VDB
New Member
Fueled by fond memories of my LWB SIII, I recently bought a SWB SIII from a leading specialist in Classic Land Rover. On collection I noticed that the temperature gauge didn't work which wasn't clever because it had an elective switch to activate the Kenlowe fan. Bonnet melting not being a good pointer for switching the Kenlowe on... During examination, a company's employee shorted the electrics resulting in lots of fumes coming out of the dashboard. An external car-electrician had to work on (repair) the car. Surprisingly the company emailed "he did not have to offer either of these options to you, but as a goodwill gesture he offered to cover the several hundred pounds of free delivery (put into perspective, the company driver passed us on his way Plymouth!). On top of that we have completely replaced the front wiring harness professionally at a cost of over £1000. We also did not have to do this, but to please you it was fully replaced with extra fuses on your request - somewhat of a free upgrade." This was after them frying the wiring... Classic Land Rover company subsequently delivered the car as 'repaired'.
Problem is that the top fuse in the fuse box keeps on blowing. It renders the car illegal to drive because it disables brake lights and indicators. I drove the car today to diagnose, progressively loading Amps to the system... so with lights on main beam things were OK, adding indicators seemed OK, applying brakes OK, finally I switched on the Kenlowe and for some 30 minutes everything seemed to be OK, then out of the blue the top fuse in the fuse box melted. Random electrical errors are any electrician's nightmare, I understand that.
Still, it renders the car unfit for purpose, it becomes illegal to drive and unreliable. For how many fuses do you need to carry to make a journey from Harborough to Newmarket?!? My question to the forum is how to go about finding what causes this shorting. The very uncooperative Classic Land Rover specialist might drive the car for less than 30 minutes and never find the problem, erroneously causing them to think they're right. But they're not, there is an innate problem with electrics.
My LWB SIII was ultra reliable and a 1948 car I have is ultra reliable. So the Classic Land Rover people saying "We do not guarantee these items under our warranty as they are very prone to sudden failure" and "a 40 year old vehicle will always be unpredictable by its very nature" is illogical. It ignores the obvious which is that Land Rovers achieved their iconic status because they were utterly capable and dependable vehicles.
Please can you advise how best to diagnose and sort this electronic problem.
Many thanks in advance!
Problem is that the top fuse in the fuse box keeps on blowing. It renders the car illegal to drive because it disables brake lights and indicators. I drove the car today to diagnose, progressively loading Amps to the system... so with lights on main beam things were OK, adding indicators seemed OK, applying brakes OK, finally I switched on the Kenlowe and for some 30 minutes everything seemed to be OK, then out of the blue the top fuse in the fuse box melted. Random electrical errors are any electrician's nightmare, I understand that.
Still, it renders the car unfit for purpose, it becomes illegal to drive and unreliable. For how many fuses do you need to carry to make a journey from Harborough to Newmarket?!? My question to the forum is how to go about finding what causes this shorting. The very uncooperative Classic Land Rover specialist might drive the car for less than 30 minutes and never find the problem, erroneously causing them to think they're right. But they're not, there is an innate problem with electrics.
My LWB SIII was ultra reliable and a 1948 car I have is ultra reliable. So the Classic Land Rover people saying "We do not guarantee these items under our warranty as they are very prone to sudden failure" and "a 40 year old vehicle will always be unpredictable by its very nature" is illogical. It ignores the obvious which is that Land Rovers achieved their iconic status because they were utterly capable and dependable vehicles.
Please can you advise how best to diagnose and sort this electronic problem.
Many thanks in advance!
