The dome lights in my 2002 do not work. The lights in the vanity mirrors work. The fuses are all fine and bulbs are all fine. The fuses have power; the light terminals do not.

I don't know the vehicles well so maybe I'm missing something obvoius. I would be very grateful for any suggestions on what to check next!

Thanks.

 

On mine there was a connector above the RH Front passengers knees that was badly corroded from water leaking on it

 

Thanks Harvir, I should have mentioned that I've trawled the net far and wide and tried everything I foung - including your helpful post. My vehicle has no corrosion thankfully; I did check that connection today. It seems like it's something really stupid or simple that I'm missing. I have no power at all to any, and yet the vanity mirror lights work, clock, etc.

I'm a bit stumped.

(I also got the 3 amigos today, which is a bore).

 

I dont know if you did anything w the headliner, but by the rear view mirror, behind the small panel is the ground, if that was not connected, that could be an issue.

 

Thanks. I’ll take another look. I did not know there was a ground behind the rear view mirror. I have done nothing with the headliner.

 

Update on this for anyone who can help with what is probably a fairly in-depth electrical problem:

1. Fuses, bulbs, etc all ok. Power to the rear view mirror and sun visor vanity lights. No interior lights.
2. Pulled the front headliner panel (with all the switches, etc on it) and checked the earth = all good. The earth connection is also good.
3. Followed the wires back to the multi plugs in the drivers footwell - no obvious breaks. No obvious water damage.

Any ideas where to go from here?

 

Dumb question, but I need to ask, the bulbs are good? And no power to the light sockets?

 

Hmm. Your BCU could be f-ed. BCU is what tells them to turn on.... technically...

One thing. See below. Is your ignition switch (ring around the key) illuminating?

I’ve seen it before when a BCU goes bad (usually water ingress...in the right passenger footwell).... things start not working.

 

@Harvlr Thanks. Yes, all bulbs are good. Just no power to the interior light terminals. Ground is good.
@nashvegas Thank you. I checked the ignition barrel light - it is not functioning. I also have an occasional (not repeatable) issue at times with the indicator stalk; when indicating right the lights (neither dash nor exterior flashers) work. It can take a few re-tries to get it to function properly. This could be a problem in the stalk - but I believe from my reading that it could also indicate a BCU issue.

The car is dry and in excellent condition - there are zero signs of water ingress or corrosion on the interior. I've owned many LR3s and 4s since 2006 and this Disco 2 is cleaner than most of the used LR3s I've bought.

I don't suppose there's any way to check the BCU? The fuse boxes look great also.

 

Got it. This is an annoying path of diagnosis, but here is what I would do:

#1 -- First 2 questions:
a) Did the lights ever work since you’ve had the car or is this a new car to you?
b) Have you recently jump started the vehicle? Or jumpstarted someone else’s vehicle from your Disco (ie a power surge which can kill an ECU)

#2 -- Go ahead and replace the little bulb in the ignition switch to make sure that bulb is not your issue. I think it takes one of the standard little 1.2w rice grain bulbs. (?) IDK - check it. If it lights up, you know you do NOT have a BCU issue and there is a wiring issue somewhere between the BCU and the headliner. I suspect it will not light up. but you may get lucky and it will light up. Here’s a pic on ebay - the bulb slides into that little cavity on the end easy to change with the steering column plastic off.



#3 -- Also, humor me on this, make sure your car is not in transit mode. The interior lights still should come on in transit mode but I’ve seen crazier things when the BCU can get confused. This is probably not your issue but... there is a manual way to get it out of transit mode without a Nanocom so try it anyways:

Transit mode
To prevent excessive battery drain during transit to overseas markets, the vehicle is placed in a transit mode.
To exit the transit mode, simultaneously hold down the heated rear window switch and the rear fog lamp switch, turn
the ignition switch from 0 to II and, after a minimum of 2 seconds, release the switches.

#4 -- So, if you replace that bulb in the ignition switch, and if it does NOT light up -- since the ignition switch isn’t also illuminating -- that means
a) There is either a wiring issue close to the BCU (between the BCU and the area of the ignition switch)
or
b) The BCU is bad, and by bad, I mean, for some reason, it is not sending out the signal to turn on the interior lights.

If #4 looks to up being b), then I would pull the BCU from the car, look very carefully at the connector on the BCU and the car. If you see any evidence of corrosion or green stuff, you found your issue. But they can also go haywire, capacitors fry from jumpstarts or whatever too,

BTW -- that indicator intermittent issue could also point to an intermittent BCU issue. These cars start acting possessed when BCU’s go bad or water ingress starts to happen in either the passenger fusebox or the BCU area.