A handful of problems

It'sNotWorthComplaining! · 6th February 2011, 09:54 PM

Originally Posted by discoowner

@ It'sNotWorthComplaining!:

I'm really sorry, I don't know how to test a + feed. I rerun the exercise this morning taking photos along the way, so you can see exactly what I was doing.
First photo shows removed courtesy light assembly hooked up to 12V power source (you can only see the back of the assembly, but the switch is in the on position)
Second photo shows me testing the cables with the voltmeter.
Third photo shows that the black cable is bolted onto the roof. I'm not sure where the other cables are leading. There are two plugs coming out of the hole. The first (which I'm testing on the photo) was connected to the courtesy light assembly, it has a purple/brown and a purple/blue cable. Regardless of which of the two cables I'm testing, I always get the 12V. The second plug that comes out of the hole wasn't connected to anything (it has two black and one white cables). Maybe that is part of the problem?
In the fourth photo I have attached two wires to the plugs and again measure 12V.
In the fifth photo I make contact with the bulb from the courtesy light assembly and it won't light up.
With the cigarette lighter in the boot of the car, I get 12V by making contact with the red and black terminals of my voltmeter. And when I swap the red and the black parts, I get the same number but with a - in front of it.
I hope this gives a better idea of what I have done so far in this regard.

Might be a stupid response but is the door open during your tests, seems strange that the bulb illuminates which the battery charger connected to the light holder. Those switches in the door frame if they get stuck close it will cut power.or if the wire has come off the plug that would also stop the circuit.

**discoowner** · 7th February 2011, 08:50 AM

That's correct, I have doors open during the tests. Should I close them?

**spudboy** · 7th February 2011, 12:40 PM

Well, on l my Disco 1, if you leave the doors open for more than 5 (?) minutes the interior lights turn themselves off. To reset, I just close the door and open again, and you get another 5 minutes of light.

If the doors have been open for a long time, then you won't see any lights come on even if you fix the issue.

Good luck with it all - that's quite a list of issues

**discoowner** · 7th February 2011, 03:44 PM

Thanks spudboy, just re-ran the whole exercise with closed doors and unfortunately get the same results.

**Ivan** · 8th February 2011, 07:56 AM

Do the lights work when you switch them on manually? If so then the problem is with the earth from the door switch. Either the door switch is not working correctly or you have a fault/disconnected earth cabe from the switch.
Whereabouts in Australia are you? Maybe one of the forum members could come over and give you a hand.

Ivan

**discoowner** · 8th February 2011, 09:05 PM

Nope, the light switch doesn't work when operated manually. That's why I think the door switch is not the problem. Besides, I have 12V at the wires, so that should be ok. How do I check the earth cable from the switch? Is that not the black cable bolted onto the roof?
I'm located on the Gold Coast. That's a kind offer, but I wouldn't want to inconvenience anybody. If it can't be fixed by the layman (me) with a little bit of instructions from the pros (you guys) then I'll let my mechanic have a look at it when the disco gets its next service. It's not a deal breaker if the lights won't work. I'm just curious as to how that could possibly be with voltage being there but light not working.

theborderdog · 9th February 2011, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by discoowner

@ THEBORDERDOG:

Ok, that makes sense. The car has a bullbar with brackets for spotlights, so there were probably some installed at some stage in its life. I turned the ignition key into position 2 to find out where the fan-noise comes from. I looked under the bonnet and couldn't see anything. So I looked underneath the car, touching various parts with my fingers. The part shown in the two photos is the only one making slight vibrations, but I'm not sure what it does. Also, the gurgling water sounds seems to be related, as soon as this fan or pump springs into action, the water seems to be moving.
From what you are telling me, it sounds that the thermo fan installation isn't a bad idea, so I hope that whoever installed it in my disco knew what they were doing and leave it at that. Does it keep the engine cooler or why did you rewire your air con fans?

Im sorry discoowner but I can't tell from the photos what i'm looking at.
try taking a couple more.......what side of the car is it on and roughly where abouts. The fan noise and gurgling dosn't sound like any disco i've been around.
I never put seperate thermos on i just rewired my aircon fans on the front cooler behind the grill.
When I got the car they only came on when the air con was turned on (I believe this to be a factory thing) to keep the air con cooler cool so to speak......so I just put a two way switch in so it stills comes on with the air con one way and if i flick it the other way they comes on when ever I feel they need to.
As for keeping the engine cooler I don't think so but its gotta help to keep some air flowing through under the bonnet
those diesels really create a lot of heat under the there.

**68wicksy** · 9th February 2011, 05:13 PM

Hey discoowner, sorry to hear you are having so many problems with the Disco.
A word of advice from a fellow Gold Coast owner of a very "well loved"

Disco. If your mechanic isn't a landrover specialist then I would highly recommend visiting Rick's 4WD in Nerang. He only deals with landies, and really knows his s#!t. Will definately save you money in the long run to have a landrover expert looking after your truck.

Best of luck.
Geoff

**AKW** · 9th February 2011, 05:38 PM

The noisy black thing (water & fan) looks to me to be
an electric water pump.
Would seem the p o liked putting extra bits on.
I have no experience with them, it just looks and sounds
like one.
So far only the int light problem seems to be a LR one,
the rest are p o related.

Keep working on it and learning keep the service up
and you will not go wrong.

Andrew

'93 200tdi disco
'65 88" sIIa

**discoowner** · 9th February 2011, 08:52 PM

@ THEBORDERDOG and AKW:

The guy I bought the Disco from said that the previous owner had an electric water pump and thermos fitted. Sorry, I forgot to mention that (mainly because I didn't know what that meant). I couldn't find a lot of information about it on the web, it doesn't seem to be a very common thing in Discos. It says that it is mainly used by race cars(?) for performance reasons. I also found that it is supposed to be running all the time, so I guess mine is doing the right thing. Advice is I should even leave it running for a short while after shutting the engine down. What do the experts reckon, should I be replacing the electric pump and thermos with a more traditional setup?
The position of it is underneath the alternator. I can take more pictures if required, but I think it has now been positively identified.

@ 68wicksy:

No need to be sorry for the problems. I knew the Disco had some issues when I bought it (got it for a good price I think) but they are all minor things like the problems I'm asking here about. As far as I'm aware, the car is mechanically sound (I wouldn't want to be doing anything to the engine myself ....... just yet ;-). So far I'm enjoying the learning experience and I hope this knowledge will all come in handy when the Disco eventually goes bush and things start to fall off.....
I just looked up Rick's 4WD and Lawrence Dr is not very far from where I am, so I will definitely pay him a visit once the next service is due. That advice was much appreciated!

Ok, it seems all my problems are fixed except the annoying courtesy lights. I'll just wait and see, maybe somebody has any suggestions. But for the moment, just wanting to say thank you once again for all the help I have received so far!!!

Thread: A handful of problems

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