No sidelights when parking

[Coachman]

Our recent trip to France was marred by several faults happening. One of the relays caused the fridge.battery to not charge whilst ignition on, had to buy two before i solved it , it was the EMC one. Next problem which could have been vandilism was offside headlamp and indicator lense was cracked.Next one which i would appreciate help on is the sidelights will not work without the ignition on, i find that quite baffling. Its a Ducato 2001 Autotrail Cheyenne 634L

[Basil]

You would find the answer in your vehicle handbook. If you look at your ignition switch you will see at the bottom there is a button that you have to press in to turn the ignition key one click further than the 'off' position, this will turn on your side lights.

 

Bas

[Coachman]

Thank you Basil for quick reply.Just tried it and yes the lights do come on but i have to leave the key in ignition.What next?.

[Coachman]

Sorry Bas i did not read your answer right , i tried it as you said and yes i have lights on. Now before i had to turn the light switch to parking and it always worked but doing it this way by pushing in the knob i do not have to turn the light switch on ?.

[Basil]

Hmmm, don't know why that is mine comes out leaving the sidelights on, just checked it to make sure. Something does not appear right there.

 

Bas

[Basil]

Sorry posts crossed.

As far as I know ours is and always has been that you only use the switch when you have the ignition on i.e. driving. When you are parked you use the button and extra key position, otherwise the lights go off when you turn the ignition off.

 

Bas

[Coachman]

Never the less Bas job done thanks.

[Robinhood]

AFAIK, Basil has it right, BUT, as it doesn't appear to work for you, I wonder if you are interpreting his instructions correctly?

 

The little detent next to the ignition key slot, when pushed in, allows you to turn the key one position further than off, IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION TO THE WAY YOU WOULD TURN IT FOR STARTING. Without pressing the detent, you are unable to turn it into that 'extra' position.

 

That action lights the side lights, AND the key is removable in that position.

 

It SHOULD be the method with a vehicle of that vintage, and I wonder whether you've pressed the detent and turned the key in the normal direction (which would turn on the ignition, allow parking lights to work, and not allow removal of the key).

 

Sorry if I'm assuming too much, but I've answered this question in the same way as Basil quite a few times, and it is the prescribed method.

 

Edit: Whoops, should have re-read before posting - looks like you have it fixed.

 

:$

[Basil]

Thanks and well done Robinhood, funny how when you read things yourself it seems so straightforward and clear it didn't occur to me that someone might press the button then turn the key back to the ignition on position!! 8-) 8-) 8-) . That would explain why you couldn't remove the key! :-S :-S :-S

 

So thanks fo clarifying my partial answer!

 

Bas

[rapidoman]

i did not know about the little button either :-S should read the manual.how many other people don't read there car or motorhome vehicle manuals from cover to cover (?)

[W3526602]

Hi,

 

Men are from Mars, women read the manual.

 

Probably not any help, but on my (earlier) Ducato, there was a light switch on the dash panel, which worked anytime. It was a long time before I realised there was a switch on the stalk too.

 

602