Thread: Defender TD5 Electrical Fault

Have you got a volts guage if so check the connections. Might be worth checking the alternator wires as well. They were the causes on our old cars.
Good luck.

might just be a bad earth prob as well

<span style="color:#006600">yep...it sounds like a loose earth.....not neccessarily on the battery terminal...but maybe on the other end of
that wire.....and find the one from the chassis to the engine as well.....




turn on your radio loud enough to hear it from under the bonnet etc....then just start wiggling wires around till
you find the one causing the problems......
check also the connectors on the ecu havent come loose......


thinking about it a bit more...a dead short could cause the same problem but is more serious.......
make sure the battery isnt bouncing around.....</span>

I have had a similar problem on the Fender, more so before start up. It was a relay. Could here it clicking.
Check your ECU connection for oil as well, this can cause similar dramas.

mine used to do the same sort of thing.....

then one day on our way back from camping it just stopped on the side of the road


we had no power at all didn&#39;t even have dash lights when ignition was on



turned out to be a loose earth wire in the Inner passenger front gaurd

it only took the dealership 9days to find it

Hi solmanic, you seem to have covered the obvious by checking the leads and, as pointed out by zook, a dead short is another culprit that can cause that sort of problem.

Try checking in and around the starter motor and starter motor solenoid as this is one of the few places around a vehicle where you can have a dead short but where there is no fuse protection, so it can happen repeatedly without any indication.

Cheers and keep us informed.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(solmanic &#064; May 17 2006, 08&#58;35 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I have an intermittent electrical fault in my 02MY Defender - all the electrics cut out periodically both stationary and on the road. And I mean ALL the electrics, even the hazard lights. On a couple of occasions the radio has reset itself. Most of the time it is for only a fraction of a second, when driving a couple of times it was so brief the engine just hiccupped and then kept going.

Now I have already checked the battery terminals and they are secure, I have pressed all the fuses and relays in the fuse box - they seem fine. Can&#39;t find anything loose in the ECU box under the driver&#39;s seat. It seems most likely that it is a loose connection, and somewhere straight off the battery.

Has anybody got any ideas? Are there any connections that are particularly prone to jiggling loose? It has started (some time) after our last off-road foray. Not overly rambunctious, but maybe it was enough to unsettle whatever it is that&#39;s loose.
[/b][/quote]

I remember hearing of a similar problem with a Defender that turned out to be one of the main battery leads was faulty in that one end terminal was not properly soldered onto the cable itself. The fact that this has happened at least once suggests that removing and examining the terminal attachments and replacing any suspect cables could be worthwhile - or even replace the main battery cables on spec - should be pretty easy and cheap.

Thanks for all the info guys - the vehicle is at the dealer getting some other things seen to. I'll work through this list when I get it back.