200tdi rear light cluster into a 300tdi

[muddyjames]

Has anyone done it and how easy is it to do as I am experiencing wierd electrical problems and my mate who is an electrical engineer has said I have a bad earth to the chassis and also he reckons that the negative lead from the battery to the chassis infront of the front wheel has no ??????? going through it. Cant remember what the ?????? is.

So do avoid the problem of the rear indicator and side lights getting rusted with water and mud etc I am thinking of putting in 200tdi lights and move them all up out the way.

I also have 7 seats too which no doubt will make it harder I am guessing.

Also if it is easy does anyone have any 200tdi light clusters?

[DiscoDan]

Hi ya.

You should get the battery earth cable replaced ASAP, this could give you any number of strange problems.

The wiring to the bumper lights is simply extended from the loom at the rear light clusters so a set of complete lights should be a straight fit. Although you describe them as 200 style lights because all the functions are in the one light cluster these were also fitted to early 300 series, I have 4 tail lights & indicators. Do your current lights have apurtures for bulb holders that aren't present? If so it may simply be a case of buying some of these and fitting them, possibly bridging a connector on the cluster to provide a feed.

Personally I would remove the rear boot seats & the trim panel behind. This isn't difficult, just keep a note of the bolt lengths & locations. You should then have easy access to work.

Good luck, Dan

[muddyjames]

there are bits in the door pillar clusters that i cant get to turn on but none of them are yellow for indicators.

where do I get a new negative lead from?

My mate said when I turn the head lights on I get 2volts going to the rest of the car when he did an ohm reading i think it was. doesnt sound good. also my srs light is on and one of the S's flashes very slightly.

would a motor factors have a new negative lead or is it a paddocks thing? I would like to move the wire to somewhere else instead of by the front wheel where loads of mud and grime will rust it again.

[DiscoDan]

Hi James.

You can get an earth lead from any motor spares store. Halfords or your local independent. You should get one with a negative battery clamp on one end, these are a standard size, and a flat eye fixing on the other. The Disco like most other cars is a neagitve-earth vehicle. The electrics use the body & chassis as the earth. You can bolt your new lead to any part of the body, clean the surface paint from around the hole, & repaint with the lead fitted to prevent rust. Try to bolt to a body panel that isn't yet rusting at it's joins with adjacent panels. You can also get a second earth lead with a flat eye at each end and use it to provide a new earth from engine to body, and if you wanted a third you could bolt one between the chassis and the body. This is an easy job but if you were uncertain a local auto-electrician should be able to do it in 1/2 hour, £10-£20.

Your dash light problems maybe caused by this bad earth so get it fixed.

I see what you mean about the orange lens for the indicator in the pillars. You will need new lamp units but these are widely available 2nd hand. Try your local 4x4 breakers, or a mail order breakers from the LR magazines, or Eblag.

Good luck, Dan  8)

[Bush Tucker Man]

This ought to give you most of the exchanging details you need??

Even the part numbers for new indicator relays


And this one

[muddyjames]

That looks very useful cheers. I just have to save it somehow and then get round to doing it  :shock:

I am shockingly bad with electrics (excuse the bad pun. Not intended) and hopefully I should be ok with these but MC is here if all goes pete tong.

My 12n plug for the trailer lights, the wiring in that is a burnt black colour and not copper colour. would a bad earth affect those too?

[Bush Tucker Man]

My 12n plug for the trailer lights, the wiring in that is a burnt black colour and not copper colour. would a bad earth affect those too?

Yes indeedy, it will

Have a browse at this

[DiscoDan]

Hello again.

As I understand your question you currently have 2 indicators in the rear bumper which you wish to remove and use 2 indicators in the rear pillars instead. As you are not increasing or decreasing the number of bulbs in the circuit you should not have to change the flasher relay.

The 12N socket is a short cable attached to a LR plug under the o/s pillar light. When you remove the trim you can either disconnect this plug & remove the old cable, or strip the cable from this plug where it is in good condition and splice in a new piece of cable to a new 12N socket.

Cheers, Dan

[muddyjames]

Hi Dan. You are right in that I want to remove the lights in the bumper to in the door pillar.

The 12n socket is black the whole way along but it still works with my caravan though.

[Bush Tucker Man]

Hi Dan. You are right in that I want to remove the lights in the bumper to in the door pillar

Why?

It's a 'belt & braces' approach to rear lighting, a bulb blows & you've still got rear illumination on that side

Can't you just uses some silcon sealer, or self-amalgamating tape on the bumper cluster plugs?

[muddyjames]

I am wanting to save up for a new rear bumper as it is well rusted. I want to get one with the plastic end caps gone and it is one piece of metal in the same style as the original bumper if you get what i mean?

[Bush Tucker Man]

I am wanting to save up for a new rear bumper as it is well rusted. I want to get one with the plastic end caps gone and it is one piece of metal in the same style as the original bumper if you get what i mean?

Still available with cut-outs for bumper-clusters if it's the one I'm thinking of