Electrical Problem?

[Jim Bowen 1]

Only just got car back from having the clutch done, drove it during the day and it was fine, but at night in the wet i've had problems.

 

1st off i noticed the reverse lights weren't working, so put that down to the switch not connected where they had gearbox out.

 

But driving along with wipers on, stereo on, and lights on, i turn on full beam and the stereo went off? so went back to dipped and stereo came back on. Tried that a couple of times then decided to leave stereo off.

 

Then went i put full beam on the engine jolted once as i flicked them on, and happens each time. And just coming home now, went to start it and it kept turning over but wouldn't start, got it going in the end.

 

What could this be? alternator? battery? something disturbed during clutch change?

 

has been endless problems this last month or two, exhaust, water pump, clutch, now this. All within a few hundred miles :censored: :brickwall:

[Toad 0]

Battery connections not tight enough, earths not connected securely (body and gearbox ends), alternator not connected properly, alternator knackered.

 

Just a start.

[Mawrick 0]

yea, would def check out that you got good "earth" around the engine bay......

[Jim Bowen 1]

i haven't had a chance to look yet, but will be what i will be doing tomorrow now i guess.

 

also, i had the seats out recently and after that the fuse blew for the electric adjustment, replaced it, but noticed thats blown again. So gotta have the seats out too, could it be related?

[Mawrick 0]

never good to know, electric "gremlins" can be deviouse.......look for wires that might short out to either another wire or short to the metal flooring in the car etc.......

[Wullie 1]

Sounded like the alternator wasn't charging in the first post till you threw in the seat problem. I'd still check the alternator charge first before going any further. Being a true Scot, always look for the cheapest fix first before going into meltdown

[Rathion 0]

Almost certainly the gearbox earth seeing as problem not there before clutch change. Symptoms definitely point to an earthing problem in my experience. As someone said before check battery terminals tight and both ends of the earth also connected/tight.

[Jim Bowen 1]

had a check around car, and the gearbox light switch didn't have the wire plugged in, so plugged that back on. And noticed one of the battery connections was loose.....:lol:

 

glad it was an easy one, was in a bad mood this morning thinking something else wasn't about to cost hundreds :brickwall:

[ben boy 0]

hi ya i had same problem last week , turned full beam on and radio went off and turned my lights to dip and wipers came on then anout 10 mins later i had a small fire in the dash where a relay got stuck and too hot , v scary :eek: i had a look around and found a chaved wire going to headlights so i repaired it but still had the fault after sat and sunday searching i did not find a thing :scratch:

i got a car electrition friend and he had a good look around and found out that it wad the ignition switch it was back feeding through the fuse board and causing these problems , i dont know if this is your problem but it might be worth having a look around for a short in the loom somewhere or replacing your ignition switch i think there about £12 hope this helps good luck :D

[Jim Bowen 1]

not had any more problems since i tightened up the battery, but thats interesting to know.

 

i will be even more worried about driving it lol

[davidwort 0]

so who exactly did the clutch change? perhaps worth asking if they had any bolts left over after they put it all back together :roll:

[Jim Bowen 1]

lol a local place did it, am starting to lose confidence with them now. about 1yr and a half ago they forgot to plug the rad fans back in :lol: