Club 80-90 Forums

Hi everybody
Turned the light on this afternoon on the way home and Headlights didnt work, but the indicators come on, all 4 all the time.
sidelight work.
read through the forum and the problem could be fuse box earth crowns or the indicator relay.

Any other guilty parties?

van has been sitting for 2 weeks under the cover and is a little damp inside, condensation inside the radio display.

cheers

Are the indicators only on when the headlights are on (or headlight switch is on) or are you saying that they are on all the time?
Do the indicators work when you use the indicator stalk or the hazard warning light switch?

its changed from yesterday when the indicators worked as normal with the lights off but all 4 came on when the main lights were on, and flashed when the indicator stalk was up or down.

now when you move the indicator stalk up or down all 4 of the indicator lights flash and the high beam led flashes alternately with the indicator led. the headlights flash dim alternately with the indicators.
with the sidelights on they flash when the indicators are on.

got to be a bad earth - but what one, is there a earth post for the steering column?

Cheers

Majority of the earths are on the two earth crowns behind the fuses under the dash.
Clean these (i.e. Disconnect all the earths, clean the earth crown and the earth connections then reconnect all the earths)
Once this is done - try your tests again and let us know if that has fixed/changed anything?

Earth crowns x 2 (above and left of fusebox, inside glovebox)
Relay (possibly)
I had exactly same issue and traced two faults:
1) faulty headlight switch (I couldnt get dipped or main beam and van failed her MOT accordingly!) - are you getting sidelights to work?
2) I found a relay had been added under dash on RHS, which was subsequently found to be connected with the towbar - and this faulty rlay caused all sorts of gremlins. New relay = no probs.

Hope you get it sorted, just stay methodical, you'll find it....

Thanks
tuesday before i will get a chance to look.

i will post a reply about how i get on.

2 hours working on the lights problem, figured out how the light switch worked and traced the power all the way to the problem.

Turned out to be fuses and manky green fuse connectors, cleaned up the lights fuses and the lights worked but not the high beam dashboard led, cleaned the rest of the fuses and everything worked

checked the earthing point and it looked ok.

Thanks for the help

Andy

There is an earth on the steering column - but it is only for the horn I think, it is low down the column near the 1st uj/flexi-joint piece

Ah that may be why the horn sounds like a dogs squeaky toy

If you look on the horn there should be an adjusting screw with a locknut on it - this is used for adjusting the note/or wear in the vibrating contacts. Tiny little twists up or down should sort that. (Neighbours enjoy this adjustment! ) The earth on the column shouldn't give any trouble really other than getting accidentally knocked off.

It might be worth unplugging and replugging the various connectors to the earth crowns anyway. We had an issue recently with our headlights getting stuck in the dark 'gap' between main beam and dipped headlights which was all down to a poor earth connection.

Horns ok when given a direct feed from the battery, could be any of the multiple connections between it and the steering wheel.
Job for another night when the weather's better.