L300 electrics

I have a 1985 L300 4x4 van with screwed electrics that are freaking me out. A not so shot story of my saga follows

  1. Was driving it in heavy rain and when I got to my destination and turned it off, the ignition light came on and stayed on. The rest of the electrics seemed normal (eg the radio was not on, indicators wouldn't work etc). Turned ignition on, and the light went off!! Radio, lights etc worked as normal. Car started.

  1. Drove it home and disconnected battery.

  2. Took it for a drive the next day and when I got to my destination turned it off and ignition light stayed off. Oh gooood I thought must have been just a bit of water got in wrong place and has now dried out.

  1. Started car to drive home and ignition light stayed on!! Got home anyway.

  2. Next time I took it out, it reverted top the situation described in 1. Did not disconnect battery when I got it home because of more heavy storms. Found out battery would flatten if not disconnected.

  1. Ignition light now comes on when motor running and stays on (very bright). Checked out wiring as much as possible and nothing seems unusual. I don't have ammeter so took positive terminal off battery and it kept running so charge is coming from alternator -- BUT WIPERS STARTED WORKING!!!! Put terminal back and wipers stopped. Wipers do work from switch.

  2. It seems logical that there is some crossed wiring under instrument panel but having trouble getting it out. Don't really want to undo every screw and don't know if it would be worthwhile or that the problem would be obvious. Wiring around steering column and that which can be seen under dash looks OK.

Help! Has any one else experienced this sort of crap. Any suggestions on how I can tackle this would be appreciated. How does the instrument panel come out? Undid the two screws that apparently hold it but seem to be missing something. Don't want to apply a lot of force in case I break something. My wife's pretty ill & have been staying home to care for her-- so don't have a lot of cash to waste.

Thanks

Jack

Reply to
Jack Shearer
Loading thread data ...

"Jack Shearer" wrote in news:TzLYb.65372$ snipped-for-privacy@news-server.bigpond.net.au:

Hi I think I've got electric schematics for your L300, I will be able to email you scanned copies, if youre interested.

kind regards

snipped-for-privacy@THISnethotel.dk

Reply to
Flemming V. Mortensen

Just one comment re above... It is *extremely* dangerous for the electrical sytem to have the engine running and no battery connected!

The battery is a critical component of the alternator regulation, fulfilling a vital smoothing role.. Without it the alternator will produce much higher than normal voltage spikes into the system continuously and will more than likely not be able to regulate the average voltage properly either Most vehicle electronics are designed to handle the odd large voltage spike, but not for long periods of time. The wipers running as you observed was most likely a result of the intermittant wipe control circuit not having good power supply...

good luck finding the ign/chg light fault, it does suggest to me an alternator regulator problem, but could be a short somewhere too.. I havent seen how things are wired in an L300 :)

Reply to
Richard Huntington

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.