Serious Indicator/ Flasher unit problems!?!

Been having a few probs with my electrics. I've only had this land rover a few weeks, it is a 1986 110 Truck cab, 2.5 n/a diesel. It started off with problems with the lights. The lights would work intermittently, for instance sometimes the main beam would work, sometimes it wouldn't, and the same also happened with the fog lights. I thought I had managed to fix that problem, and so far fingers crossed the lights are working alright.

Then, I was driving a couple of days ago and the indicators stopped, including the hazards. I went back home, and found that the flasher relay had part melted. The electrics when I first purchased the vehicle somewhat resembled spaghetti junction, with wires and relays and the fuse boxes just hanging loose, so I thought that perhaps the relay may have been touching against something and earthed so I tidied up the wires and relays and fuse boxes and assumed that the problem with the indicators was that the relay had gone (as I said, it had partly melted and clicked when I tried to engage the indicators) so I went out and purchased another relay. I thought that that would fix the problem, but when I connected it up and tried to work the indicators, the side of that one melted and it got hot and it clicked (also the indicators still didn't work). Therefore I guess the problem is not the relay (although obviously I will be needing another one!) so does anyone have any clue what may be wrong?
(P.S incase it is relevant, the flasher relay that the vehicle uses is made by Ring, part RFL19 12v DC max 98W)

Okay, so I did a bit of investagatory work and found a loose purple wire behind the box type thing on the rear right hand light cluster - it had been earthing against the metal of the body by the looks of the deposits there. I reconnected the wire and found myself ANOTHER relay to see if that was the problem. Initially the problem was partially solved, in that the indicators and hazards started working, all except the passenger side front indicator and the passenger side indicator which did not work either as indicators or hazards?!? So I went to have a look at what may be causing the problem over there, unplugged a wire that I had plugged in the other day (and thought perhaps I had stuck it in the wrong place) and then it all stopped working. So I plugged it back in where it came from, but still now none of the indicators work again, nor the hazards? Have I blown another relay? It doesnt click when I try to engage the indicators and it hasnt melted anywhere and shows no signs of damage?

I have tried to test the relay , I put point 31 to the battery negative, 49 to the battery positive and 49a had the voltage tester attached to it and the other end of that earthed. Did I test it right? There was no voltage showing on the voltage tester either way, so either I tested it wrong or that relay is destroyed too?

this might not be the right answer but worth checking, what is the condition of the earth strap from the engine to the chassis, normaly the earth strap is fastened to the starter motor fixing bolts and then attached to the chassis, and a sure way of making sure of a good contact is to remove from the chassis and clean the area of contact and the terminal aswell, what i did my landy was to fix a second strap from the rear of the gearbox aswell, and just 1 question you said 1986 110 were they about then or is it a 109,

brnocz said:

and just 1 question you said 1986 110 were they about then or is it a 109,

Click to expand...

No it is actually a "110". Not a series vehicle, not yet a defender, something in between. They actually started being made as early as 1983 believe it or not, and were soon followed by the "90" (which actually had a 93 inch wheelbase) and the "127". By 1990 they were finally being called the "Defender"

Here is a really great link to a useful page about them, incase you are interested Land Rover Defender - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maybe it is true that you learn something new every day!

Hi Nell,

I had similar problems on my '85 110 when I first got it a few months back. I found several little problems causing a whole host of electrical gremlins!

First the connections/terminals on the fuse box and bullet connectors had over-time (read the past 25 years!) built up a layer of gunk/corrosion preventing reliable contacts. I used some emery cloth to clean them all up one by one. It takes time but is well worth the effort.

The second problem I found was that the old glass-fuses in the fuse box were shot, not blown... but the metal conductive ends had become loose and were intermittently providing contact to the fuse-wire inside. Replaced the dough ones and suddenly things started to come back to life.

One of the front indicators and one side light refused to play ball, so I stripped out the lamp assemblies and found similar corrosion problems and dodgy earth connections. I made good using the emery cloth method and crimped on a few new earth terminals and hey presto. Although the hazards still didn't work even though the indicators did. I bit the bullet and replaced the hazard rocker switch and relay for good measure. I've had no problems since...

Hope this helps in some way...

Wot Cooks said. Had same issues.Replaced all the glass fuses with new and cleaned up all the holders. Cleaned all earths and replaced a couple of of lenses/holders as they were full of crap. All OK 12 months later.

At least then you have a good baseline to shoot your indicator problems