Electrical Problem
 

hey fellas,
I have a little electrical problem. I was driving around in the disco and out of nowhere a bunch of wires by the steering wheel tangled and locked the wheel, so when i cranked it, i broke them off. Now I have the SRS light on and my tail lights are not working. I've taken a couple pictures to give you an idea of what is broken, however i can not find where these wires go to. Any help would be appreciated. I've looked for wiring diagrams, but could not find them, even if I could, not sure they would be of much help. I usually do my own repairs, however electrical has always been the troublemaker for me. Again, any suggestions or help would be awesome.

Rick

as well, I had problems with the dash lights going on and off before this happened. When i would first turn the headlights on, i would get headlights, but no dash lights at all, then sometimes after a bit of driving, you could hear a "click" then the would come on. Is this a worn out headlight switch? I hear they tend to wear out quick. How can i tell if this is the problem?

One guy said the 2 wires wrapped in yellow casing is for the Airbag, but im still not sure where to attach them....they are not of great importance to me, but if its a quick fix, I would be glad to get rid of the SRS light. However im still unsure about the other set of wires and where they connect.

Again, thanks for any help guys.

Cheers

DI or DII?

D1. I found out where the airbag wires hook back in, and im starting to wonder if it is just the signal switch itself that is malfunctioning, because its only the taillights and dash lights that are out, the headlights and signals are still ok. And all the wires that are connected to the signal switch are in place. maybe the other wires were always like that?? it looks like someone has been in there before. I see lots of random electrical tape and hack jobs, even around the fuses.

I heard the signal switches tend to go on discos? is this true?

thanks

The broken wires are coming from the front of the vehicle and going towards the shroud by the steering column. I took some pictures as best as I could, they are just wrapped up with other wires that head towards the front of the vehicle.
There is also some other plug that is just sitting there, im not sure what it is for either. All the wires that go to the signal switch are there and seem to be fine. Also the airbag wires seems to connect to area behind the steering wheel and there are 2 holes to correspond with the 2 wires.
It is a 1999 Discovery 1 by the way...

sorry for the crappy pictures

Sorry, I didnt leave you hanging, I do not know where those wires are supposed to go.
How did they get exposed to begin with?

i take it they got caught in the steering column and snapped off just like what happened to the SRS and horn. however i fixed the problem....the signal switch just needed to have a good coating of electrical contact cleaner and worked it in there. and sure enough the dash lights and tail lights work again, that was my main concern. thanks for the help though.

For future reference for anyone else, if your dash lights start acting up when you turn on your lights, that means your taillights are probably out too (i learned that out after i got a $105 fine for not having proper lights) but all it took was a spray can of electrical contact cleaner available at a canadian tire or such, and just spray it in the contact points of the signal switch and work it in. Everything should be good after a couple minutes.

Cheers guys
Thanks

Glad you fixed it and thanks for the tip.

your lucky you didn't blow your airbag! the wires in the yellow tube are usually airbag deployment signal wires! if that shorted it would have blown that out at you

The combination switch is serviceable, I took my '97 out & cleaned & regreased all the contacts inside. If spray got you going again, cool!

Most cars I'm aware of the dash lights go out if your taillights do, by design so your switch contact for taillights was probably dirty.

luck,greg