Club 80-90 Forums

Hi All
I'll start by saying that I've been onto the wiki page and it gave me enough info to start investigating things this morning.
I've been trying to eliminate things one by one to find the problem, but I'm at the limit of my knowledge, I'm sure you guys can steer me in the right direction.
The end result of the problem is that the wipers aren't working and the headlights are not working.

This is how it happened in order of things..............

While driving for a couple of hours the volt meter on dashboard started reading over 15.5v, obviously way to high, normally sits at 12.5v to 14v. The battery light on the display also lit up.
I kept driving as I was in the middle of nowhere in pitch black and was about half an hour from home.
About 10 mins from home I lost the headlights and wipers.
The dims still work, the full beams only work if i hold back the switch, they wont stay on.
If i hold back the full beams switch, the wipers also start working.

I unscrewed the fuse box this morning and tried to access the earth crowns, it's very difficult without unplugging the whole fuse-box as there's very little slack on the cable looms. Its a left hand drive, I dont know if thats standard as regards slack or what.
I can see the earth crowns clearly though, they don't look too corroded, very slight corrosion on them. I sprayed a bit of contact cleaner on them as that's all i could reach, it didn't fix the situation.
I checked the battery earth, seems ok, its not loose or covered in grime or a dirty connection or anything.
I brought the alternator to a mechanic to check to see if the voltage regular was goosed, he ran it for a while with a meter across it and then said it was fine and reading 14, normal.

My question is, could the earth problem cause the volt meter to read 15.5v and battery led to light up?
My instinct tells me the alternator output spiked and cause all the problems, but sure im only guessing !!
Do these symptoms sound familiar to anyone?
Everything points to the earth crowns from everything I've read in wiki and on our forums

Goosed battery could lead to high voltage output from the alternator, rare but could do so. I have a battery charger that goes over 16v when it is used on a duff battery.

Oldiebut goodie wrote:Goosed battery could lead to high voltage output from the alternator, rare but could do so. I have a battery charger that goes over 16v when it is used on a duff battery.

Battery seems ok though, its holding its charge no problem, turning over the starter every day no problem

Sounds like you have a loose connection some where. How is the rear of the dash looking? Blue PCB circuit in good condition? Any obvious loose connections?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

danmetallic wrote:Sounds like you have a loose connection some where. How is the rear of the dash looking? Blue PCB circuit in good condition? Any obvious loose connections?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I haven't taken the dash out yet to investigate properly but that is gonna have to happen now. I was trying to avoid that as it scares the "pooh" out of me

I've been researching and reading some american forums and some folks describe the exact problem I seem to be having, they say it's the ignition switch, any of this sound familiar to anyone?

"The high beams feed off an always on circuit, instead of the accessory ignition/ON circuit. so when you're holding the stalk to trigger the high beams you back feeding the accessory line with power, causing the other stuff to work"

I just checked on my van and yes, if with the ignition off you switch the headlights and wipers on, if you flash the headlights then the wipers start working.
So you may well have a faulty ignition switch or something in that area.

marlinowner wrote:I just checked on my van and yes, if with the ignition off you switch the headlights and wipers on, if you flash the headlights then the wipers start working.
So you may well have a faulty ignition switch or something in that area.

thanks for checking, very good of you.
Well hopefully thats it, they are really cheap to buy so I'm going to order 2 of them !!
I'll fit it as soon as it arrives and I'll post an update to let you know if that solved the problem.

I think you may want to research the "x" relay circuit, as the headlights should only have power when the ignition is on , and the "x" relay controls what gets power when the engine is cranking , so if it’s at fault it may be causing your feedback ?

Mocki wrote:I think you may want to research the "x" relay circuit, as the headlights should only have power when the ignition is on , and the "x" relay controls what gets power when the engine is cranking , so if it’s at fault it may be causing your feedback ?

Cool thank you Mocki, I'll check that out too. Just done some reading on the x relay circuit, makes sense if it is the problem.

I pulled all the relays yesterday to see if there was any obvious visual signs of damage or burn on them, they were all clean as a whistle and spotless clean.
I know thats no measure of things working but just did a quick visual inspection.

When the x circuit fails its usually the ignition switch.

marlinowner wrote:When the x circuit fails its usually the ignition switch.

I've been watching videos on replacing the ignition switch so I'm going to attempt it myself when the new part arrives.
Hopefully that will solve my problem.

I replaced the ignition switch today and everything is working again, wipers lights and full beams.
Happy days, back on the road !!

Thank you all for help and advice

When my ignition switch caused that problem the heater fan also stopped working at the same time, perhaps another symptom to aid diagnosis.

Your heater fan failing could have started the whole chain of events.
My fan motor seized solid, drew a lot of current and overheated the fuse holder for it.
If yours has done the same, it could have caused the ignition switch to burn out.
I'd avoid turning the fan on until you've investigated further as it may do more damage.