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REAR LIGHT UNIT Question on Discovery 1

barondeblot

barondeblot

In Fourth Gear
Hi All,

Just a quick question about the correct functioning of the taillights on our Disco 1 97 300tdi, I took the brake light bulbs out of the rear light cluster to inspect, they have twin filaments but it seems that only the one is in use for to indicate braking. We have taillights intergrated in the rear bumper but I always thought they were rather small and in a low position on the vehicle. My question is whether the brake light bulbs in the top of the cluster are definitely not used as taillights simultaneously or do we have a possible wiring fault on our vehicle? These light clusters look enormous, it just appears strange that they are not illuminated during night time driving.

Many thanks in advance

Martin
 
Depends on the model year of your 1997 disco. 97MY yes, 98MY no.. 98MY discos have the high level brake light as standard.
 
Hi,

Many thanks, it was first registered in December 1997 in the UK, do we therefore have a small electrical fault? There is also a high level central brake light but as I mentioned, twin filament brake bulbs in such a large housing only for the brakes, fog and reverse function?

Many thanks

Martin
 
014.jpgdo you have indicators in the upper rear lights, on my 98 before i fitted some 96 rear lights my lights looked like this with no indicators in the upper lights.
 
As u have a 98MY the standard 'as it left the factory' is just the stop light, the tail lights being the bumper. If standard then you have the wrong bulbs fitted you should have just the single 21watt filament bulb in each lamp.
Maybe someone has tried to do the same as a 97MY and include the tail lights into the upper lamp as well and so changed the bulb holder for the twin filament style (offset pins) stop/tail bulb.
 
just wish you could make the lower tail lights into stop/tail lights so then i would have two lower brake lights, two higher brake lights and one central high level brake light :)
 
I doubt there's sufficient air space within the bumper lamp to handle the heat from a 21 + 5 watt bulb you will have to switch LEDs if you wish to carry out that addition to your vehicle.
 
That could be, the actual bulb holder board in there does support two separate positive supplies for a twin filament but I guess that there is no feed present in the cable. An alternative would be to add an additional positive cable from aech of the bumper tail lights into the rear light units......:camo:
 
i've never done it but I believe it's just plug & play and without additional wiring when replacing the rear lamps on your model of disco.
 

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barondeblot said:
Hi All,

Just a quick question about the correct functioning of the taillights on our Disco 1 97 300tdi, I took the brake light bulbs out of the rear light cluster to inspect, they have twin filaments but it seems that only the one is in use for to indicate braking. We have taillights intergrated in the rear bumper but I always thought they were rather small and in a low position on the vehicle. My question is whether the brake light bulbs in the top of the cluster are definitely not used as taillights simultaneously or do we have a possible wiring fault on our vehicle? These light clusters look enormous, it just appears strange that they are not illuminated during night time driving.

Many thanks in advance

Martin
Click to expand...

This is the correct configuration and operation for your vehicle.
I totally agree with your thoughts on the lighting configuration which is why I changed the body cluster units for the earlier units PRC6475 /PRC6476 you can still find these genuine units on ebay BNIB for less than £20 used items can be picked up for less.

98MY vehicles did as standard factory fit have a double pole bulb holder with a dual filament 5 / 21 watt bulbs in the body lamp cluster with the track cut in the unit to prevent the tail light operating.

02 D1 97 WA tail light track.jpg

You can if you only want to add tail lights (without indicators) just fabricate a connection via soldering a wire onto the cut track and connect it to the appropriate wire on plug on the vehicle wiring harness.
Normally all the connectors are present and working in the vehicle connector plug for this model year so swapping the lamp cluster for the earlier version with indicators and tail lamps is a viable plug and play option.

cornish rattler said:
just wish you could make the lower tail lights into stop/tail lights so then i would have two lower brake lights, two higher brake lights and one central high level brake light :)
Click to expand...

I've run brake light in the bumper units for the past 4 or 5 years without any problem or noticeable deterioration of the unit or reflective surface but I don't sit with my foot on the brakes.
Just get a couple of STC4637 plugs with wire and XBP100190 lamp holder
The XBP100190 lamp holder will replace the existing single pole lamp holder in the bumper cluster then just cut off the existing plug and replace with STC4637 running an additional wire up to the body lamp cluster and splice into the brake lamp circuit.


STC4637_tail_brake_lead.JPGXBP100190.jpg


John
 
Hi John,

This is really useful information, I did not have time the other day to take the cluster and inspect the board thoroughly. We only just bought the 300 tdi ES a few weeks ago and the first thing I needed to sort was a badly leaking rear sunroof. This had caused a lot of rust internally and a couple of days ago I removed the first of the side facing seats to remove the extensive rust on the folding brackets and the flip out legs. With the seat out and having temporary unrestricted access to the the rear light cluster I had a quick peep inside and noticed this strange installation by Land Rover.

Kind regards

Martin
 
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