Lights stopped working as I was driving

[Juz]

Hi All,

I could really do with knowing about the lights on a 1996 Def 90.

Last night whilst my girlfriend was driving the truck, she said the dip beam just went out. Side lights and Main Beam still work.

On Side lights, there is some illumination of the headlight units, but it's reasonably bright on the passenger side and very dim on the drivers side.

So, Question 1, on a 1996 Def, should the main headlight units illuminate with the sidelights. I think older models had some kind of 1/6 illumination, but also thought that this had ceased by 1996.

Checked fuses, they're ok. Put a multimeter between the Dipbeam fuse and an earth:

All lights off - 0v

Side lights - 4v

Dip beam - 0v

I don't think it's the switch as the foglights still come on. what do you guys think?

Juz

[Defender Chap]

Hi,

It sounds like you have the same problem as i'm having.

if you take the plastic cover around the steering wheel off and look behind at the wires, there should be a blue wire for the lights, give it a tweek and it should turn the lights back on. thats the problem im having and how i deal with it, i find it keeps happening so will try soldering the wire on to see if it fixes it for good.

I am curious to see if others also have this problem and if so, how they dealt with it.

i have a 1997 def 90 and i also have a dim beam from the headlights as well as the sidelights when i put my sidelights on.

Hope this helps and makes sense.

all the best

Luke

[Mo Murphy]

Headlights on with the sidelights is the dim/dip system working, that's normal. The dim one is probably down to a dirty earth.

The missing dip is, 99 times out of a 100 down to a failed headlamp switch, quite common.

HTH

Mo

[Juz]

Headlights on with the sidelights is the dim/dip system working, that's normal. The dim one is probably down to a dirty earth.

The missing dip is, 99 times out of a 100 down to a failed headlamp switch, quite common.

HTH

Mo

Cheers. Wouldn't that also stop the fog lights working?

Juz

[Juz]

Hi,

It sounds like you have the same problem as i'm having.

if you take the plastic cover around the steering wheel off and look behind at the wires, there should be a blue wire for the lights, give it a tweek and it should turn the lights back on. thats the problem im having and how i deal with it, i find it keeps happening so will try soldering the wire on to see if it fixes it for good.

I am curious to see if others also have this problem and if so, how they dealt with it.

i have a 1997 def 90 and i also have a dim beam from the headlights as well as the sidelights when i put my sidelights on.

Hope this helps and makes sense.

all the best

Luke

Thanks Luke

Juz

[outdoor_ian]

I had this problem on an 1995 Defender 90 & 1999 110 the problem both times was the 3 position off/sidelight/dipped headlight switch/lever on the sterring column.

Jiggling the wires will get you buy until the contacts in the switch die completly, at this point you Will be in a hurry to get where your going, it Will be raining and being that you want the lights on it Will be dark!

Or is that just my luck? Na its a landrover thing! you gotta love em

Once I located the problem I tried to fix the switch as I do like to take things to bits and put them back together however this case I found it not to be worth the effort so I bought a new one (however this was a britpart one) which didnt last to long (about a week) so thinking it must be something else on the defender (money hungry beast) as parts dont only last a week!!! I spent ages with a multimeter tracing wires all over the car, for about a week I had my lights set up on the twist the wires together method which worked very well. With nothing else to point to other than the switch I bought a genuine one (more money, less hassel) which worked a treat. The 90 I sold but the 110 I still have and the lights work a treat.

Hope thats of some help.