Lights issue. Need help!

[Ol'Lefty]

Hi fellow Deliconians (Delicans.. Delicites.. sp?)

Anyways, I am having an issue with my girl and Can't figure out what's going on. A little bit ago, my dash lights started turning off intermittently, sometimes working and sometimes not. Turns out my running tail lights were doing the same thing. A couple days later, they stopped being intermittent, and became consistently "OFF". So now my running tail lights and interior dash lights (guages, clock, heater lights) are off, but my brake lights and dash indicator lights (signals, high beams, oil, battery and 4x4 indicators) all still work.

So just in case that was a bit confusing....

What's not working:
1. Running "red' tail lights
2. Dash guage lights

What is working:
1. Brake lights
2. Most dash indicator lights

I have checked all of the fuses in the driver's footwell, and they all seem to be OK.

Any help would be amay-za-zing

[403delica]

I'm Ron burgany?

No very little about the wiring yet, I would say ground issues? Check for an electrical wiring diagram and see if your park lights and dash lights share a common ground( think those were the problem lights) grounds can corrode for lots of reasons. If you live in a snow covered environment the melting of the tracked in snow and evaporating in behind the dash can cause some electrical gremlins. Get a diagram a giver with some voltage drops!

[dfnder]

I would say with near 100% certainty that it is your lights combo switch. I have experienced this multiple times. The design of these switches is poor and most L300's will have had some issues with their lights whether it is because of over loading with the wiring of the running lights or because of switch failure. Best to replace the unit and your choices are...
- a new Mitsu switch which is very pricey - Rocky Mountain Imports maybe has them or will order one
- a used one from a supplier - CCAuto's or other
- a reconditioned one - CVI has a couple $130?
- an after market combo switch made in China - Maximum Overdrive has them on occasion (I called them 2-3 weeks ago and they said that they would have them in a couple months) $140-$160
- bypass the combo switch and wire separate relays and switches to avoid the issue all together approx. $60-80

I have bought used ones that failed in 3-6 months
I have had the lights wired separately but I think my relays were too 'light' as they started to get hot after 5-6 months so I replaced everything with a China made replica unit and that unit lasted maybe 6 months. I got a reconditioned unit which is currently in my van but I will be swapping it out eventually.

I was considering offering to organize a group buy of the Chinese units as I found that if you ordered the minimum 500 they would be pretty cheap per unit but I didnt want to put up all the money 2-5K I think it was not including importing fees. Don't quote me on the price as it was a while ago, I know that I was close to buying 500 and selling them and the only reason I didn't was I wasn't sure I would sell all of them. Now after all my issues with my lights I am sure I would but at the moment I am short of cash lol.

Good Luck!

A quick search and I found this link but it looks like the plug is different than my van http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/56418 ... 0_NEW.html

[TardisDeli]

Welcome to the wonderful world of L300 headlight switches i've lost count of the number of Delis i've in installed relays into to reduce the Amperage load on weak L300 headlight swithes. It may be to late to install the relays on your van if the switch is to far gone .You may have to first replace the headlight switch first,then add the relays. Have fun Cheers Jay TardisDeli

[Ol'Lefty]

Been working on the problem this morning (before I checked for any replies to my post)..

I'm still new to some (probably very basic) information on the Delica.
So I double checked to make sure there's only one bulb in the tail lights.. duh. Only one bulb in the "red" zone.
So I then looked online for my other symptoms, ie: No dash lights. Came up with a post that mentioned something about the foglight switch... And I also haven't had fog lights for quite some time. I try the switch once in a while just hoping.. haha. Anyways, I again, tried turned on the switch, and !!! dash lights came on?!?! weird... checked the DRL taillights, and !!! they're on too... weird again.. so my dash lights and running tail lights seem to be wired through my fog switch.

So I pulled out the switch and there was also an inline fuse behind the switch (on my delica anyways).. I didn't even know there was a fuse in there. So since I seemed to have figured out my primary light issue, I guessed that the fuse must be for my non-funtioning fog lights. I replaced the fuse, and voila, my foglights work again :) !!! (except one is burnt out. easy fix, no problem)

So even though it turned out to be something I thought was unrelated, I fixed a bunch of problems at the fog switch. I'm just glad it wasn't a $200 multiswitch

Having said that, I really appreciate the community here and the suggestions that were provided by you all
I wish I could buy you all a beer :) If you're ever in Prince Rupert, PM me.

[thedjjack]

the fog lights turn on the dash lights/running lights... you are just working around the broken Headlight switch (still broken or failing)

[sub-arctic]

My fog switch has been running my dash lights as long as ive had the van, not worth it to fix at this point. until the fog switch destroyed itself. I managed to rebuild it and get it working again but i bought another fog switch for when the rebuilt one finally lets go.

[Artacoma]

I had a trailer light plug shorting out that caused a lot of those symptoms.