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#1 2021-02-13 14:42:54

cobbsy99
Member
Registered: 2021-02-13
Posts: 12

Rear lights working intermittently

Hi guys

I have a 2006 1.9D Dispatch, converted into a camper. I've had it for 2.5 years without any issues, but recently it's developed a fault where the rear lights work sporadically. Both units go out, and as the units themselves are clean and free of corrosion and the bulbs are good, it looks like an issue further up the van, i.e. power isn't getting to the rear units when the issue occurs. The rear number plate lights go out at the same time, so I presume they're controlled by the same source.

Does anyone know if there is a relay that controls the rear lights? At present they're not working, so I was going to wait until they're working again and then pull the relays one by one to see if one of them is controlling the rear lights.

I've also ordered a multimeter so that will hopefully help pin the issue down.

Thanks!

Mark

106501128-903957680015293-8190704455114724267-o.jpg

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#2 2021-02-13 15:40:32

tee_cee
Member
Registered: 2016-03-18
Posts: 573

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

Hi, and welcome.
What's the RPO number on the inside of the drivers door and do you know the engine type?

Oh, and post some pics of the conversion please  smile

sedre.png

Last edited by tee_cee (2021-02-13 15:43:39)

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#3 2021-02-13 16:37:12

cobbsy99
Member
Registered: 2021-02-13
Posts: 12

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

Hi

Thanks for the reply. I presume the RPO is one of these:

YLgnL4K.jpg

I don't know the engine type other than it's a 1.9D. There may be more information under the bonnet or on the V5. I'm not with the van at present but can look tomorrow. Here's a few more pics of the conversion:

6vN1hRg.jpeg

HjOOkwJ.jpeg

psaAYqb.jpeg

CIsBYTK.jpeg

UCeqChc.jpeg

ZhkLg5B.jpeg

Cheers!

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#4 2021-02-13 18:12:21

tee_cee
Member
Registered: 2016-03-18
Posts: 573

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

Looks really nice.
There seems to be a fault in the s/w for the electrical diags, and I can't get the relevant pages.
However I can see the sidelight diagram.
There are no relays, just the switch and fuses. There are fuses for each side of the van, so if both sides are going out then it has to be the earthing point, which is at the left rear.

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#5 2021-02-13 18:52:25

kenbw2
Administrator
From: Preston
Registered: 2017-11-26
Posts: 1,265

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

I have nothing to add for the underlying fault, but that van is gorgeous


2000 Citroen Dispatch 1.9TD XUD9 Camper Conversion
1999 Citroen Dispatch 1.9D DW8 Disassembled Camper Conversion
1996 Peugeot 806 1.9TD XUD9 Spare vehicle
1998 Citroen Synergie 1.9TD XUD9 Snapped timing belt

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#6 2021-02-14 17:49:26

JohnDragonMan
Member
From: Derby, East Midlands, UK
Registered: 2020-06-02
Posts: 401
Website

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

please, pray tell. how did you get your exhaust to exit at the side? is it a section i can buy? i want the space for a water tank hehe

looks great!


- JohnDragonMan
Notice: I have the tendency to void warranties, blow fuses, cause fires, and other fun stuff.
Words of wisdom: Internally rust proof the sills and subframe! both skins!!. There's always user serviceable parts inside. "Oh that shouldn't have happened".
My 2005 Dispatch Camper Project big_smile

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#7 2021-02-14 19:02:02

Casper
Member
From: East Lothian
Registered: 2015-12-20
Posts: 2,114

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

JohnDragonMan wrote:

please, pray tell. how did you get your exhaust to exit at the side? is it a section i can buy? i want the space for a water tank hehe

looks great!

Possibly its been one of them with the lowering floor for a wheelchair. Rear bumper says not but it may have changed.

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#8 2021-02-15 12:15:06

cobbsy99
Member
Registered: 2021-02-13
Posts: 12

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

Hi guys

Thanks for the responses - much appreciated.

tee_cee - I was thinking it was either:

- an issue with the stalk on the steering column
- a faulty relay (if a relay was in play, sounds like it's not though)
- faulty wiring
- bad earth

I have a wiring diagram I found on another post on this forum, which (as you say) shows the earth is at the left rear. Because the van's fully carpeted inside I'll need to take some of it down to try and get to the earthing point. A job for this week. I now have a multimeter so I'm hoping that will help with the issue. One question - if it is a bad earth, then the live cable that runs from the front to the back of the van for the rear lights should always show power, whether the lights are working at the rear or not - would you agree?

kenbw2 - thank you! I've read some of your posts on here, very interesting!

JohnDragonMan / Casper - the custom exhaust was fitted when I bought the van a couple of years ago - it's stainless steel so a useful addition. The guy I bought it from had originally purchased the van as a mobility van, as Casper suggested, and then converted it himself. I have no idea how he did it, but reading other posts on Facebook it seems to be a challenging task to remove the ramp and tidy up the back-end. He left the slope in where the ramp was, so I have a stack of under-floor storage which is so handy for a small van! The exhaust runs under the van where the spare tyre normally goes, so the spare is in the back but tucked away nicely in the rear cupboard. I've done loads to the inside but he did a great job on the outside to be fair.

Mark

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#9 2021-02-15 13:38:27

tee_cee
Member
Registered: 2016-03-18
Posts: 573

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

Mark,

You are right, it could be the stalk, since this is before the fuses. I've had problems before with the stalk, and had to dismantle and clean. It's ok if you take it very slowly.
As you say, the power will be at the bulbs if its an earth fault. No power and it will be a problem with the stalk.
I may be confusing the earth point with a different van, but I thought it was accessible once the light cluster is removed.

I replaced the exhaust on my WAV at the time with custom  Longlife or Powerflow stainless steel. Cost was £300 for the backbox and mid-section including fitting, with a lifetime guarantee.

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#10 2021-02-15 19:04:20

cobbsy99
Member
Registered: 2021-02-13
Posts: 12

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

Great, thanks again for the helpful feedback. At present the rear lights aren't working so I'll get to work with the multimeter to see if power is still being fed into the rear units. Hopefully it is, which most likely means it's an earth issue at the rear. I don't fancy tackling the stalk, heard one or two horror stories about it!

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#11 2021-02-15 23:18:43

ckcarpvan
Member
Registered: 2021-02-06
Posts: 11

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

Whilst the fault is still apparent, it may be worth using a loose piece of cable to earth out a light cluster to any metal part of the vehicle. if the lights come on then you know it just needs the earth looking at, if not then you could look into the stalk etc mentioned above.

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#12 2021-02-18 04:11:25

vaz2121
Member
From: Glasgow Living:~ SW. Scotland
Registered: 2015-08-31
Posts: 1,311

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

i

cobbsy99 wrote:

- an issue with the stalk on the steering column
- faulty wiring
- bad earth


Mark


Vans are forever getting wonkie rear lights as the wiring is usually exposed to damage from the load...............
but in your case unless you were in or around that area I'd be thinking same as yourself I. E. Dirty cruddy bad earth ETC............
However I did have an issue about 4 ... 5  yrs ago with the Indicators and it turned out to be the stalk .............

told in this tale...........
                     https://dispatchexpertscudo.org.uk/foru … .php?id=50

Although a bit light on the Main beam swtch [I missed a spring  during rebuild]it's still the same stalk
{306 that was cleaned then also [didn't dismantle it] still has original too and also working fine}

Last edited by vaz2121 (2021-02-18 04:12:58)

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#13 2021-02-18 18:11:25

cobbsy99
Member
Registered: 2021-02-13
Posts: 12

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

Thanks Vaz. I'm busy with work this week, so I'll be tackling this on Saturday. I just hope power is getting to the back of the van when the lights aren't working - should be pretty easy from there but we'll see. Thanks ckcarpvan for the earth tip -  I have that on my list as well for Saturday. I'll feedback on here to let you know how it goes.

Cheers!

Mark

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#14 2021-02-18 23:28:06

JohnDragonMan
Member
From: Derby, East Midlands, UK
Registered: 2020-06-02
Posts: 401
Website

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

my money is on the tow bar wiring causing the issue. i hate with a passion those blue wire tapping things.. ive seen them completely cut through wiring before. i'd pop the back light out and check how the tow bar connects into the rest of the van. also check your tow bar socket..  ive had brake lights flashing with indicators and all kinds of crazy stuff. it ended up being the wiring in the tow bar socket.

also in the vans back left side bumper right under in the corner is a plug.. this plug gets all the crud and crap from the rear wheel thrown all up into it.
may want to check that over. may want to wash it all out first though its a right muck trap. the plug comes undone in the same way the door wiring plugs come undone. they are the same plug only the one on the back drives the whole rear lighting.

the wiring to the rear lights travels above the fuel tank and up in along the body past the sub frame and up above the gearbox you can check it for damage but i dont think it would have any. its pretty up out of the way.

hope this helps


- JohnDragonMan
Notice: I have the tendency to void warranties, blow fuses, cause fires, and other fun stuff.
Words of wisdom: Internally rust proof the sills and subframe! both skins!!. There's always user serviceable parts inside. "Oh that shouldn't have happened".
My 2005 Dispatch Camper Project big_smile

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#15 2021-02-20 18:04:41

cobbsy99
Member
Registered: 2021-02-13
Posts: 12

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

Hi guys

I went out this morning to have a look at the rear lights, and they were actually working so there wasn't much I could do. I went back out 2 hours later and the rear lights had stopped working. The first thing I tried was fitting a new earth wire - this made no difference. After further investigations this is what I found out using a multimeter to test:

- there was no power in the rear left light unit for the lights. The brake light circuit was showing power
- I snipped the cable for the rear lights and tested it - no power to that either

So that obviously brought me to the conclusion the issue was further up the van. The next thing I did was identify the fuse in the fuse box behind the glove box for the rear lights. I pulled this and tested the slots where the fuse plugs into on the fuse box - this showed 12v of power. That has therefore brought me to the conclusion that the issue lays with the wire that I presume runs from this fuse box to the back of the van.

As a test, I ran a temporary wire from this slot in the fuse box and connected it to the light on the rear light cluster and all was OK. I reconnected the original wiring and it stopped working again.

I'm thinking of just running a new wire from the fuse box to the rear light cluster, but I wondered:

- does anyone know if it's a single wire that runs from the fuse box to the rear light cluster, or is there anything else in play (relay perhaps)?
- does anyone know where the cables run from the fuse box behind the glove box to the rear of the van? I'm presuming they run somewhere in the roof cavity.
- if it is just a single wire, what would cause this to fail if that wire is tucked away inside the van away from anything that could cause damage?

As my leisure battery is in the back of the van, I've run a temporary wire from that with a switch, so I can run my rear lights from my leisure battery until I have this permanently resolved. My MOT is due in 4 weeks so I need it resolving before then. I'm hoping a new wire from the fuse box should sort it, but I'd be interested in any input anyone had.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

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#16 2021-02-20 21:29:41

Casper
Member
From: East Lothian
Registered: 2015-12-20
Posts: 2,114

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

Has the lights always been like this since you got the van. Whoever did the conversion may have put a screw through the loom somewhere. Also a lot of other vans you have Engine loom, cab and rear what just connect with block connectors. Unsure about these vans but if so it some be a simple loose block wherever it lives. I would also consider getting a new switchgear to eliminate that first as its a cheap and easy replacement having said that im thinking the front would go out also with a dodgy switch.

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#17 2021-02-22 11:41:32

cobbsy99
Member
Registered: 2021-02-13
Posts: 12

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

Hi Casper

I've had the van since July 2018 and had no issues at all until the last month, when the rear lights started working intermittently. I haven't carried out any work that would have affected it. What puts me off the idea of it being something loose is that the issue comes and goes when the van is sat on the drive, with no movement whatsoever. I'll look at running a new wire from the fuse box to the rear light cluster at the weekend, but I'd like to find out what happens between those 2 points if possible. It might just be a single wire between the 2, but I'll do a little stripping down to see if I can trace it. I always like to know what the underlying issue is, rather than just running a new wire, but we'll see how easy that is.

Thanks

Mark

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#18 2021-03-18 13:12:32

cobbsy99
Member
Registered: 2021-02-13
Posts: 12

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

Hi guys

Hope everyone is well. Just wanted to add a quick update to this one. I used my multimeter to establish that, when the rear lights weren't working, while the wire from the fuse box to the rear light cluster was carrying 12v, it was showing 0.3 amps. When the lights worked, ampage showed around 3.

I tested ampage at the fusebox when the lights were both working and not working and it showed 3 amps on both occasions, so the issue was an ampage drop somewhere between the fuse box and the rear light cluster.

As a workaround I've put a piggyback fuse holder into the rear light fuse socket and ran a new cable from that, and clipped and sealed the old cable off. All has been OK since. As to the cause - no idea!

Thanks for your input.

Mark

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#19 2021-03-18 22:55:34

kenbw2
Administrator
From: Preston
Registered: 2017-11-26
Posts: 1,265

Re: Rear lights working intermittently

cobbsy99 wrote:

As to the cause - no idea!

It's fixed! Who cares!  big_smile


2000 Citroen Dispatch 1.9TD XUD9 Camper Conversion
1999 Citroen Dispatch 1.9D DW8 Disassembled Camper Conversion
1996 Peugeot 806 1.9TD XUD9 Spare vehicle
1998 Citroen Synergie 1.9TD XUD9 Snapped timing belt

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