New to this so help needed please...

hi and good evening...
My son and I have bought a series 3 landrover swb, 1971 which is 95% complete..and in super condition. When we bought this we did know that the electrics were its weakest point and we have only had the Landy for 6 weeks and we now have new headlamps, side lights, horn and rear lights but I would love some help with the following please...
There will be other questions I am sure later on but I have in my own mind a way and a plan to work and a system to follow..we also have the repair operations manual, Haynes manual and parts book to assist us...so...
We have power to the rear side lights, but when we press the brake, the brake lights don’t come on..I have checked both new lights have the 2 filament bulbs and they do...so, I then found the brake light switch on the servo drum took the two wires off and connected them to bypass the switch and the lights still don’t come on..incidentally with a multimeter there is no power to the brake light switch wires....what am I doing wrong or not seeeing.....also

The indicator stalk..obviously works as the new horn works, and the dipped beam and flash beam works, but th indicators lights on th dash come on left and right and stay on but don’t flash ie make the ticking noise....I am summising that the stalk must be good as the horn and dipped and full beam work from it..so what am I doing wrong or overseeing...

We have given ourselves 12 months to do electrics, prepare the landy for repaint and then new interior etc in readiness for my son when he is 17..so any help now and in future would be great please...

Best wishes spencer and William...

Welcome! On my 1981 model , the brake lights and indicators share the same fuse. The fuse connections are known for corrosion so I would locate, remove and clean the connections at the fuse box under the steering column initially. Aside from this I suspect bad earth somewhere.

And a dodgy brake light switch? They’re a bugger to set. Have you fiddled with the setting to see if it comes on?

Indicators is probably the flasher relay failing.

If you no power to the brake light switch then that the problem. Feed should be direct from the fusebox so either a fuse or broken wire on its way to the switch.

As has already been mentioned, the 12v supply to the brake lamp switch comes from the fuse box - on mine, that fuse also powers the temperature and fuel gauges. As well as the fuse itself, and the sprung connections, it's also worth looking at the Lucar connectors on the back of the fuse box, as a bad or corroded connection here will give similar symptoms to a blown fuse.

Brake light supply is also ignition switched on .

blue beasty said:

Indicators is probably the flasher relay failing.

Click to expand...

I would second this for the indicators, that is the exact same symptoms I had with mine until the relay failed completely and they then did not work at all. Ver easy to replace once you have found the relay, it should be in dash behind the clock panel.

Thank you all for replying - to be honest i wasn't sure i would get any responses - all of them have been a great help, so i will give it a go this week and let you know how i get on....
spencer

As somene esle has said, the brakelights and indicators may come off the ign on side along with the indicators so that they can't drain the battery, but side lights (front and rear) always come off the "always on" side so you can park with the lights on (used to be a legal requiremnt, not sure if it still is). This is one reason why hazards are such a pain to wire as they must be from the "always on" side so that hazards can be on with the vehicle locked but if the indicators are on the ign on side you have to run 2 supplies.

If it turns out to be the flasher relay which has failed for the indicators and not the wiring at fault it would be worth checking all of the lighting earths are correctly installed, clean, and working well. I got through several flasher relays failing in quick succession before if sorted the problem. The poor earth and resulting high resistance causes the relays to fail early.

I had the same problem with my brake lights, i found the cable to the lamp holder was so badly corroded that there was no longer a connection.
Chasing the cable and checking the earthing is always a good start.
Good luck
Simon