Club 80-90 Forums

Boy, did we have a deluge of stormy weather and rain here in Margate. Carried on from Saturday afternoon and all through Sunday until the wee hours, with temperatures above 10c overnight. I can see them there seams a rusting daily in this horrible and humid environment.

To issue at hand: Camper No 2 Autosleeper 1987 DG1900 LPG auto box.

Last week on engine start up for my temporary daily commute of 40 return miles in to Canterbury, l noticed the door light and dash clock had both stopped working. Aha! A quick mental assessment suggested a blown fuse, as off the top of my head l think they share one fuse. Sort it when back home. However the stereo CD player still works. Separate fuse perhaps?

But four miles later clock started moving and interior door light now works. Stereo works on CD player but radio muted and unable to find a station... unless l switch off engine. Then stereo radio works as it should.

What the hell!

A quick Google suggests low current going to all three. Or poor earth? Yet, l thought all three would act the same. No stereo radio/light/clock. Then during journey all three working as they did some weeks ago.

Has anyone here had same issue and how was it resolved, please?

Wednesday l will ascertain if stereo runs from leisure or starter battery (in fact l already know the answer. It still runs with ignition off. So more baffling). Then run a live 12v feed direct to stereo. Clean earth crown near A pillar and general fiddle about in my usual numpty auto electrician way and use wrong settings on a digimeter.

Any thoughts, apart from pay for an expert, you tight**s Stuart!

Regards
Stuart

Beside cleaning grounds (gearbox nose too) also check positive feed. It can be nasty at the starter bolt junction. And at the alternator.
87 means late fusebox. So P teeminals with the thicker red wires on the backside also worth checking,

There are usually two positive feed nowadays. One battery+ for memory and one ignition+ for run. Depends on the radio itself it may run or not run when one feed is missing.

Hi Zoltan,

Thanks for your answer.

On today's drive l also noticed a dip in dash temp needle reading. It normally sits just left of red temperature light. So l gave the dash multi plug a wiggle and clock started working and the temp went back to normal position. And brighter dash illuminations. So that bit is sorted.

As for the stereo/CD Player. It is wired directly to starter battery. So l will change that over to leisure side in due course.

Radio works perfect with no engine. Perfect on ignition key stage one. But stage two it goes all hissy and cannot find a signal despite auto search.
And this is without engine running. Same with engine running. Hissing and weak signal.

Perhaps l need a filter of some kind?

Regards
Stuart

maxstu wrote: ↑07 Jan 2025, 16:37
Radio works perfect with no engine. Perfect on ignition key stage one. But stage two it goes all hissy and cannot find a signal despite auto search.
And this is without engine running. Same with engine running. Hissing and weak signal.



Regards
Stuart

Non standard ignition switch? T25 have no aux position, just off, run and crank .

I would say you have a earth issue with something else causing voltage drop

Thanks, Steve.
Will investigate tomorrow. Weather permitting.
We are expecting 20mm of snow!

Regards
Stuart

Yeah I'd imagine a ground issue Stu, could be on the crown side or perhaps or multipin connector or even the foil.. at least for the gauges and clock anyway...

Hi Steve,
How ya doing? And thanks for the advice.

Earth crowns by A pillar cleaned and a few earth wire female terminals replaced. Some were very corroded.
Looks like front screen is leaking in that corner. Added dielectric grease for good measure, too

Now wipers refuse to reset at bottom of screen when switching stalk to off position.

Oh! Outside, it's raining again. What joy!

so has cleanning the crowns fixed it? 

How many Ground cables come off the Battery? Give that lot a clean anyway. It sounds like the entire body is piitly grounded which would cause the antenna on the stereo to have no ground and not be able to pick up a signal very well due to EMI. 

But i would sort of expect wider spread issues with lights and such.

Also you can use a test lamp 21w instead of a multimeter as it will wead out poor connections more effectivly.

Thanks for recommendations.

Clock and door illumination lamp working this morning. So a step forward, at least.
Will look at radio later to day. After l've sorted new issue with wipers.....see my last post.

Wipers back to full working order. Fuse had dislodged.
Radio tomorrow.

Back to this again. The clock stopped working overnight. Then, about five miles into a journey it started again. Also, temp gauge seems reluctant to move more than about half it's normal position. Sits just off the cold white block.

Is this anything to do with the voltage regulator sitting at the back of the dials? The one that is 12v in and 10v out. If that were faulty surely all instrumentation would be playing up.
All dash lights work. Including hazards and rear fog.
Fuel gauge good.
Speedo not part of it l suppose? Being simply mechanical.

Regards
Stuart

Clock runs on 12V, battery+, not regulated.
Temp gauge is regulated IIRC

Seems more likely a dodgy connection at the 14pin connector.

ZsZ wrote: ↑03 Feb 2025, 06:24 Clock runs on 12V, battery+, not regulated.
Temp gauge is regulated IIRC

Seems more likely a dodgy connection at the 14pin connector.

Thanks for the information.

Will bleed coolant system again later this week. There may still be air in the system from engine exchange l did in October last year.

I took out dash binnacle a couple of weeks ago. Not ideal on coldest day of the year.
Clean multi pin and added a dab of dielectric grease.
Perhaps l need to find clock earth wire and see it's condition?

Regards
Stuart

The earth is common for the binnacle. Worth checking it as always.

Thanks for confirming, Zoltan.

Earth number 20, according to the book. Earth connection, dash panel wiring loom.

But l can't figure out the location?

Any pointers.

Thanks
Stuart