Technical Earth fault?

[abarth stabler]

Hi guys, been having electrical problems on my 4x4.

When I start the car the engine fires up normally as do the dash lights and gauges. I turn the headlights switch on and the lights won't come on and the gauges and dash lights turn off.

If I restart the car the dash works again but as soon as I do the lights it happens again,

This happened last week too but it was because the alternator belt was too slack. Once tensioned correctly the problem went away, and now the same problem is back with a vengeance.

Help anyone?

 

[AndyPanda4x4]

Check the light switch itself, they are prone to melting on the back. Also check the dim/dip resistor located on the offside shocker pillar (looks like a coil). Take a look at the "hedgehog" earths which are located next to the resistor on the offside shocker pillar, and on the inside of the nearside wing (re-do the spade connections and clean up contacts). Check the negative battery lead where it runs down the bulkhead in the engine bay, this is a common cause of electrical faults as it gets visibly warn away from movement. If all this looks ok then it's likely to be your alternator brushes that have had it. Good luck fault hunting, hope you sort it :thumbup:

 

[Dragon Man]

...

:yeahthat:.. what he said..

 

[abarth stabler]

Thanks Andy, doubt it will be the hedgehoggy thing as I cleaned that up and greased it about a fortnight ago. My horn had a mind of it's own too until last week when I disconnected it. Driving through town and it decided to beep at police officers and pensioners, I looked like a right wazzok.

I will check the switch over, are they easy to remove? I have a spare if it has packed in. Also do you know where I can buy new alternator brushes?

 

[abarth stabler]

Just sorted the problem after 4 hours prodding about with multimeter and jiggling various wires around and testing switches.

Turns out the ignition barrel is worn and the wires that plug into the ignition switch were slack as hell. Tightened all the spade connectors cleaned them up and greased them, removed the switch from the ignition barrel, stripped and rebuilt that, put everything back together and now it all works better than ever.

Happy days

 

[onemanmade]

Just sorted the problem after 4 hours prodding about with multimeter and jiggling various wires around and testing switches.

Turns out the ignition barrel is worn and the wires that plug into the ignition switch were slack as hell. Tightened all the spade connectors cleaned them up and greased them, removed the switch from the ignition barrel, stripped and rebuilt that, put everything back together and now it all works better than ever.

Happy days

Brill, nice fix!

 

[AndyPanda4x4]

Well done!

Another earth issue "area" noted :thumbup:

 

[abarth stabler]

Well done!

Another earth issue "area" noted :thumbup:

Yeah it took some finding but it seems to have sorted out several issues, before when my lights were playing up I used to sit and look at eBay for 5 mins, calm myself down after getting frustrated and it would work( temporarily).

Turns out it doesn't have a mind of it's own like herbie .... Just loose and worn out wiring.

 

[JamieK]

Excellent work not sure that fault's been flagged up before so you've probably saved a few people a lot of time in the future

 

[Torridon1]

my 1992 CLX is suffering from the same symptom as this original post (everything works until the headlights are turned on, then all the dash lights light up dimly and the indicators stop working.)
I'll be checking the ignition switch and connections ( I replaced the ignition switch in the summer so maybe didn't put things back together firmly enough) and I will also check hedgehogs etc.
In the past I added an additional earth cable from the battery to the bodywork, but have read in a few threads about an additional earth cable from the engine to the bodywork. This sounds like it would be worth doing for the cost of an earth strap, but where on the engine would I connect the earth to?
Thanks