routed the off to a spare - at the rear loom cluster

Could that have caused my indicators not to flash?...surely not?

Can anyone tell me which wires at the drivers (RH) side rear cluster should run to where?....thanks in advance

Click to expand...

Could it be that the earth for the indicators wasn't working and so the splice in to the fog earth was for the indicators and not the other way around!

Al2O3 said:

Could it be that the earth for the indicators wasn't working and so the splice in to the fog earth was for the indicators and not the other way around!

Click to expand...

Hadn’t thought of that , to be honest been over thinking it.

What would be the proper fix?

At present I’ve rerouted the fog light -neg to the loom cluster where as before it was attached to the -neg of the indicator wire

Is there a better fix

Al2O3 said:

Could it be that the earth for the indicators wasn't working and so the splice in to the fog earth was for the indicators and not the other way around!

Click to expand...

What he says, second vote for the earth.
Just check all earth connections and any earthling points on the body for corrosion.

TheCornishman said:

Hadn’t thought of that , to be honest been over thinking it.

What would be the proper fix?

At present I’ve rerouted the fog light -neg to the loom cluster where as before it was attached to the -neg of the indicator wire

Is there a better fix

Click to expand...

Do you have a multimeter?
As Rougharse says, you just need to make sure all of the earths are sound. They have a habit of corroding, this creates resistance and you lose the circuit. You'll need a mulitmeter to check the continuity of the earth cables.

Yes I have a multimeter but no experience of using it for much more than testing batteries

Look in the ohms section of the dial for this setting

if you put the two terminals together it will probably beep or make a tone if it’s a digital multimeter. The reading will be zero for perfect continuity. To test an earth lead you will need one terminal on the lead and the other to a non insulated part of the bodywork.

Ok so I’ve spent the afternoon poking about but to no avail. In fact I’ve gone backwards...I tried simply splicing the wires as I originally found them which resulted in the fog light functioning but still no indicators and my hazards blowing the fuse.

I’ve now disconnected the splice and
wired the fog light into the loom.

Hazards and indicators have me beat

Don't give up on testing the earths. Earths are everything!

Al2O3 said:

Don't give up on testing the earths. Earths are everything!

Click to expand...

Have given up for today... it’s really done my head in. There seems to be one communal ground point with 2x black wires leading to the rear loom wires right next to where the loom comes into the truck. Apart from that grounding which appears ok I can’t see where else to check

Al2O3 said:

Look in the ohms section of the dial for this setting
View attachment 221038
if you put the two terminals together it will probably beep or make a tone if it’s a digital multimeter. The reading will be zero for perfect continuity. To test an earth lead you will need one terminal on the lead and the other to a non insulated part of the bodywork.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the picture post

TheCornishman said:

Thank you for the picture post

Click to expand...

No problem. I hope you get it sorted soon. Electrical issues can be very frustrating!
You could put your meter on the 12v DC setting put the + terminal on the live of your indicator and the - on the bodywork somewhere and see if you get 12v when the indicator is on. This will confirm that 12v is getting to the bulb.
You can check which bits of the body will work as an earth point for your meter, just by experimenting with the two terminals on different parts of the body until your meter emits a tone. Your meter will need to be back on the continuity setting I pointed out in the picture.
Is it a digital multimeter or does it have an analogue gauge?
Once you've established the live is working, you can start investigating the earth. If the earth wire in the harness isn't working you could create a new one from the indicator unit to a suitable part of the body where you can fix it to, preferably to an existing bolt point, or you could create one.

Al2O3 said:

No problem. I hope you get it sorted soon. Electrical issues can be very frustrating!
You could put your meter on the 12v DC setting put the + terminal on the live of your indicator and the - on the bodywork somewhere and see if you get 12v when the indicator is on. This will confirm that 12v is getting to the bulb.
You can check which bits of the body will work as an earth point for your meter, just by experimenting with the two terminals on different parts of the body until your meter emits a tone. Your meter will need to be back on the continuity setting I pointed out in the picture.
Is it a digital multimeter or does it have an analogue gauge?
Once you've established the live is working, you can start investigating the earth. If the earth wire in the harness isn't working you could create a new one from the indicator unit to a suitable part of the body where you can fix it to, preferably to an existing bolt point, or you could create one.

Click to expand...

Appreciate the walkthrough...I have 2x multimeters for some reason. Both digital but neither with a beep.

Really am annoyed as I was so pleased to get the indicators working following the previous hazard switch fault. Whatever I have done I now have a problem with them too!...so frustrating

Will try another bash tmrw Pm time permitting.

I’ve not uncovered the passenger side yet as I only really disturbed the loom on the drivers side.

The indicators have screws that run through the brass connector and backing plate into the body of the truck. Surely this makes a ground at the indicator?

TheCornishman said:

Appreciate the walkthrough...I have 2x multimeters for some reason. Both digital but neither with a beep.

Really am annoyed as I was so pleased to get the indicators working following the previous hazard switch fault. Whatever I have done I now have a problem with them too!...so frustrating

Will try another bash tmrw Pm time permitting.

I’ve not uncovered the passenger side yet as I only really disturbed the loom on the drivers side.

The indicators have screws that run through the brass connector and backing plate into the body of the truck. Surely this makes a ground at the indicator?

Click to expand...

Just because the light makes a “ground” doesn’t mean the path back to the battery negative is correct and uninterrupted. Personally, when I rebuilt mine, I done away with ALL body “grounds” and made them all connect directly to the battery negative. It saves all this hassle.

Get a piece of wire that is long enough to go from the battery negative to wherever you think the issue is. Connect to the battery negative and then poke the wire into any earth connections that you think may be suspect. If you find one that solves the issues, just run a new earth wire in.

TheCornishman said:

Appreciate the walkthrough...I have 2x multimeters for some reason. Both digital but neither with a beep.

Really am annoyed as I was so pleased to get the indicators working following the previous hazard switch fault. Whatever I have done I now have a problem with them too!...so frustrating

Will try another bash tmrw Pm time permitting.

I’ve not uncovered the passenger side yet as I only really disturbed the loom on the drivers side.

The indicators have screws that run through the brass connector and backing plate into the body of the truck. Surely this makes a ground at the indicator?

Click to expand...

The beep just helps you by not needing to strain to see the display sometimes.
Pretty sure the indicators have their own earths and not just through the unit in to the body.

As mick 1986 says the quality of the earth is important. If it's not good enough, ie it still has a high resistance, the electricity will take an easier route to earth and other things can light up or sink the current. Mick's long wire from the negative terminal of the battery is another good way to check if an earth is at fault.

Even new hazard switches can be dodgy, new indicator relays are pretty poor too. Might be worth getting another hazard switch and trying that. Can’t have too many spares!

mick 1986 said:

Just because the light makes a “ground” doesn’t mean the path back to the battery negative is correct and uninterrupted. Personally, when I rebuilt mine, I done away with ALL body “grounds” and made them all connect directly to the battery negative. It saves all this hassle.

Get a piece of wire that is long enough to go from the battery negative to wherever you think the issue is. Connect to the battery negative and then poke the wire into any earth connections that you think may be suspect. If you find one that solves the issues, just run a new earth wire in.

Click to expand...

+1 this. @TheCornishman , as per @mick 1986 above, de-installing the generic body earth connections and running new direct earths is the way to go and makes current/future electrical faults a doddle to find. In this instance, you fault lies either locally to the rear lighting, the light switches/control switch that provides both voltage and current to the component [light bulb], any relays/hazard relay, the wiring between the two, or the earthing points [either earth wires or through the light bulb body]. There's no more to a lighting cct.

If you're a novice at vehicle wiring/electrical systems and using a DVM I can really recommend this book to understand generic vehicle wiring, their ccts and...most importantly...how to fault find and fix the faults. It's bit of a learning curve but is a tremendous life skill to have - the trick with automotive fault finding is separating and tracing one cct at a time...and to be logically patient with the fault finding process; good luck with the fault

www.amazon.co.uk/Haynes-Practical-Electrical-Manual-Anon/dp/1785213296/ref=pd_sbs_14_3/257-9480119-9511464?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1785213296&pd_rd_r=c4dba2ff-f59a-4f1b-9ef4-2e55c4ae992c&pd_rd_w=rC9nn&pd_rd_wg=8CLm0&pf_rd_p=b9bf232d-9a8a-4c7d-aa9d-641c0995d3a2&pf_rd_r=1AW19NW7M3PHEQ5KEMS8&psc=1&refRID=1AW19NW7M3PHEQ5KEMS8

+ this book as pre-TD5 Land Rover electrical ccts are the same as most classic car ccts

www.amazon.co.uk/Haynes-Practical-Electrical-Manual-Anon/dp/1785213296/ref=pd_sbs_14_3/257-9480119-9511464?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1785213296&pd_rd_r=c4dba2ff-f59a-4f1b-9ef4-2e55c4ae992c&pd_rd_w=rC9nn&pd_rd_wg=8CLm0&pf_rd_p=b9bf232d-9a8a-4c7d-aa9d-641c0995d3a2&pf_rd_r=1AW19NW7M3PHEQ5KEMS8&psc=1&refRID=1AW19NW7M3PHEQ5KEMS8

bluedog333 said:

Even new hazard switches can be dodgy, new indicator relays are pretty poor too. Might be worth getting another hazard switch and trying that. Can’t have too many spares!

Click to expand...

this is so very true

Thanks for the link @v8250 , just ordered from Amazon. I too find electrickery a black art, hopefully this will decrease the chances of setting fire to myself.

So...it all turned out to be crappy hazard switches after all.

I eventually but the bullet and sent it to the local Landy whisperer. 4x different switches including new Lucas OEM units and they were all utter crap!

He made one good switch with the parts of all the others and all was well. Lasted just 3days!...

Just ordered a Carling unit