Help with Electrical Problem

[frozen]

I was driving to redcliffe tonight, had the lights on, they would kind of dim almost as if flicking off while driving (just quick flickers) and at the same time as this it would feel like there was no spark, almost as if the car 'dies' for a milisecond at a time. Only happens here and there, and on the way back it was fine again.. lately noticed my guages (defis with the control unit) have been resetting completely as if i had the battery disconnected (the warning points need resetting) and as im driving i occasionally hear a quick 'beep beep' which is the sound it makes when i just turn the ignition on and start the car... but its been doing it here and there while driving and resetting! i think i even saw the dash lights flick off and on for a split second today. Its really scaring me.. hate problems with the car.. i fix one thing another thing comes up.

sorry for no paragraphs im tired and going to bed... going to take it to a place in the morning if no one else has an idea what it could be.

current assumption is that all of my wiring has just shaken loose.. just seems strange it even appears to lose its sparks. another theory (one which im only thinking of because i tested it on the way home) is that i have a variable fan controller, and i was thinking maybe it is while the fan turns off and turns on again that it does it, so i just set the 'on' temp to something silly so it would just always run. not sure if this fixed it or not but it didnt seem to do it anymore?

also my lights dim when the indicator flashes.... another possibly pointless thing to point out

 

[Outlanded]

bad earth, battery could be on the way out, or your alternator is on the way to death row...

they would be the obvious things that could cause this, probably swinging more to the alternator...

 

[naughtika]

similar things happened to my old galant, my bet is your alternator going off..

to test it..

get a volt meter and connect it to your battery (assuming you know how to use it) keep the motor running and rev it up.. see if the voltage goes up..

i think it should go up to like 14v.. i might be wrong.. someone else will tell you..

 

[SiliconAngel]

I think it sounds like a bad earth far more than anything else - check you have a good, strong, CLEAN connection to your battery AND your alternator before you do anything else.

 

[naughtika]

Josh, just out of curiosity.. do you still have your capacitor hooked up?!

 

[Peter_D]

My HIDs do the same thing but I don't lose any spark. I've been putting it down to a wiring problems which I haven't been able to isolate yet.

 

[frozen]

im assuming its going to be a grounding issue - as for the cap christian - no its in the garage. Also the SAFC i decided to set to voltage to watch it, and it doesnt change at all when the 'dimming' happens, or anything. it stays on 14v. when i first start the car its actually 14.5v, but last night was definately 13.9v - 14v the whole time (indicating the alternator was running, as 12v is the battery)

 

[matchtheclown]

I'd still say bad earth or something to do with your battery.

Even a multimeter wont detect split second voltage drops like would happen if you battery suddenly disconnects and reconnects.. so I imagine the SAFC would miss it too.

I would be checking the earth and positive lines to you battrery and where they go, also check the crimps onto the lugs which bolt them down.

An easy way to test it would be to leave the car running open the bonnent and yank and pull on all the cables around the battery / alternator.

My money is on when your doing this you find somewhere to pull that will make the car cut out all together. Which would ID your problem.

If your near the coast, an 'ok' crimp on a cable could have become corroded a little and turned bad pretty easilly.

You will be lucky and pretty happy if it is this simple.

 

[frozen]

had a tug on a few cables with no effect - also had no issue all day... i think ill follow the guage cables back to where they are connected and make sure all of those are fine, as that is where the problem first started being noticed.

 

[bradc]

Just get a wire brush and clean up both battery terminals and the cabes, then bolt them back on really tight.

 

[frozen]

so you're pretty sure it will be the terminals?

 

[naughtika]

so you're pretty sure it will be the terminals?

as weird as it is.. at most times.. those damn terminals are the culprit..

 

[frozen]

lol so i just properly checked the terminals and the positive was a tiny bit loose... also gave em a clean with a steel wool thing... ill let you know if that fixes it, which ill assume it will. hopefully that fixes my central locking problem which appeared today too.... makes a tick tick tick tick noise and doesnt do anything occasionally works fine again.