A problem with LED lighting kits on older Defenders - and a simple solution! 

No need for the old bulb. Just put a led resistor one in each side for the indicator. This give the illusion of the old bulb still being there . This is also the trick if you don’t replace the relay and have fast flashing bulbs . Hope this helps someone. But great video and very informative as usual mate.

Your videos are a great help as I restore my 1994; 110. The indicator light problem you diagnosed in this one is spot on! Thank you!

I love this guy, I don’t have side indicators but I had to put extra 2 bulb in order to get it work. I am hoping to find better solution in the future.

Previous owner on my defender installed wipac led lights and just found this problem. Thank go for your video. Saved me a trip to the garage! Awesome videos as always 😊

The greatest headache solution video ever. Thnx from the bottom of my heart

Thankyou very much you are a genius about the indicators flashing all

Put a 50 ohm, 1 watt, wire wound ceramic resistor in parallel with the led's.

Brilliant info Mike. Thanks, we like being in your workshop with you :) . Cheers for sharing.

Iv just had the same problem 🤪 iv put the standard 501 bulbs back in the side repeators and all working fine 🤯 thanks for the video mate 😁 it helped me

OMG MIKE! Thank you so much! I thought It was working but it is not working now. I think pervious owner just left it. I need to get original side blinker now..... I nearly ordered indicator switch! Thank you so much!

We always fit a resistor to LED bulbs. As Roland B says, it's a load thing.

Hi Mike. I had the same problem with an 89 110 - even though I still had the incandescent side markers. It too drove me nuts and I figured it had to have something to do with the dash indicator light. In the end I Googled it and found that it is very common fault especially on motorbikes. I found out there is a mod to fix it. Is like a little resistor kit. It only means taking out the waning light cluster and wiring it in, and whala fixed! Not expensive either. I hope this helps some folks.

Hi, had the same problem with JW Speaker led indicators, on a 97 Defender, drove me daft trying to fix it, finally resolved after much forum searching with a replacement dash indicator led that has a short earth lead (eBay) which I attached to one of the dial housing, phew problem solved and sanity regained.

All that's needed is an LED dedicated flasher relay. Works on most older classics, Land Rover, MG, Mini and my Suzuki GSXR750SRAD all had crazy flasher problems with LEDs until I fitted a proper led flasher relay. All working perfectly no worries.

You could place a ballast resistor on one side in parallel with your LED light and that would be enough to make it work.

Hi mate love your channel it's spot on 👍 right I have been a mechanic since 1984 and too weeks ago I had the very same issue 😂😂😂😂😂😂 I fitted wipac led lights to my tray back now 😂😂😂😂 when I fitted them they worked fine 👍 a day later I had to change a rear main seal so I disconnected the battery separated the engine and box changed to crank seal put it back together and run it up no leaks 👍 I don't know why I decided to check the lights but I did and I noticed that if I indicated one way the other side indicator would flash dimly 🤷‍♂️ so I went down the same route as you hazard switch indicator stalk wipac indicator flasher relay nothing worked 🤷‍♂️ so I started to unplug things to see if I could find a shot to my surprise if I disconnected the alternator the indicators worked fine 🤗 so I checked the alternator and had a short ground cleaned it up still the same changed it for a new one and the indicators still didn't work 😡😡😡😡😡😡 so I didn't the same as you removed the tell-tale build and and then the indicators worked 👍 so I decided to something different I put a led bulb in it all worked but only flashed the tell-tale one way so much stress to my mental health I decided to brake a standard bulb so it still pushed in the holder 👍 and the to electrodes that stick out of the bulb I soldered a led bulb to it and then the second one the opposite way round and now when you indicate right one bulb lights up on the tell-tale and when you indicate left the other bulb lights up my problem is fixed all 6 led light work and a nice bright tell-tale on the dash 👍 hope it helps in some way 🤷‍♂️

You've nailed the look of the front end, I would leave it like that, matches the black chequer plate. You need the "Defender" letters for the Puma bonnet though. I don't think they are going to be cheap.

Hi Mike. This is a much discussed problem on the forums and Facebook. One solution is to use the replacement dash bulb that RDX supply, which has a separate earth connection. I made my own solution using two LED’s with the cathodes joined together and then through current limiting resistor to a common earth point. Using LED’s means that whilst one of the LED’s flashes on the dash, the other is reverse biased thus ‘blocking’ the 12V trying to reach ground through the ‘opposite’ lights.

You don’t need a normal bulb. I fit all leds, then remove the dash bulb. Then I fit a small warning led to both upper corners dash and wire one to each of the indicators circuits at the back of the hazard switch. Job done!

School boy error....thanks again for sharing buddy!

I recently had this issue and was going to keep the old lights in the circuit. But I tried a resistor and it worked straight away

how very helpful. thanks

very interested in this as I have the 'proper' landrover flasher for a trailer (so the proper warning light for the trailer works on the dash) I would like to fit the wipacs BUT want to retain the functionality of the current warning lights as well. Not many people know/understand that the design of the incandescent indicator is such that it 'tells you' you have a bulb that has failed by its flash speed. I discovered this when rebuilding a Lightweight in about 91. What I found back then was the warning light that flashed for left or right turn would do the following ( so testing one side only). No bulbs fitted it wouldn't flash, (this was mirrored in the trailer warning light) Fit one bulb and the warning light would flash once (mirrored in the trailer warning light), Fit front and rear bulbs (no side repeaters on the MOD light weight) and you got the warning light flashing in time with them, however the trailer warning light would still only flash once, plug a trailer board in and it would then flash all the time. Now I know in modern cars (I say modern, I mean pre LED) if any of the lamps failed the speed of the flash would increase as a warning to the driver they had an indicator bulb that had failed.

I just got a 93 200tdi 110 and I am in love! However, I was installing new OEM led colored indicators (previous ones were LEDs as well) My indicators we're working and then stopped. No dash light for indicators or clicking sound of them being on but hazards still work. Any ideas? Sorry for the long message!

Thanks!

Hi me old mucker, LED is driving me nuts. I’ve got a set of JW Speaker front head lights that flicker as and when they want. Currently fitted to the 92 defender but they did the same on my 2008 G4 130 🤬🤬. Thinking about doing a resistance test on the negative? What’s your thoughts?

Maybe it’s me but I’ve had that issue before, putting LEDs on my Disco 2 and I not only had to wire a a ground wire for each LED I upgraded.

Could you not wire an additional incandescent bulb into the circuit and tuck it away somewhere so you could still have the LED side indicators?

Like the fun and games with CANBUS. Cars!

I've been going crazy with the same issue. Mine only work properly when I have something plugged in the towbar

When I purchased my led lights I got a new relay unit that you could adjust the load with a screw. It worked fine.

I think the problem is with the flash relay. You need one that works with LEDs. These are solid state. The old style needs the load from the bulb on the circuit to make the relay go.

Good information

Thank you very much sr!

I had this problem when I fitted the wipac kit firstly none worked because the earths all wouldn't work with the LED's then , the led's only work one way and I had all bulbs flashing but I noticed the other side was flashing week, took four hours to get the live and earths all going the right way around the circuit, I had it where the side marker would be lit when the indicator was off so they were blinking but not syncronised and the swapped all the led wires round the other way and then they have all been perfect since; right chew

Had the same problem. I install led side indicator lights and connected the original side indicators lights on the inside engine bay 😂😂😂😂. Problem solved.

I have the same wipac led set on my 2004 D90 with standard headlights and side repeaters still, but when I swiped mine over it activated the trailer dash warning light as if to say I'm towing ? but I don't even have a tow hitch or any wiring for a trailor at all. and it goes off when I put the standard lights back in.... not sure why this is but it passed its MOT in january with the trailer light on. and I didn't even get any advisories !! all Im waiting for now is a headlight to blow so I can splash out on some 7" truck light led's.

Having pain with my headlights put in a roof mounted LED bar, and re positioned switches to lockers, front LED bar and rear LED bars alll was working fine then an electrician got involved and wired the day light running light power to front right sidelight. Not sure if what he did caused issue. But now left headlight mainbeam is out. Now im thinking the headlight flasher stalk is possibly worn out so have ordered a new one. Also ordered a dim dip relay. Of course i replaced the bulbs first.

mike, Bolt on bits.co.uk, near huddersfield sell a little fitting that solves this issue , a warning lamp bulb holder with an earth wire which isolates the repeater from the circuit the problem is caused by current returning to the negative as the instruments having a single turn signal warning in the instrument binnacle, later vehicles that have independent left and right internal warnings don't have this issue, only have to fit the digital flasher unit,,,

Not all heroes wear capes

Thank you very much sr for this video! I'm restoring my 2002 defender I have putted all this led lights now it's time for a fresh paint, I like your defender's paint code, can you tell me what is it?

did the kit not come with a new flasher relay? done a 110 lately and had no issues with just changing the flasher relay for the wipes one supplied in kit.

I think if you put a resistor from both sides of the idiot light to ground it might work, but the resistors would have to be the same resistance as the original repeaters.

So, if you if a marker bulb fails, the indicator circuit fails. Not good.

1986 land rover 90 hazards not working and the indicators don't work unless the hazard light is switched on. I've been told it's a dodgy relay. Is this correct?

I rewired my dash light so that one side went straight to earth, and the other side was fed from left and right indicators via diodes.

It’s not great though if that bulb fails or contact fails to it and you don’t know from inside!. Replace the dash bulb with 2 leds, 1 fitted reverse polarity. Don’t forget the resistor!

Hi, I had the same problem but I wired in a ballast resistor in each side.

Hi Is that a genuine Puma bonnet on your defender? Was considering buying a cheap version but unsure how it would look compared to the genuine Land rover one

Could you use a resistor to do a similar thing?

What size holes did you have to cut for the side indicators

I had exactly the same problem on my '95 Tdi and only figured it out when I removed the dash warning bulb and everything worked properly. Cut the green/red and green/white wires connected to the dash bulb a few cm short of the white connector block. Solder a 20p diode onto each of these wires and connect them both to one side of the dash bulb. Connect the other side of the bulb to ground. This way, the LH indicators dont use the RH circuit to ground the dash bulb (and vice versa). This method will also solve the problem of the dash warning light only flashing on one side but not the other, when you replace it with an aftermarket LED replacement dash bulb.

I spent ages on this problem a few years ago. I had to get a special LED at £20 just for the tale tale. If they give proper instructions it would be a help.

Did you change the relay Mick ?

Why not piggy back off the indicator loom and plug in the original indicator hidden inside the wing somewhere?

ballast resistor???????????????

Mike you need a ballast resistor in the circuit something like a 50w 6 Ohm load resistor e.g 50W 6RJ

if only there was a seperate light for turning left compared to turning right.

Now you need a set of led dash/clock bulbs from eBay.

LED current draw is too low, you need either a ballast / load resistor, or an LED flasher can instead of the standard flasher relay

And certainly don't attempt to put an led light in the dash because the system completely craps itself!!! Been driving in the rain lately and my full led conversion has now decided that the reverse light should come on with the left indicator, and that causes the foglight warning light on the dash to flash with the indicator aswell!!! How bloody backwards are 300tdi's wired up!!!!

I believe the problem is the fact that there is only one dash turn indicator bulb, and the "quirky" way it is wired. See this video starting at 7:41 for an explanation: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-auLY6IYeqcI.html

buy an led compatible flasher can and problem goes away

This ‘problem’ only occurs with vehicles with a single ‘tell-tale’ bulb on the dash. If you have the later vehicles with separate ‘tell-tale’ bulbs on the dash for left and right you will never have the problem and wonder what all the fuss is about 😂

Same problem on my old Volvo Amazon. It's due to having a single tell-tale on the dash, as you rightly say. The solution is to add a simple diode bridge to the connection at the back of tell-tale bulb. Just add it behind the dash and all the LED indicator flashers then work as intended. I bought a simple prewired diode kit for around 7 quid here: www.classiccarleds.co.uk/products/diode-harness-kit-for-led-indicator-turn-signal-warning-light-fix-kit although with the right bits to hand you could probably make one for a few pence. Once that's sorted you may find they flash too quickly, in which case you want to replace the relay with an LED specific one too. I bought a cheap one with an adjustable speed setting. Works brilliantly.