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Peugeot 406 Lights: flashing lights problem?

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Peugeot 406 Lights

Peugeot 406 Lights
© Can Stock Photo / HPW

Driver of the Peugeot 406 could not switch off the engine

Peugeot 406 Lights

Subsequently, the first time that we saw this particular car was when it was in for an MOT test. Gloomily, the owner said that the car would probably fail the test. Because some of the lights were not working as they should! However, the owner’s disappointment came to an end when the car passed the test.

Surprisingly, contrary to what we thought, all the lights were indeed fine. In good working condition. The weather at the beginning of the year. Indeed, it was warm and sunny. The customer picked up his car ! and we heard nothing from the customer or his Peugeot 406 (with the suspected lights problem).

Peugeot turns back up with a central locking problem- Peugeot 406 Lights

So, we did not see the car again until later in the year. Turning up again with an unrelated problem. Hence, the central locking was not working as it should ?  We checked out all the likely things and found nothing to miss. When the car was in our hands, the central locking was working fine. Subsequently, we could not find any problems.

The customer collected his Peugeot 406 back home, and sure enough, he returned with yet another problem ! The car’s side lights were in a permanent position. In other words, they were switched off but remained on (if you get what I mean) .So,once again, we checked all the likely culprits. Including the fuses and switches, and everything was just fine. Significantly, the car was having a number of “lights and other electrical problems” at differing times (very strange). When investigating, we found this clip from another Peugeot owner with similar problems in the forum of the Peugeot 406 web-site…

“Then, with the car locked, the brake lights came on. Then went off, then glowed dimly then stayed on. At this point I pulled the fuses for the brake lights and nothing at all happened. The lights stayed on. Disconnected the battery and then reconnected. Lights stayed off until I tried the brakes with the ignition on.
“I removed the BSI (with the battery disconnected) and (with battery back on) turned on the ignition to find all the lights still lit up.
Must be the dash board. Out with the dash on with the soldering iron.

Every pin and connection to the dials.
Put back in; no joy. Brake lights are on with or without the dash board.
removed the brake light switch. (What a swine that is to remove!)—lights still on!
I looked for all the earth points around the car. I got to the drivers foot well and I could hear a buzzing noise. Could it be a relay?”…

Of course, this was a problem that we had not come across before. Surprisingly, the whole thing came to a head when the car engine would not switch off ! To stop the engine from running, we had to stall the car’s engine. Amazingly, we just could not find a problem.

Had to call in an a Citroen/Peugeot expert ! Peugeot 406 Lights

As a last resort, I had to call for help and enlisted the help of a mechanic friend called Richard. Richard had heard about this problem before and went straight to the foot well of the driver’s side.

The weather was terrible for a couple of weeks prior to the cars problems occurring ! Torrential rain and wide-spread flooding were a national problem ! Because of all the heavy rain here in the UK, the footwell had become flooded. Consequently, when we lifted the carpet at the driver’s side, we found a wet, soggy mess.

Peugeot 406 wiring was rotten with the wet ?

Specifically, the Peugeot 406 lighting and engine problems were found . Subsequently, the plugs that connected the wiring together were perished and rotten. Of course, causing all the short-outs and strange electrical things to happen. Firstly, we drilled a hole to release the water . Secondly, we  re-wired the damaged wires together. So, it was very time-consuming, but  a good job was done. We still do not know where the water is getting in, but I have added some advice from the Honest John website…

“Dry the interior out; remove all mats. Stay inside the car while a friend gently sprays a hose, one section at a time, for several minutes. Wait a few minutes, then inspect. Make sure you train the water on the sunroof, side windows, light clusters, rear hatch, doors, and main windscreen; these are the common areas that could leak.
After a thorough dowsing, gently bounce rear and front of car to dislodge any water that may be sitting somewhere inside. Also, covering the dry car interior carpets with newspaper will show the presence of water and possibly the direction of the leak if you have a dark trim”…http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=48178

Water can cause many electrical problems in your car ? Peugeot 406 Lights

Thinking back the cars owner could relate the problems after we had had heavy rain fall. So, when the water leaked into the car then it shorted out some of the cars electrics . Of course if any water enters the car then much damage can occur. It even happened recently to a nearly new Ford transit delivery van that I bought from the local Ford dealer.

Apparently, unknown to me, the van had a new windscreen fitted before we bought the van. On a recent delivery to a customer in Lancashire, I experienced a very heavy period of rainfall. Surprisingly, the van came to a sudden stop ! Fortunately, I had just pulled off the M56 motorway. So, the engine was completely dead , refusing to start !

After a couple of hours of waiting, the RAC guy turned up and recommended that I be towed to our base in Halifax, UK. To our horror we found that the windscreen had been incorrectly fitted and water had entered the cab onto the ECU (Vans computer). So, after the shock and a couple of thousand pounds lighter, the van is now back on its delivery runs !

All caused by water entering the van’s cab ?