Here's what I recently noticed after driving my car for 3 days. When I'm stepping on the brake pedal on a red light, my engine RPM goes down, my A/C lights flicker, my dash lights do dim. When I have my turn signals on, my A/C lights flicker, and my volt meter moves back and forth... even if I step on the gas to idle up, the volt meter continues to move so long as I have my turn signals on... I checked my battery and the readings were 12v when engine off, 14v when car is idling... which suggests that my battery is holding charge, and the alternator is charging the battery (I hope)... I'm just concerned about this as it may one day drain my battery and suddenly stall as the car is my DD... Any ideas? Thanks!
The ECU can only compensate idle if it knows what consumers are working currently. Do you have anything wired to the battery, that the ECU isn't aware of, like a massive sound system, or anything? Volt meter movement when indicators are on is normal.
The PO left wirings for the sound system but I do not see it being connected directly to the battery... I have to double check that the power wire for the amp has been totally disconnected... There is also a wire which I could not figure out... one end is fused to the +side of the battery to a toggle switch, the other end is tapped into a wire that goes to the alternator... I will also try to replace my battery terminals and see if that will help...
I've cleaned out the left over wiring system and changed battery terminals... shame on the PO for a messy audio install... he spliced a bunched of wires which I still need to trace... hopefully those are just speaker wires and no live current passes through...nothing hard wired to the battery but im still getting the dimming lights and the RPM seems to lower when I step on the brake by at least 100 RPM...
the RPM drop is normal, but the dimming lights aren't. i'd take your grounds and sand the bolts clean to get a better connection to them. especially the one in the trunk
im thinking the ground to the brake lights may also be a culprit since this only happens when i step on the brakes...
i gutted my hatch... so happy to report that the insides are almost free with only very few surface rust... I couldn't see much grounding in the hatch except the one in the center close to the latch... here's is what i found out about the dimming dash light, flickering a/c lights, and dropping RPM when I step on the brake: - when i disconnected both L/R tail lights, the dimming, and dropping RPM goes away... - when either side is connected, i still get the dimming, etc... - the flickering of ac lights is not present when dash lights are off even if I step on the brakes... the bulbs are all working and not burnt at all... could this be dash related or brake related? thoughts please...?
problem is your corner lights + low filament in the brake lights. when you turn on dash lights by itself, does your dimming/flickering problem happen without stepping on the brakes? it seems like one or the other of brake/dash(corner) lights drains the system, but only really affects anything when you have both. do me a favour, check the ground that connects from your upper alternator bracket to the passenger side strut tower. where the wire attaches to the bracket, sand the bracket.
hi - did what i was told... sanded the ground connection but still having same issue... as for the filament, are you talking about the bulb itself? and are you referring to the front corner light or rear corner by the brake light itself? "when you turn on dash lights by itself, does your dimming/flickering problem happen without stepping on the brakes?" - nope... the dimming/flickering only happens when I step on the brakes...
i need dave's (ST165-2765) help on the wiring diagram...or if anyone else has it. there's several grounds in the car, i'm not sure which one is the one connected to brake/parking lights. i'd assume there's a ground somewhere in the front of the car under the dash near the fuse box. but i don't remember where. from what i've gathered, the dimming/flickering problem only occurs when 2 or more of: 1) parking lights (front corners, rear low filaments) 2) brake lights (rear high filaments) 3) we haven't mentioned this, but reverse will probably also do the same thing. BUT NOT when only one or the other is on. 1 or 2 or 3 will be okay 1+2, 2+3, 1+3, will cause problems 1+2+3...probably be the worse (filaments are wires inside the bulb, the brake bulb is type 1157 with two filaments inside, one for low, one for high beam, while front corner lights and reverse light is type 1156 with only one filament inside) this means that there's nothing wrong with your system. the only problem is there is a ground somewhere that's not doing it's job. just gotta find it...
hmm... well I don't have the time yet to trace it.. plus it's frigid outside... a wiring diagram will surely help so anyone who has it, please can I have it? as long as it doesn't drain my battery dead, I'll be less worried for now...
