Defender instrumentation panel and rear wiper switch wiring

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.

Mo younesi

Member
Posts
45
Location
Scotland
Hello folks. I haven't been here for a while as busy doing various bits on the Landy so thought to share a few photos also ask for some advice.
Firstly we all know the defender instrumentation panel are held in place with those stupid plastic logs which break very easily and you will end up with instrumentation panel being loose and rattling. Of course if you have some issue with wiring, which we all do, it is quite common having to go to the back of the instrumentation panel.
With dark days of winter upon us just now, I got fed up with how low is the light intensity on the instrumentation panel. I had already change the bulbs that goes to various instruments to LED type last year which made a good improvement but the other light bulbs that you insert and twist direct on the PCB film and lights up various warnings were still the old type.
Found some LED type on eBay and bag of 20 of them for a couple of quids seemed a good improvement to do. When they arrived opened up the instrumentation panel and updated all of them. BIG MISTAKE!!!
Firstly they did not made much improvement in the light intensity and secondly a whole bunch of warning lights stopped working so I realised that I have to undo what I have done, so the instrumentation panel came out again and all connection disconnected and the old bulb went back to where they were.

With apology to make it a long story, my third point is that two of those stupid plastic legs were already broken on my instrumention panel and this time round the third one also broke and I was left with only one of them, so it was time to do something about it.
Fancied the steel made types and found this company on the web think they are call rapptor Engineering who make the panel and the housing for it with mild steel sheet metal and painted. I know some people were raving about it but I was very disappointed to see their prices. It would cost £140 for the panel and its housing. Having been a design engineer all my life and designing a lot of sheet metal parts, I thought of their price more of a dal light robbery. So made a simple rectangular plate with two holes in them and using the nut retainer clips made four bracing plates and actually cut away the last stupid plastic leg. Job was done at a fraction of the price and instrumentation panel is solid as a rock now.
 
IMG_0013.JPG
IMG_0014.JPG
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0011.JPG
    IMG_0011.JPG
    193.9 KB · Views: 188
Now my question and would really appreciate any advice. Does anyone know where is the relay for the rear wiper please?
I had to add two rectangular holes to the central panel between the cigarette lighter and the rear wiper switch to house two on/off switches for my recent addition to the Landy which are front fog lights below the front bumper also a light bar on the roof.
To add these holes the panel had to totally come off so all wires to the cigarette lighter and wiper switch were disconnected. Although I took photos of the wiring before disconnecting them and have reconnected back everything the same but the rear wiper has stopped working. Checked the motor on the rear door and made sure the connection on the motor is nice and clean also that there is no relay in that area.
Here are photos of the all the relays I have and I am sure one of them is for the wiper as once you turn the switch on you hear a dead click coming from somewhere.
 
The black relay with the tie wrap around it is for my light bar and have added myself. The three small relays at the bottom right hand side are for ignition, head light and the rear window heater but I don't know what is the red relay at the top left hand corner.
There is also another big relays embedded at the tangle of all wires behind the instrumention panel. Lastly there is a third relay in the engine compartment. I am suspecting that one of these three relays is for the rear wiper. Please advise if you know.
Ps: the image on the inside of my fuse box cover is not much help as it doesn't match what relays I have.
 
Thank you very much for taking time and replying. Appreciate it. It seems that the next course of action for me is to take the motor off the rear door just to ensure it is not jamming. I revenated the back door and the trim panel and the motor only last year so will be surprised if the fault is with the motor but best to check so I would know for sure it is not the cause. I am planning to connect the motor direct to a 12v battery to check and don't think this will do any damage as it is a dc motor.
 
Thank you very much for taking time and replying. Appreciate it. It seems that the next course of action for me is to take the motor off the rear door just to ensure it is not jamming. I revenated the back door and the trim panel and the motor only last year so will be surprised if the fault is with the motor but best to check so I would know for sure it is not the cause. I am planning to connect the motor direct to a 12v battery to check and don't think this will do any damage as it is a dc motor.
I'd check the motor, as you say. I did this replacement-of-the-rear-wash/wipe a while back (300Tdi) and had a hell of a job with fault-finding what I thought was a perfect install. Turned out that the motor was u/s right out of the box - the newest component in the whole damn set-up. Britpart. My own fault.
 
Thank you for your reply. That is a shame about your wiper motor especially that it was the new part and meant to fix your problem. I didn't change my one last year when I had a go at it. It was just routine maintainance and cleaning. The bottom member of the rear door frame was all rotten so took the door off, pealed the aluminium skin at the bottom and welded a new member. While I was at it, tidied up the wiring to the motor, cleaned up the motor and painted it cover also changed the door hinges. Lastly refreshed the door trim with new fabrics. The motor has been working fine since then, well to be more precise, I have not noticed it not working as September and October was not too wet and I don't drive the Landy everyday. Will take it this weekend and hopefully will sort it. Cheers
 
Back
Top