Custom WP_Query for WordPress Search Results with meta_query

I am using a custom query to generate my search results. The code I am using works perfectly without the meta_query variables in my arguments array.

I am trying to compare multiple custom fields with ‘LIKE’.

References to $per_page & $sort_by

$paged = (get_query_var('page')) ? get_query_var('page') : 1;

$per_page = ($_REQUEST['per_page']) ? $_REQUEST['per_page'] : 15;
$sort_by = ($_REQUEST['sort_by']) ? $_REQUEST['sort_by'] : 'best';

Array for query arguments:

$default = array(
    's' =>  $search,        
    'paged'     =>  $paged,
    'post_type' =>  'page',
    'suppress_filters' => false,
    'posts_per_page'    =>  $per_page,
    'meta_key'  =>  '_wp_page_template',
    'meta_value'    =>  'lois_product.php',
    'meta_query'    =>  array(
        'relation'  =>  'OR',
        array(
            'key'       =>  'lois_prodpage_colour',
            'value'     =>  $search,
            'compare'   =>  'LIKE'
        ),
        array(
            'key'       =>  'lois_prodpage_brand',
            'value'     =>  $search,
            'compare'   =>  'LIKE'
        )                               
    )
);

Then I just call the arguments as you would expect..

$products = new WP_Query($default);

Loop through etc…

So as you can see… pretty simple stuff to be honest. I just cannot work out why it is returning 0 results as I know I have data to match specific terms or a combination..

This is for a custom WP ecommerce website which is integrated with an external EPoS System (I know)

Any help/pointers would be great!