Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Headlights have always been dangerously dull and wipers are painfully slow.

I think from discussion that it would be a bad earth??

ATM I have most of the engine gear removed whilst doing the rings an bearings so it seems like a good time to access things.

Is this a bad common earth problem or do you have other suggestions, what parts should I clean up or what else should I be looking at?

Any chance of a reply guys? I would like to fix this problem, the earths off the battery look clean but apart from that I'm in the dark(literally)

Yes, "bad earth" is a strong contender, but that doesn't mean the problem will literally be at a chassis connection point.

Depending on your wiring, there may be a couple of relays and several connectors in the circuit, any one (or more) of which may have higher than ideal resistance, creating an unusually high voltage drop and producing your dull lights.

Slow wipers could be nothing more than an old motor driving a poorly lubricated mechanism.

So, starting with the lights: turn them on, then measure voltage (to some common reference point, ideally the negative post on the battery) at any points in the circuit you can reach.

In an ideal world, you should get a number of 0V readings, and a number of identical 12V readings.

In reality, I expect you'll find 0V readings slowly increasing between battery terminal and globe, and 12V readings slowly decreasing from battery to globe.

Your job is to minimise the differences in the readings. Start with the big difference, see how you get on.

Alternatively, bite the bullet and install a new wiring loom with new relays. There's a number of posts here - search.

Good luck,

Scott

A quick way to test the effectiveness of your headlight earth (assuming positive switched lights here) is to turn your headlights on, then connect a jumper lead to your battery's negative post, and the other end to the earth point your headlights use. If the headlight becomes brighter, there's room for improvement.

Thankyou, food for thought. Seems there isnt a definate answer for the moment.

Once the engine is more back together I will try the jumper lead earth and a multimeter through the wiring.