red light on van speedo

[paul]

newbie here, red light on '77 10 cwt van flickers when engine warm, what is it warning me?!

[MarinaCoupe]

Either low oil pressure or fan belt loose. There are two red warning lights on the dashboard.

1. Check oil level on dipstick and top up if necessary, try again and see if that fixes it. Check oil level weekly if used regularly. Check for oil leaks if left on drive, or in garage overnight, then investigate where it's leaking from.

2. Check and adjust fan belt as per Haynes manual. Fan belts stretch over time so need replacing every couple of years. If the fan belt is loose/slack it may screech as you rev the engine or pull away.

3. Check your Haynes manual, it has pictures of your dashboard and you will be able to work out which warning light it is.

Let us know how you get on.

[paul]

hi Chris, it's a rebuilt motor, with very clean oil, no leaks and stays on the level., not checked fan belt, but will do.
Haven't got Haynes manual but, from memory, as i'm not in the van now, is to the right of the speedo, and below, or above the orange light (which I don't know what is for either!)
I know the green is indicator, obviously! The blue is full beam, but not the two on the right, especially, as I don't like flickering light! the red one

[paul]

no screeching fanbelt by the way

[JoshWard]

I know on MK1s the orange light is oil pressure and the red light is battery charge, so possibly something not right in your charging system. Mine flickers at idle but my car has a dynamo.

[Kiwi Ute]

Either low oil pressure or fan belt loose. There are two red warning lights on the dashboard.

Let us know how you get on.

Humph!
When I brought up the topic of the red light to the left of the speedo I was laughed at!!

And I still don't know what it is for...

[Kilroy]

I thought I explained it at some length..

Can't comment as I do not have a van speedo at this time - gave mine away.

If your vehicle continues to operate normally in spite of a red light, then the light may be erroneous.
Red lights are usually reserved for electrical problems - designed to warn one that their battery is no longer charging correctly.
If you can still start the thing and drive around - we could assume that it is mistaken.
The red charging light is a function of the alternator, and is not always telling the truth should the regulator be faulty.

An orange light however is warning of low oil pressure.
This is somewhat more important, as we do not want your engine to seize up from lack of oil.
It is not unknown for oil pressure warning light switches to malfunction - but because of the severity of the problem - you do need to ascertain what is going on before covering too many miles.

My previous response to a red light (sorry mate..) was very much tongue-in-cheek, and I was only being flippant because I considered that I could do so without causing the vehicle in question to come to any undue harm.
I do not believe it has.
So that's nice.

[paul]

thank you all, for your replies, but I am still no nearer resolving this issue.

There is only one red light on my speedo, the bottom right warning light , below the orange warning light.
Thank you Kilroy for your advise, but am unable to ignore any warning light, least of all a red for danger warning light (that must be my O.C.D. tendencies).
I hope to identify which item under the bonnet it is warning about, if it is electrical or fluid pressure. Confusingly, it flashes when on low revs or tick over when the engine is warm, but goes out when the brake is pressed. I have check all fluid levels and fan belt tension. all is ok.
I am not very good with electrical things, hence the enquiry, and I could not tell if it has either an alternator or a dynamo.
So what is it all about?

[JubileeNut]

I would think it is thew charge lamp which is red. This was fairly constant across most BL cars I think.
Alternator will have a ali body with plastic end where a dynamo will be more cylinder with no plastic end.


The above pic shows an alternator so if it is not like this then it is probably a Dynamo.
Hope that helps

Also pressing the brake peddle if you have a vac servo can make the revs alter which may change the charge lamp status!
If it flashes on low revs or tick over then either it is like Josh's car or it is not charging at that low level of output. Try putting the rear screen heater on and head lamps and see if it gets worse, if it does then the charging is not good. May be brushes on the alternator or dynamo so may need a recon.

[Kilroy]

If the charging light is being operated by the regulator inside an alternator - it sometimes behaves erratically until either you increase the revs - or change the load by turning something else electrical on.

When you use the brakes, the brake lights come on, so that adds load.

Quite possibly that makes enough difference to encourage the system to either begin charging properly - or drive the warning light properly.

The acid test is to place a voltmeter across the battery while the engine is running, and see what voltage is being produced.

If the battery has not gone flat - we could assume that it is being charged ok.

[JoshWard]

Being an S reg I highly doubt it has a dynamo (Marinas stopped being produced with dynamos in June/July 72). As Kilroy says try checking the voltage on the battery terminals with the van idling and everything electrical switched on.

[paul]

Hi JubileeNut, thank you for advice and informative photo, I can now identify I have an alternator! Which apparently was renewed not too many years ago (by the last owner, I have discovered).
The fan belt tension is ok.
I have no heated rear window to try, and the headlights don't really alter the light flickering any more than it does without the headlights on, however, having mentioned the headlights I must say that the headlights do tend to pulsate rather than have a steady glow. at certain times. Does this all seem to be leading to the alternator?

[Kilroy]

Indeed so - I would suspect that the regulator within the alternator may be suspect.

I have been able to buy both regulators and rectifiers for these alternators locally for NZ$10.00 each - so not expensive parts.
Removing the alternator is not difficult, but it may require someone with previous experience to repair the alternator itself.

[paul]

thank you Kilroy, I will investigate the alternator repair option locally and see what is possible

[locost_bryan]

It should be one of the standard Lucas alternators, common across a wide range of BL cars, so every auto sparky should know what to do with it.

A pic of your dash or speedo could be helpful - I checked the Mk 1 commercial brochure in the Publications forum, only mentions these warning lights :-
ignition (charge) - red
oil pressure - orange
high beam - blue
turn signal - green

Mk2/3 also had hazard flasher warning light - not sure if that was seperate from the turn signal warning light.