Handbrake affecting electrics and power loss

[phince]

Hello here is my fault on my defender 2005 model, when I release the handbrake the engine light comes on and a few more lights on the dashboard, the fuel and heater needles flicker up and down and I loose power so a hill start this can be a challenge

I have disconnected the light switch cable on the handbrake but this has no bearing as it still has the fault - it's not there all the time but most of it.

Are there any other electrical things onthe handbrake that I could look at?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards phince

[Dave W]

It's probably not directly related to the handbrake, it's not uncommon for the handbrake cable to act as an earth cable when the main earth cable is either disconnected or has a bad connection. Sometimes it can be felt as the handbrake getting warm when you start the engine, in extreme case it can melt and/or weld the handbrake cable.

Check the earth path between the engine, chassis and the battery. It's a single large cable that runs from the negative of the battery, has a "flag" connection that bolts to the chassis and then goes to the engine block. I usually run my own earths as well with one to the bulkhead and one to the transfer box to improve the earth connections around the vehicle (many of which feed back through the bulkhead).

[vulcan bomber]

Yep, what he said, easy check use a jump lead from the battery to some clean metal on the engine block.

[Simon Smith]

As above, found this several times on different vehicles.

 

[phince]

thankyou all for your helpi was thinking of do this but all your help in this has come up the same i will do and post an update cheers phince