Tailights, and dash lights out, relay?

EDDAKA

EDDAKA

New Member
Hey there,

Randomly the other day the dash and tail lights went out and wont come back on. Checked the fuse, they all look fine, replaced the "room" one. From some google research I did it looks like it's the relay, but most of the people talking about it had the L400's. Where is this relay?


Thanks!
-Richard.
 
Those things are on the Horn circuit (3rd fuse top left). If the fuse is good it could be the switch... does the horn work?
 
If the horn still works then it's the column switch that's failed. (No relay on the park light circuit on an L300).

Look on the plug/socket under the dashboard where the column switch plugs into the rest of the harness. Find the thin Red/Black stripe wire and the thin Red/Green stripe wires- they'll be on the same plug, and likely close to each other. The park light switch connects these two wires together when on, but you can bypass the switch by hotwiring them: poke a piece of wire into the back of the connector so it touches the pins to connect RB and RG together. The dash and marker lights should come on, which confirms the switch is faulty.

There's a guide to refurbishing a headlamp switch on Delica.ca.
but it's usually the sliding contacts inside the switch that get dirty/corroded and need to be cleaned. Just be gentle with the retaining screws when removing the switch circuit board- if the screws are stripped the board can come loose and then very exciting things happen.
 
Hey Everyone,

Thanks for the help so far! Fusible link seems okay. I guess I'm pretty ignorant because I cant figure out where these wires are...I followed the column plugs and they're pretty low (maybe an inch above where the dash starts) but they are not small, when i connect them the high beams come on(which still work), but not the dash/parking lights. I took some pictures and a video i would love if someone could point me in the right direction...I really want to avoid taking the whole dash off. I was thinking of wiring a switch to just turn the lights on and just avoiding the the column switch altogether.

Here is the top connection part of the wires that connect to the steering column. https://photos.app.goo.gl/HxuQR49qtCfD1Sxr8

Here is a video of me following the loom. Am I looking too high? Too low? are they hidden under the gratuitous electrical tape? I appreciate all the help!!

photos.app.goo.gl

New video by Richard Banks

photos.app.goo.gl photos.app.goo.gl


(also is that the switch behind the dash/speedometer?) https://photos.app.goo.gl/vf55bPW6XwTKnGx69
 
EDDAKA said:
Thanks for the help so far! Fusible link seems okay. I guess I'm pretty ignorant because I cant figure out where these wires are...
Click to expand...
Well, What I would do to figure out wiring issues like this is...
  1. Use/Get a "Fox and Hound" type wire tracer like - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DWQ5XWY/
  2. Use/Get a multi-meter like - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ISAMUA6/
  3. Turn on the light from the switch
  4. Disconnect the bulb that is not working
  5. Use the multi-meter set to continuity (or tone) with one wire touching the body/frame/bolt of the car and the other to the each one of the two wires in the socket. One is GROUND (connected to vehicle) the other is Positive.
  6. Use the multimeter set to DV Volts (its the straight line) and the 20 setting (if it has one between 15-30v that's fine too) with the black wire connected to the body/ground and the red wire to test if 12v are getting to the positive terminal of the socket. If there is voltage, then the bulb is out.
  7. If no voltage, then disconnect the battery
  8. Go back to the bulb that is not working and look in the socket
  9. Connect the "hound" to the positive of the wire. You should have some banana clips for the hound. Might need a scrap of wire to stick into the plug.
  10. Set the Hound to "tone" or "warble" (Now the fox will be able to "hear" a sound)
  11. Use the Fox to trace the positive wire along, and then inside the wiring loom until you see where it stops. Could/Should be a relay.
  12. Trace the relay feed back down to the fuse using the same technique.
  13. Do the same for the switch end, then do the same for the fuse to the fusible link
  14. Once you know which wire is which and that the wires from light to relay and relay to fuse, fuse to fusible link are all good (and not shorted)
  15. If a wire is shorted, then suddenly the fox will pick up the signal on other surfaces (like the body near the short)
  16. Reconnect the bulb, relay, fuse, fusible link, and battery
  17. Use the multimeter with the black wire connected to the body/ground and the red wire to test if 12v are getting to the fuse, then test if 12v are getting to one side of the relay we traced to earlier.
  18. If there is no voltage at the relay from the fuse, the fuse is bad.
  19. If there is voltage on one side of the relay, turn on the lights. There should now be voltage on the other side of the relay.
  20. If there is no voltage on the other side, then measure the voltage on the 3rd leg of the relay (that's the trigger)
  21. If there is voltage on the trigger, and voltage on one side of the relay but not the other, then the relay is bad
  22. If there is no voltage on the trigger, then the switch (or the wiring to the trigger) may be bad.
 
Last edited:
Hey everyone,

Thought i would bump this thread, been scratching my head trying to figure this out. Growlerbeanz, is it possible I have different colored wires? Because when I looked at my column switch the two wires that connect are thin red/black, and red/blue. 1590006510385.png
1590006521927.png

When I hotwire those together the brights come on, but nothing else. Whats goin on?


Thanks!
 
Same problem here. Fuses are good, fusible links are fine, bulbs are good, took apart and cleaned the combination switch.

Brake lights, turn signals, reverse lights, headlights and high beams all work.

Dash lights, tail lamp and license plate lamps will not come on. Light buzzer stopped working a few months ago, but from looking at the diagram, don't see how that affects the running lights.

Going to get a wire tracer now to follow @sck_nogas plan , but just curious if anyone has any other thoughts on how to trace this down?
 
I am having the same problem as psychedelica in my 1991 Delica L300.
Currently without dash and running lights, it is not good to drive at night.
 
Last edited:
For me it ended up being a loose wire in one of the wiring harnesses I just disconnected it from the harness and connected it directly. Hope this helps!
 
Oof, looks like lots of us are running into this lately. My dash lights and taillights went out a few days ago too. My horn is out as well.

@EDDAKA I'm a bit of an electrical newbie – can you please explain? Which wire ended up being loose?
 
Last edited:
Clearly a newbie: my third fuse top left was simply blown.

I suspect it has to do something with a new stereo that I installed recently, I wonder if it's not grounded properly. I recall one time I switched my lights on, then the stereo went completely out..
 
Part of the answer is here: Steve H from 2005
L300 lights/tail and instument?

If you are trying to test bypassing the combo switch, from before the wiring harness begins,
you need to patch or probe power to the GW wire that extends down from the combo switch to the actual harness connector under the drivers feet. When I gave the GW wire 12V, my missing dash and running lights light up fine. So my combo switch is dirty and needs cleaning.

If I look at several of the circuit diagrams from the manual, e.g. daytime running lamp circuit or Tail Lamp, PositionLamp, License Plate diagram, or the HeadLamp Circuit, I only see the colors that are on the car side of the harness, so that it looks like GR should be given power 12V or shorted against RB.
But really, on the combo switch side of the first harness connector, that GR is a GW wire.
However, none of the circuits show the colors of the wires on the combo switch bundle side. They do not seem to get documented. On the diagram,
they make the 18-inch wire bundle that goes down from the combo switch to that first harness look like nothing at all. It shows the the A-55 harness connector as if it were right next to the combo switch,
and shows absolutely none of the wire colors in that wire bundle or on the combo switch itself.

Tomorrow I will probably pull my steering wheel off. I can try to get pictures of the combo switch and try to document the wires colors and functions in the bundle that runs down the steering column.

SUMMARY:
To do the bypass test, jump the GW (Green with white stripe) wire from the combo switch.
You can carefully use a backpin to the A-55 harness connector by your feet.
If your dash and running/tail lights lights all turn on, then the combo switch needs cleaning or replacement.
 
Last edited:
I got the steering wheel off today. Used AutoZone rental return cheap one $20 steering wheel puller.
But had to go to hardware store for two 8M 1.25 pitch bolts so that it would work with my metric steering wheel. It was fairly tightly stuck on and the puller helped.

I disconnected the A-55 plug so I could pull the entire combo switch out and work on it more easily.
I followed the guide

L300 Combination Switch. - Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

www.delica.ca www.delica.ca

I disassembled the switch and opened the contacts area under the lighting side.
I slide out the small black plastic carriage with the contacts, and used contact cleaner
on the switch and a little bit of sand paper. I followed the recommendation to flip the leading edge of one of the contacts around so that it has a new clickier edge. I even tried stretching the spring a little for the other contact that is used by the running lights.

But when I put it back together, the thing does not seem to slide smoothly and easily.
It may well kind of work. But it is weird to compare it to the other wiper side where it turns and clicks smoothly.

Is there some recommended switch lubricant that would be good to use here so that it just slides smoother and easier without messing up electrical switching etc.? Ideally something that is able to tolerate electrical arcing and ok for plastic.
 
I ended up getting from Australia a $75 combo switch for L300 RHD.
It is pretty good, and brand new. The only problem is that you give up
some of the fine control of the slow wiping. I found a nice delica forum article about
taking out the better wiper control from the original switch and making a frankenstein hybrid to get the best of both.
I almost did it, but in the end, decided to just skip the hacking for now. I can do it in the future if I want, I will keep the old switch.
Plus, it does not rain that much in California.

Good news: I have running lights front and rear, and dash panel lights up at night so I can see my speed, rpms, temp, and fuel gauges.
So, it worked! Yay!
 
Looks like my van has this same problem. The dash lights won't come on when turning on the headlights, but the headlights look like they are enabled. Another symptom appears to be that the taillights also don't turn on, which is awful for night time driving. We can work around not having dash lights, but taillights are a must for night driving.

What's strange is that they'll come on after some time, completely intermittent. So, it might be temperature or humidity dependent.

Another symptom is that the alarm that signals when you open the door and have the headlights on doesn't work.

I'll be checking all the things in this thread and the one Growler linked.
 
Apparently I am experiencing the notorious driving lights/dash lights/horn circuit gremlin. It started with the switch being a little quirky when I'd turn the lights on and the dash lights didn't immediately illuminate until I wiggled the light switch. Then this weekend they stopped operating at all, along with the parking lights, tail lights and horn. I first checked the 15 amp horn fuse (third from left on the top) and sure enough it was blown. Popped another one in there and as soon as I turned on the driving lights it blew again. So, I removed, disassembled and cleaned the combination switch from the steering column as per the instructions in this excellent tutorial: http://www.delica.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=98&t=11284
Unfortunately that didn't solve the problem and the circuit continued to blow fuses when I switched on the parking lights. I did test the horn to make sure it wasn't blowing the fuse. I hope I'm wrong but it seems likely that the switch is just worn out and somehow shorting and causing the fuse to blow. Any ideas or suggestions to troubleshoot and resolve this issue is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top