Rear Lights not working

philsefo · Feb 9, 2012

Having restored a series 3 109 im having a problem with my rear lights, they're all new lights, and they work somtimes. The indicators work with the hazard switch on except the rear LH, but none work with the indicator swtich, the rear lights dont work atall but did last week and the brake lights have never worked. the earths have all been removed and cleaned up and there fine. all the wiring is correct i think, and ive checked the dash board and theres no loose conections etc. its a 24v ffr land rover
any suggestions??
thanks

SpringDon · Feb 9, 2012

Dunno could be lots of things. If the hazards work the flasher unit's ok. The non-working indicator could be a bad connection in the hazard switch.
I would say the indicator switch is faulty but you should check it with a multimeter to check that the switch opens and closes. Or a bulb on wire and check that the switch has volts in and out (on the indicator side).
Light faults are very often earth faults. If you are absolutely sure that there are volts coming out of the light switch and getting to the light units, try running a wire all the way back to the battery and earth the unit directly.

Oh, and before any of the above, are all the fuses ok?

philsefo · Feb 9, 2012

il try a multimeter on the light switch and bulb and see were volts are actually going. it must be somthing simple because the indicators have worked in the past, i wont be able to work on it till the weekend so il let you know
thanks for the advice

Geep · Feb 10, 2012

Daft thought, but have you put 12v bulbs in by mistake?

Bump · Feb 10, 2012

I would run a wire back from the earth to the battery terminal - i know you've cleaned the earths but it's good to completly mitigate this issue.

Secondly i would run 24v+ to each bulb in turn to check it lights, this will remove any doubt that the bulb of fixing is faulty.

Assuming above is all ok i'd then measure the resistance of each wire from one end to the other and "bleep test" it (with battery disconnected) to check it is in good condition and all connected it up

If it is all the rear lights it could be the whole loom to the back which is damaged or an earth issue.

Good luck

philsefo · Feb 10, 2012

yes 24v bulbs, sorry to sound stupid but bleed test?
i think i wil have to check every bulb and every earth and every wire, really hope its not the loom. thanks for everyones advice i'l let u know when ive worked on it next

Bump · Feb 10, 2012

philsefo said:
yes 24v bulbs, sorry to sound stupid but bleed test?
i think i wil have to check every bulb and every earth and every wire, really hope its not the loom. thanks for everyones advice i'l let u know when ive worked on it next

Bleep test... it's a function built into most multimeters for checking things like diodes, basically it sends a small current along the wire, if you put a probe on each end of the wire and the wire is complete then you get a beep, it's a very quick and easy test to check if a cable is connected through or not.

A better test is to measure the resistance along a wire, but, this involves disconnecting the bulb and battery at each end so your only testing the wire, it also helps if you know what kind of resistance your expecting to see.

Where abouts in the world are you?

philsefo · Feb 10, 2012

oh yeah makes sense, ive got a cheap multimeter not sure if it has bleep function but i can get my hands on one so i'll test it, im studying in manchester but im from liverpool

philsefo · Mar 7, 2012

So i finally had a chance to work on the landy, i found 1 wire in the wrong place in the rear loom and once that was sorted i got the rear lights working, the only issue i have is the rear indicators work with the hazard switch on but not with the indicator stalk, the indicator stalk works somtimes. I tested everything with the multimeter and a current is passing through the switch, any ideas??

thanks

Rear Lights not working

philsefo

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SpringDon

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philsefo

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Geep

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Bump

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philsefo

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Bump

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philsefo

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philsefo

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