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97 Disco 1 strange electrical problem

Here is a weird one: Engine running, headlights on, dash lights on, radio on, everything normal. If I open the driver's door the rear wiper starts up, the tach drops to zero (no change in engine speed), the dash lights go off, the radio goes off, the top switches on the left (rear defroster and fog lights, I think) illuminate. If I turn off the headlights and then turn them back on everything goes back to normal. I think the engine may sometimes slow down and the dome light dim prematurely. Too many weird things to count. Just started acting up a day or so ago. Anyone suggest something I can check?

Reply to
Gord Wedman
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Not sure but usually with wierd eletrical gremlins the earths are the first things to look at.

Regards Stephen

Reply to
fanie

Gord Wedman composed the following ...

Earth points. Engine to chassis and chassis to battery earth straps. Various other lighting circuit earth points and possibly fuse box earth problems.

Reply to
Paul - xxx

So Gord Wedman was, like

Bad earth, or a lot of water somewhere it shouldn't be.

Reply to
Richard Brookman

Check Grounds.

Reply to
Jack Kerouac

Thanks to everyone that replied to my query. I've been too busy to

investigate until yesterday. The solution is almost as bizarre as the

original problem.

I was able to locate 3 ground points on the vehicle. The battery cable

goes to a starter mounting bolt and from this bolt there is a braided cable

going to the frame. I was able to loosen the bolt at the frame, wiggle and

re-tighten. The starter mounting bolt was so difficult to reach I left it

for another day. The second ground point is a small braided strap under the

hood, near the windshield. Loosened both ends, wiggled and re-tightened.

The last ground point was behind the panel in the drivers footwell.

After all this work I was rewarded with no change. Same weird combination of

faults. In my original note I failed to mention a few other symptoms:

the cruise control would not engage if the headlights were on, the tach would

go to zero and dome light dim quickly if lights were off.

Behind the drivers side footwell panel I happened to notice a rectangular grey

junction block with pairs of black wires going into it. At one end there was a jumper wire

that bridged the rows of connections. This wire was broken where it entered

the junction block. A rather strange break I must say as both ends were almost

sheared off. Perhaps it got pinched against a sharp metal edge. I could not pull out

the stub ends so I used 1/2 of a paper clip to re-make the connection. Lo and behold

this fixed the problem!! Everything back to normal. I don't really know what this

junction block does but I'm guessing it connects a bunch of ground wires together.

So now you know that you should keep a few paper clips in your Land Rover tool box.

Now if every fix could be so inexpensive.................

Reply to
Gordon Wedman

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