[auspom48]

Hi again guys,couldn,t stay away from R8,s! I,m back with a sweet 214 si 3Door. I have a problem with taillights flashing in sympathy with indicators on both sides and tail and indicators coming on at the same time as brakelights. I have checked the Earths on both sides and seem to be in order, anybody any ideas?

[Johnny 216GSi]

100% it's Earth bonding point problems, and will be localised to the rear clusters. Never had them off to find out where they are bonded to or how they are bonded - I've only ever looked at the front one.

The ground is lifting with 10-20A of current flow - it'll be the bolts into the chassis that aren't making a connection, or the plate to which the earths bond that is corroded, if they're anything like the fronts. If all the Earths go to wires which bond somewhere else - these need to be traced through.

I'm sure someone who knows more about the rears will be along soon...

[auspom48]

Thanks johhny216, there,s one wire earth on the pass. rear and three into one on the drivers rear, individually they bolt to a position just above each light cluster, I,ve cleaned and grased all the earth connections there and also repaired two breaks in the cabling where it travels into the tailgate it the top but still have the problem. As you say, hopefully someone can give me another idea,very frustrating!

[RoverRevival]

you can just connect a small earth cable to the light and use a self drilling screw and make our own earth point for speed of fix.

[Johnny 216GSi]

You can also verify it's the earth that's the problem if you have a multimeter - negative terminal connected to battery negative and positive terminal connected to the ground you suspect. When you run the lights, you'll probably see a good few volts register on the meter.

You could then take this back a step and try seeing if surrounding bodywork is lifting up with the lights going. I have a vague recollection that the cars have large earth bonding straps between sections of the vehicle to maintain continuity throughout, rather than relying on the spot and seam welds. So one of these may have gone faulty and in fact the entire back section of the car is lifting up a few volts.

Someone else might be able to confirm this is true - I'm pretty sure it is.

[auspom48]

Thanks guys, I,ll try attacking it again tomorrow, gonna be something really stupid I know!

[Johnny 216GSi]

Thanks guys, I,ll try attacking it again tomorrow, gonna be something really stupid I know!

You could certainly try something a little stupid...

Take a jump lead (use the black one 'cause it's for negative stuff ) and connect the metal on the back half of the car (if you can find a suitable place to slip on to) to some metal nearer the front of the car that hasn't got grounding problems. As long as you find beefy enough clip-on points, this will probably fix the dodgy earth strap problem if you have one, thereby proving the theory...

[auspom48]

Well, using a combination of the above suggestions I,ve solved the "dodgy electrics" problem. I think it seems to be a poor earth connection within the two elec plugs on both tail-light units. I,ve introduced new earths by going straight from the boot area close by to the metalic strip on the rear of the light units thereby by-passing the earth connection of the plug. Lights now work fine. Incidentally I also checked the Tailgate cabling up by the hinge and found two broken cables there,one earth and one to power the HRW!, sso a good day all round. Thanks again lads!