Driving by braille

[warmland89]

Driving around a few nights ago and then, in an instant, my headlights, dashlights and radio went dead. Now, it starts fine, and I have signals and brake lights. All the fuses are good.

Do I have a fused relay that is gone?

Luckily, Delicamark was behind me and was able to guide me the rest of the way as we were off road.

[maxpowers]

this happened to me once in the middle of nowhere. all that stuff turned off and the van kept running, when i hit a pothole. turned it off then on and it was fine.

[warmland89]

I also noted earlier that when I flicked on my high beams, my stereo would 'reset'. It would sort of turn off and then turn on again.

[delicat]

It almost sounds like your alternator isn't doing it's job or that the belt is slipping... Had same thing happen on my Westy but only if it was really wet outside. Dry weather and all was fine... Anyway, check your charging system and good luck!

[warmland89]

I don't think it is my alternator. I have no lack of cranking power when starting. If my alternator was out and not providing current why would the lack of power be so 'selective'. I would suspect a more general loss of power including starting. I suspect that it is a relay but I know very little about these devices. I have heard of them being 'stuck' which fits with the previous reply and the pot hole.

[Green1]

There is a 100amp fuse on top of the battery, it doesn't cover the starter, but I think it covers most of the rest of the vehicle... check that...

[warmland89]

The 10 amp fuse in the battery bay was intact.

However, I did some searching on the UK site and there was mention of relays behind the glove box. I removed the glove box looking for some little black boxes. There was three fuses attached to the out wall of fan box each housed in white plastic cylinders. Two were good and one 15 amp fuse was cooked. I bypassed the fuse that was blown but it did not solve the problem much to my disappointment.

Green1, I also saw that you had the same fuse blown in a post on the UK site back in November. Did you ever find out what it was for?

[BCDelica]

Did you already switch the wire leads to the low beam headlights already Tom? Our Deli with the square lights didn't have a problem for over two years (them boom, just went dead), and changing those two parallel leads around cured the problem. If you haven't, the two parallel wire tabs, contacted to the low beam headlights are positioned wrong for NA lights; simple insert something like a watch makers screw driver into the side of the tabs, then swap the wire tabs around.

This worked after trouble shooting my entire head light wiring path. There are 6 relays above the main fuse panel, mounted behind the dash on the side in front of the drivers door. If you look carefully at the back edge of the dash, slightly below the brake fluid door, you can just see them.

[Mystery Machine]

The fuses behind the glove box are for the A/C system and cool box so should not be affecting the operation of the lights/radio etc...

I had a very similar situation recently when the same equipment packed up for no known reason (on smooth tarmac too)

Mine was a blown fuse and even though you have checked all the fuses, it might be worth physically swapping the appropriate fuse for a new one.....just to make sure?

The fuse for the radio, rear lights etc...is the top row 4th from left.

One other thing to check is the main connection at the base of the steering column. Follow the column down to the main connector block, unplug it, spray some contact cleaner in there then reconnect.....see if that makes a difference?

Let us know how you get on?

[john n]

Check if there are any fusible links on the positive terminal, they look just like a normal wire and may not show that they have internal problems. Just put a test light ground on the negative terminal and insert the positive probe into the fusible link connector - it should light up, then tug on the wire to see if it goes out.
Intermittent problems are tough to track down.
John

[maxpowers]

yah there are 4 fusable wires above the battery, labelled lock,light etc, 2 red 2 green, I melted one of those earlier this year and it killed my power locks and windows, so definatly check all those.
i have a post on here some where with a picture.
http://www.delica.ca/forum/electrical-mayhem-945.html

[warmland89]

The fusable links in the battery bay 'appear' good, however, I know that the problem may be internal and I will get a test light.

Here's a great question...
Is it a coincident that the systems that are out are the first seven fuses in the panel?

Top row- 10A Room, 10A Haz., 15A Horn, 10A Stop, 15A Head up., 15A Head up., 15A Head low,

and the systems that work are the next nine (minus the sunroof since I don't have one):

5A Defog, 20A Rear heat, 20A Door Lock
Bottom row- 15A Wiper, 15A Lighter, 15A Rear lighter, 20A Sunroof, 15A Turn, 20A Heater,

Thats TOO much of a coincident ! What is my common problem?

I have to be out of town for the next 5 days so I will do the test light thing on Sunday and update this thread then.

Thanks for all the great replies.

Tom

[JMK]

Since I rewired my headlights direct from the battery with on it's own fused circuit with 10 Guage wire I thought the only benefit was the fact my lights are significantly brighter. But it appears there is another benefit, seems now I am less likely to be struck with having the headlights suddenly fail. Now there are two good reasons to perform the rewiring job instead of one.

[PcSpecialist]

quote"have to be out of town for the next 5 days so I will do the test light thing on Sunday and update this thread then.

With the battery/wiring problems you are having, I would advise disconnecting the battery while you are away, just in case some short happens some place....

An ounce of prevention could save your whole van and house....

[Schwa]

sounds like the wire feeding that part of the fuse block, or some connection on the fuse block has failed, and was weakening before it failed.

disconnect the wires from the battery and then remove the fuse block -- that should reveal the problem if it's there, and if it's not obvious and you have a multimeter you can check the continuity in the block and between it and the positive battery wire.