Good day,

I am working through a battery drain situation on my new-to-me 2003 Disco II. I noticed that when I start the vehicle, with the light switch in the '0' position, the instrument panel, tail and side lights turn on. According to the manual, these should only come on when the light switch is in position '1' or '2'. Is this correct, and if not, has anyone come across this behaviour before?

Could this add a drain to the battery, even after the ignition is off/key removed?

Thanks,
Ross.

 

It's probably part of the DRL (daytime running lights) system that is required in Canada but not the US. Strange thing is that your headlights should also come on with the DRL (but maybe somebody modified it) If they only come on when you start the truck I don't think that would have any effect on a battery drain condition. I was working at a Rover dealer when they started adding that feature to Canadian vehicles (quite a few came into the shop here in Seattle) and it took a few phone calls to find out why that feature wasn't in the manual, the answer was that they had printed an insert for the Canadian vehicles so what probably has happened is that the insert for the manual has become separated from your manual.

 

I would tend to agree, haven't you ever noticed them before?

 

I just bought the vehicle

 

if it goes off in reverse then they are working correctly.

 

I have the DTRL's on my truck
position '0'...nothing at all on
position '1'...accessories you my have on, ie radio, climate control etc
position '2'...pre start engine check etc
position 'on'... the only lights on are my headlights at a resisted power.

FYI...
I had the DTRL's installed by a Denver dealership in order to take the truck up to Canada and register it legally. (now back in Denver)
They installed some hardware up behind the drivers headlight [center of pic] and did some programming on the computer. Assume the part is a Resistor to drop the power to the headlight for daytime driving.
Was your Disco born and raised in Canada?
If imported from the States, someone before you may of installed some kit you buy at Canadian Tire that may be messing with your system? I remember there were some options to avoid the dealership?
Just my two cents.

 

(This is a Canadian market car, so it does have DRLs).

An Update:

I was replacing a couple of burnt out bulbs in my dash and instrument cluster. While I had the binnacle off, I decided to disconnect the two rear wiper switches, since the wiper didn't work anyways. Buttoned everything back up and started the vehicle - no lights on. Turned the light switch to position 1 and the instrument, side and taillights came on (as I would expect). Hmmm....took the binnacle off again and reconnected the two rear wiper switches, then started the vehicle again (with light switch at position 0) - lights are back on.

Turns out it's the rear washer switch - the wiper switch seems OK and is plugged in with no impact on the lights. So, it's either the switch itself, the wiring harness, or something at the motor. It DOES confirm that those lights should not turn on when the light switch is at position 0, which is what I thought originally.

I haven't checked the amperage at the battery with the vehicle off, so I don't know if this is where the drain is, but it's near the top of my list.

 

You got me curious, mine is a 2000, so that may factor into the difference. I just checked mine. And I have no lights at all when I start up. Switch in o position. It is a Canadian truck. I used to live in Oakville, have you called Budds LR for info? ( if they're still there)

 

I was just at Budd's picking up some bulbs and rear axle seal o-rings. Wouldn't take any car to them for service though, and I feel like taking a shower after picking up even small parts from them. Needless to say, I'm not a big fan of the monopoly they have here in Oakville.

Still waiting on one more bulb to arrive, then will pull the rear wiper and washer motors and test those. Once all that is known to work properly, I'll re-connect the switch and start looking through the harness for a short.