Isuzu Trooper Owners Club UK™

[davidn]

Now I'm mobile again with the new alternator, the above fault is still apparent and is a bit more of a safety issue than just an annoying one.
Issue is that the side lights (including the rear lights, and all the wee interior lights on the dash) occasionally go out, or dont come on.  After a random time they start working again.  headlights keep working OK but dont have any rear lights (and, being an import, there is an after-market rear fog light wired into the side light circuit that doesnt work during these periods either).
Only clue I have to work with is that occasionally I pull the side light switch on but the lights are just a fraction of a second late in coming on...as if its a precusor for another temporary total failure.  Any ideas would be appreciated.
(maybe there was a bad batch of solder back in 1989??  the radio light does the same thing, fm likewise, the rev counter likewise all seem to have a mind of their own like the sidelights and just when i start to think everything is working, one of them starts playing up, just to annoy me and remind me whose in charge!!)

cheers

david

[Google]

[Yabbie]

Sounds like an issue with the wiring loop (harness) somewhere.Maybe where one of the multiple bulky plugs connects.
Look for disconnect clean and reconnect any which you find.
Or a bad connection on the + side of things.
It could also be the actual light switch,itself.

[davidn]

I thought a successful conclusion on this one might be useful to someone else.
The random rear/sidelight outage problem finally became too frequent to ignore and the ongoing remedy of a sharp hit on the dashboard was becoming more and more likely to cause further damage!
Stripped out the switches/wiring on the dash.  the main headlight/sidelight switch seemed OK but, being an import, a rear foglight had been wired into this switch.  To say it wasnt a great piece of automotive electrical work would be understating it!  Rewiring it wasnt quite the whole story though, it looks like the wires had been occasionally shorting on the fog light switch, causing the fuse casing to melt and burn, but not blow.  looks like there was enough carbonised plastic at the base of the fuse to dump sufficient current to extinguish the lights but not cause any other symptoms.
nb - the fuse looked perfectly normal from the top, only when removed could the damage be seen (not easy as it was fairly welded in!).
So, after a good scrape, clean-up and fuse change its now fixed.  Oh, the pleasure of turning on an electrical switch and the lights come on!
As I say, might be a tip for other weird electrical problems.
Now if I could just do the same to the rev counter and the fm band on the radio....

[Rhanagar]

Doesn't the rev counter work off the altenator on some engines. I know it does on the 2.3 Frontera. It might be something like the belt needs tighteneing or a loose connection.
_________________
1990 Isuzu Bighorn LWB Mk.I 2.8TD Manual Lotus Edition
1994 Isuzu Bighorn LWB Mk.II 3.1TD Auto Lotus Edition

Deceased
1994 Isuzu Bighorn LWB Mk.II 3.1TD Auto LS

[The Laird]

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