Electrical issues

Hi all,new to this.just recently bought myself a 94 super custom 4x4. Really happy with it but just noticed it's doing strange things. When I get up to about 80kph the door open light starts to flicker,even though door shut.2nd is the glow light only comes on for about 2-3 seconds and sometimes after starting van the dash clock is dim to nothing and the fan stops working on heater. Any help much appreciated

Re the door light, something to check: with the sliding side door open have a look about half way up the rear door frame. There's a solid pin bolted to the frame. This is where the door lock clamps to when closed. If the bolts on the pin are loose the lock isn't firm and vibrates enough to cause the flickering light. That's what happened on mine at least.

Thanks for that,I will check it when I get home

Wiz68 wrote:

the glow light only comes on for about 2-3 seconds and sometimes after starting van the dash clock is dim to nothing and the  fan stops working on heater. Any help much appreciated

The glow light always only comes on for a short time, but the glow plugs stay on much longer - when they are all all the other lights will dim slightly and you'll hear the click as they switch off. I think Toyota/Denso uses the light as a 'Glow plugs starting' rather than a 'glow plugs heating' like in a Peugeot.

Don't know about the fan, it should be independent but check the fuses - possibly the 'unload' relay is tired and doesn't switch back on again properly. Most vehicles have an 'unload' relay that switches off many bits of the vehicle (windscreen wipers, radio, headlamps etc) while the engine is cranking to give the starter the max battery power.

The clock will probably be dimmed when you switch the side or headlamps on - have an experiment to see it's not that. DImming dash lights is a usual 'lights on' feature, although I did install a dimmer for mine too as the manual dimmer option wasn't fitted to my van.

Thanks for those good leads.i will get the unload relay checked and for the advice on the way the glow plugs work.

re: the glow plugs, on my van the light stays on for differing lengths of time based on how warm/cold the engine is. Starting at operating temp, the light is on for one second or less, but during a cold start, it can be on for up to 4 seconds.

Hi.thats how I thought it worked.starting it soon so will listen out for the click.always starts well from cold but takes longer through the day.thanks for your reply

Wiz68 wrote:

Hi all,new to this.just recently bought myself a 94 super custom 4x4. Really happy with it but just noticed it's doing strange things. When I get up to about 80kph the door open light starts to flicker,even though door shut.2nd is the glow light only comes on for about 2-3 seconds and sometimes after starting van the dash clock is dim to nothing and the  fan stops working on heater. Any help much appreciated

Hi Wiz68, did you locate the problem? I have the exact problem with my 94 supercustom. the door-open light flickering when the road is bumpy, usually happens when it is on the motor way, or really windy day. Thanks a lot!

I had something similar, it could be the rear tailgate latch. The 'open' sensor is built into the latch itself, rather than being separate. If the latch or the latch pillar are worn, then there could be a bit of movement. Annoyingly, neither are adjustable, but I found that loosening and then retightened the pillar helped.

Also, there are cheap replacement latches on eBay if it needs replacing