Hi all, I’m now fresh out of brains and ideas. Here’s a run down for the issue and tests done but not resolved.

Got a 91 D1 3.5 V8 and fitted a used winch bar last month and once while I was connecting/ bridging in the left front LED bumper indicators I noticed , when testing, that the left side was flashing fast like a bulb was out, the right was fine.
I swapped out the flasher unit and the indicator stock off a friend’s known D1 which worked fine on his vehicle.
The ignition lights on the dash seem to dim a bit more that expected with the flasher’s rythm indicating a bad earth some where.
I have removed, sanded and replaced the earth bolts below the header tank by the battery and the chassis earth plus the earth spray form the engine to the body on the right by the coil. I found 2 flat rectangular earth “trees” above the accelerator and brake pedal which were perfectly clean and no corrosion visible . I have run out of where to find other earth connections to the body if there are any as can see black wire earths going into the loom on both sides by the battery and the coil on the right.
today while Testing with the spare switch again just to be sure I noticed now my head lights don’t work anymore…….high beam or low beam but high beam does work if one pulls the indicator stock back like when one flashes some one. The green flasher pulse light randomly works (mostly not since this started) and no initial green trailer light flashes either? Plus the same left sid fender indicator doesn’t flash now either and when I poked another new bulb in to be sure the wipers started to work…….haha????.

I now have exhausted all my years of mechanical and electrical experience and need help. I am convinced there is a bad connection some where as it was only the connection of an LED indicator which set it off.
My only hope is that there is an electrical guru here to help out.

cheers Bernie, New Zealand

 

Over 1000 views and no hints at all folks? 8 month sitting in the car port and no closer to driving it……..pretty sad. Really want to start using this but need help with where the left side earths are mounted to the body? Some say it’s on the A pillar which I know is incorrect as stripped it all down both sides and nothing visible.
im specifically looking for info on the left side as to where the earth is connected as the left indicator, wipers and head lights are playing up and have replaced and checked every thing I can think over .

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Do you have access to a wiring diagram? It can help systematically work through the circuits point by point. The ETM manual has a section for location of ground points.

Dash lights dimming in rhythm with the turn signals might also mean a weak battery/alternator. That's what happened on my '94.

Some LEDs draw so little current that the flasher goes fast (like a bulb is out). They make load resistors to add to the circuit to draw more current and fool the flasher. I was lucky when I swapped my tail lights to LED, I did not need to add load resistors.

 

Thanks for the help. I have put a brand new battery in when I bought it. Run new main earth leads to the body amd engine. No fitted any less other than the new ones on the winch bar and have done all this work on all 7 off of my Discos over the years and know them pretty well other.....then where the earth one the left side is. Some diagrams are vague so looking for some that has physically seen the body earth bolt or junction plug on the left side up behind the dash to help me identify this.

 

Just saw this post and wanted to chime in. Several years ago I had a bad ground that caused the fast flashing. I thought it would be a good idea to replace all the bulbs with LEDs like I did in an older 944. Well it got tricky right away to say the least. I later learned about the minimum draw from the LEDS can cause the fast flashing. In my cause I had both a bad ground that needed to be cleaned up in several places and I needed to gain knowledge of adding a load resistor to the setup. In the end I cleaned up the grounds and replaced with the LEDs with double life traditional bulb to keep the overall look on the 90s truck. I like the LED idea though, they will be brighter and not need replacing for awhile.

 

yer thanks for the run down, I had fitted LeDs to all my Discos interior and exterior all the time. Looks fresh. It funny how only connecting one LED winch bar indicator started all this despite the very low current draw. Tis shows there was a weak connection just waiting for a little load to fail.

 

There's a main ground junction bolted to the chassis behind the foot panel on the left side (right side too). The grounds use all black wire, so they are simple to visually identify. A pile of relays are in there too.

The Electrical Test Manual (ETM) lists the locations and numbering of ground splice points and solid grounds in detail. Does take some digging, not sure for a '91 model year. I don't remember if there is another splice point up in the instrument cluster location, but not too hard to access for a look. On my '96, the ETM helped me locate a ground splice in the engine bay, in front of the engine inside a wiring loom, that is a common for several important sensors. The splice had become a bit loose, so it appeared like intermittent very low engine coolant temps (thanks OBDII) whenever I drove on rough roads. Problem was solve by cleaning and soldering the ground splice (original was crimped).

 

Hi, thanks for the info. I have both side kick panels off and unhooked all relays so they are hanging down as been looking for the earth point since mid last year and there isn’t a ground bolt on the body any where left or right. I even bought a mini led phone endoscope to look up the A pillars as far as I can and nothing going to ground at all……….

 

Look for the ground section of the ETM (can be found in the google drive linked in my sig). click on the PDF to see the locations on the LH side near the firewall.

 

Awesome thanks, I see it’s not an actual body boot which is what I was also looking for. Good to know it’s a multi pin plug so will get stuck into this asap.
i assume that a left hand drive vehicle would have the wiring the same as a right hand drive other than speedo and wiper locations etc?