Green Bob Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 With the ignition switched on, the glow plug light is very faintly on all the time, getting brighter with more stuff switched on. In the dark (when it's more noticeable), with the engine running, the glow plug light flickers. When revved, it gets brighter until the engine speed stabilises then flickers again. It gets brighter, the more electricals I use: lights, heater etc and my voltmeter goes down considerably more than it should, as does the voltage across the battery. When the lights are on, their birghtness is inversely proportional to the glowplug light's: when the glowplug light gets brighter, the lights dim. I've noticed that when I park up and apply the handbrake, it goes out, or dims enough to not be seen. I realise this is "something" earthing through the handbrake cable, but has anyone got a clue what feed could be causing this? I can't for the life of me seem to find it and I couldn't tell you when it started, which may help narrow it down to something I've changed, it's doing my head in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Its more likely an earth point not doing its jobdue to dirt, snot and corrosion, there for the powers finding a new route. Clean all your earths, starting with the one on the bulkhead near the fuel filter housing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 It has been known for all types of LR to break their earth straps and then set the handbrake cable on fire. I saw this on a RR classic. If necessary add extra earthing straps - the braided ones are best - from here to there. You can't have enough earthing straps on a defender in order to avoid strange electrical things. On mine, the engine 'overheated' with the headlights on - gave me a helluva fright. And extra earth strap from the bulkhead to the engine fixed that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Bob Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 Well, I put a jump lead from the negative terminal on the battery to bare metal on the bulkhead, the seat box, the chassis etc, all solved the problem, so clearly everything that earths on the body/chassis/bulkhead is earthing through the glow plug feed as I appear to be lacking any earth straps from all 3! Easy fix, so I'm reasonably pleased. Just thought I'd add to this in case anyone has similar problems... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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