14 replies to this topic

[Dan16v]

Model: Rio
Year: 1993
Description of problem (please be as in depth as possible):

I am currently having a bit of an ignition problem, My red charging dash light is dimly lit and pulsing when I have all the lights on, and seems to do it more when I put the heater fan on. I have recently been having problems with the ignition system, sometimes I get no ignition light and it won’t start/turn over.

When its running with none of the lights on, the alternator is outputting about 14.2 volts, with everything on it drops to about 13.5 volts, battery seems to be about 12 volts.

I have also put the meter on the white wire going into the back of the dash which connects to the brown/yellow wire on the alternator, when the ignition light pulses, the voltage is fluctuating from about 11.8 to 12.5 volts.

Any ideas?



Any non-standard parts that might be involved with the problem? Alarm

[2lrminivan]

sounds like the alt is not working all the time.
u need to check the voltage at the alt when u have the problem and see what it is doing

[Dan16v]

sounds like the alt is not working all the time.
u need to check the voltage at the alt when u have the problem and see what it is doing

Out of the three wires on the back, which one of the two wires do I test to see what the alternator output is? i take it I can just put the meter on this and use the body to ground the negative wire on the meter?

Thanks

[2lrminivan]

the big wires to test it (the little wire goes up to the dash light) put the earth lead on the alt so u can make sure the alt has a good earth

[Dan16v]

The voltage at the alternator is a stable 14.1 volts, using the alternator body as an earth (so I assume that means the engine earth strap is also good), taken alternator off and cleaned up all the mounting points and made sure the belt i tight, but the ignition light still flickers very slightly, the voltage on the white 12v feed at the fuse box also seems to be stable, so why would the light flicker?

I also seem to have another strange gremlin, if I have the auxiliary cooling fan on, and then switch the heater on, the aux fan turns off, works fine if switching on in the other order.

Anyone got any ideas, its driving me nuts!

[Ethel]

Running the heater will cool the water which could cause the aux fan's thermo switch to cut out (correctly).

Did you test the alternator with the lights etc turned on so the light flickers?

Also look at the connections on the solenoid, that's where the alternator connects to the loom and battery cable.

[Dan16v]

Running the heater will cool the water which could cause the aux fan's thermo switch to cut out (correctly).

Did you test the alternator with the lights etc turned on so the light flickers?

Also look at the connections on the solenoid, that's where the alternator connects to the loom and battery cable.

Yeah, I tested the alternator under full load, when the ignition light was flickering, but the alternator output remained stable.

The aux fan is wired to a switch inside the car so I can turn it on when I like, the aux fan thermostat was knackered.

Any idea where the earth points are for things like the heater motor and lights?

[icklemini]

check your main battery earth, engine earth, and the positive cable.. all should be clean and onto bare metal...

if the alt is pushing out 14v and the battery is only seeing 12v then look at the wiring and earths.

[Dan16v]

check your main battery earth, engine earth, and the positive cable.. all should be clean and onto bare metal...

if the alt is pushing out 14v and the battery is only seeing 12v then look at the wiring and earths.

The battery is also seeing 14v, drops a bit to 13.8 v when under full load, only thing left is to double check the engine earth strap. Does anyone know where there is a list of earth points around the car? I did a TMF search but couldnt find anything.

[Dan16v]

I have checked tyhe engine and battery earth and all are fine, it seems to make it flicker more when putting the heater on,. but it isnt everytime, its a bit random.

On doing another TMF search, someone has mentioned that dim pulsing ignition light can be to do with the gauge earth or headlight earth, does anyone know where the earth wire for the gaues or headlamps goes off to?

Thanks

Dan

[2lrminivan]

cannot remember were the lights earth is but u could run a earth wire to the back of the gauge and see if does anything there might be a earth wire behind the dash.
was just thinking a few years ago a customers car had the rear brake light in the wrong way round and it turned the oil light on,strange or what so it was causing a bad earth. might be a good idea to make sure all the light are working correctly.
most likley to be a earth behind the dash. have u checked the fuse box to make sure all the connections are clean.

[Dan16v]

cannot remember were the lights earth is but u could run a earth wire to the back of the gauge and see if does anything there might be a earth wire behind the dash.
was just thinking a few years ago a customers car had the rear brake light in the wrong way round and it turned the oil light on,strange or what so it was causing a bad earth. might be a good idea to make sure all the light are working correctly.
most likley to be a earth behind the dash. have u checked the fuse box to make sure all the connections are clean.

I will try a new earth wire to the dash gauges,at least it rules it out as the cause if it doesnt help.

earlier in the week I had a problem where I couldnt get an ignition light to come on at all and it would start, both the fuel and temp gauges died as well.

One thing i did notice when fiddling under the bonnet today is one of my dipped beams is out, full beam works fine, I think i will pull apart all the bullet connetcors in the morning and see if its havening an effect.

[2lrminivan]

just had a thought on the steering coloum there is 3 plugs that control the switches on the coloum un plug them and plug them back in and see if that helps

[Dan16v]

just had a thought on the steering coloum there is 3 plugs that control the switches on the coloum un plug them and plug them back in and see if that helps

I pulled apart all the bullet connectors and gave them a good clean, found the main earth point and gave that a good rub back to bare metal (it looked a bit corroded) and found that the white ignition wire pulled straight out its crimp when I checked all the connections at the fuse box, so this could have caused me a problem.

But it now seems to behave and no pulsing ignition light, so fingers crossed its fixed!

[2lrminivan]

cool hope it is sorted for good

Edited by 2lrminivan, 14 December 2008 - 05:51 PM.