Renault 21 Savanna - Problem with lights

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Mon 29 May 2006 18:51
Renault 21 Savanna - Problem with lights - Samson
Hello this is my first post to this forum and I apologise for the length, I am having a nightmare with the lights on the car and was wondering if anybody had any ideas of what the problem(s) might be!

1. The front fog lights are on all the time. This is wether or not the fog light switch is on or off. When the light switch is turned to dip beam the fog light dashboard indicator comes on as do the fog lights. Wehn the fog light switch is turned on the dashboard light and fog lights get a little bit brighter.

2. The side lights are powered from two different 5 amp fuses. One does the left hand side of the car and the fog lights, the other does the right hand side of the car. The fuse protecting the right hand side keeps blowing. I have tested it with a tester and the circuit is drawing about 8.5 amps. Interestingly when a fuse of 10 amp rating is put in it doesn't blow although the dip beam lights come on as well as the side lights.

I have checked all of the wiring and bulbs etc. that I can get to. It all looks OK. I dont have a wiring diagram so am not sure which relays do the lights. Maybe they are stuck open? or closed? I am not sure where these relays are located. I have also checked the light switch, I dont think this is faulty as I have tested the circuits using a piece of wire instead of the switch and the same faults occur.

The car is a 1995 (N) 2.1 td Savanna.

I would really appriciate any advice!

Many Thanks

Sam
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Mon 29 May 2006 19:08
Renault 21 Savanna - Problem with lights - bell boy
sounds like a relay stuck open to me too and finding a different way to ground,put the hazards on and see if this will help you locate where the relays are,then you can knock them off your list one by one.
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Mon 29 May 2006 23:52
Renault 21 Savanna - Problem with lights - Big John
This sounds like a bulb earthing problem (or lack of)
As an experiment try connecting seperate individual earth wires to the headlight and fog lamp bulbs.

As an example :- A few years ago if you followed a Ford Sierra (always suffered rear light earthing problems) braking and indicating you witnessed a combination of flashing brake or indicator lights etc...


Good luck.
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Fri 2 Jun 2006 22:53
Renault 21 Savanna - Problem with lights - Samson
A little update to the above:-

HELP MEEEEEEEEEE!!

I am going mad with this fault! Basically I have measured the resistance of the earth from the bulbs at the front to both the engine block and the battery negative terminal. The resistance is zero on one side and 0.2 on the other. I take it this is correct.

I have disconnected the front fog lights and although obviously they dont come on the dashboard light still illuminates as per the above.

I have systematicaly removed all of the relays I can find (All located under the dashboard by the fuses) and cant find one which controls the lights. There is one that clicks when the swtich is changed from sidelights to dip beam but even with this removed the lights still come on as above. Does any one know of anymore relay locations?

Sorry to keep asking quations but I am running out of ideas.

Many Thanks

Sam
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Sat 3 Jun 2006 07:46
Renault 21 Savanna - Problem with lights - Steptoe
Not solving the fault, of course, but as you are obviously comfortable re electrickerity why not rewire so foglamps work directly off switch, using a new feed from the foglamp fuse. ( I accept that the switch may not really be man enough without a relay in circuit, but how many foggy days do we get? )

Using Sod's Law it quite possible that just as you have nearly finished this job you will come across the initial problem!
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One mans junk is another mans treasure
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