Spontaneous electrical issue

phalteman · Post by **phalteman** » Sun Dec 03, 2017 11:36 pm

Hi all,

I've looked through some of the posts I could find about strange electrical problems, but none of them sparked anything for me, so here goes:

No electrical issues in the past, but on this otherwise typical morning, I start the van, turn on the headlights, put my foot on the brake, shift into drive, and the external reverse beeper starts. After some playing around, here's the situation:

When key is switched on AND foot on brake AND lights on (either fogs or regular), then external reverse beeper starts with the driver's side reverse light only. If any of those three conditions isn't true, problem doesn't exist.

When the key is switched on and the van is in reverse, only the internal reverse beeper comes on (not external) and only the passenger side reverse light comes on (but somewhat dimmer).

The combination of factors is so specific that it makes me think there must be some highly localized short or wire crossing or something, but to honest I have no idea where to start. Any help is much appreciated, as always.

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Mon Dec 04, 2017 1:44 am

It sounds like an earthing problem. Check the earths on the rear lamps.

phalteman · Post by **phalteman** » Fri Dec 08, 2017 11:21 pm

Growlerbearnz wrote:It sounds like an earthing problem. Check the earths on the rear lamps.

GB, thanks for the direction. I finally got to poking around tonight. Did check the earth connections, but it turned out the culprit was the contacts in the actual bulbs which were quite corroded. Gave 'em a good scrub, and all is well!

Thanks yet again for the help! Learn something new every time!