Electrical problems

[other_shoe]

I have a number of different problems, which may or may not be tied to my alternator, which I bought ca. 1995 and should probably get tested.

First, the headlights have started cutting out momentarily (3 to 10 seconds). My guess is that this is a circuit breaker responding to a short or overload. Does that sound like a good guess or correct description of the breaker tripping?

Second, I installed a modern radio, which apparently pulls much more current than my old radio through the wire that is not tied into the ignition switch. In my old set up, I had this plugged into the clock terminal on the wiring harness with no problem, but now if I have the radio on and turn on the courtesy lights (on the same fuse as the clock) to radio cuts out (also the courtesy lights dim when I turn the radio on). I'm thinking that I should tie the always on lead from the radio into the circuit for the lighter. Any comments?

Third, my instrument lights are too dim at idle and only shine brightly when I'm going 30+ mph. Is the voltage regulator the likely culprit? Or should I be looking for something else?

Thanks for any and all help.

 

[5.0Droptop]

I would start by checking your ground cable connections at the battery and where the cable grounds to the engine.

The radio issue sounds like a bad ground or a short somewhere

 

[horseballz]

Everything you describe points to drawing too much from the wrong places. I would guess also that your headlights have been replaced/upgrade with halogen bulbs (pretty much all that's available these days) and they draw more amperage than the original style, and yes, you are correct that the circuit breaker in the headlight switch is tripping, for now. If you keep running it like this it will be a short time before your headlight switch craps out for good and most replacements are as crappy as your worn switch is currently. You need to at the least, install a relay setup for your headlights, simple and easy. I would also suggest an additional/auxiliary fuse block that is fed from a relay triggered by your key being on. Also pretty simple. Here's a link to a good headlight relay setup:

Whiter Whites, Brighter Brights .: Articles

This was intended for a Ford truck, but is still generally the same, except for possibly the wire colors. I personally would ignore the "Forced Low Beam" and "High Beam Flash" portion(s) of the schematic/setup and I would supply the relays with #12 wire instead of the suggested #14 and #16 to the lights instead of the recommended #18. All this stuff can be pretty inexpensive if you shop around. $20-$50 depending where you live and how diligently you shop.
As with EVERYTHING electrical in a car, "GOOD GROUNDS ARE IMPERATIVE!" Without good/proper grounding, stuff don't work right and wires and things like that BURN UP!
HTH,
Gene

 

[other_shoe]

Thanks for both of these suggestions.

The ground strap turned out to be missing entirely. I should have caught that.

I'll get on the relay and fuse block set ups over the next few weeks. The relay for the lights seems like a good idea even if it turns out I have older incandescent bulbs.

 

[other_shoe]

A bit of a thread resurrection here, but I'm finally getting around to the aux fuse block mentioned above and was wondering if anyone had a good suggestion for a location. I'm planning on installing an air conditioner in the car, so I'm assuming somewhere over on the driver's side is best but would love thoughts based on experience rather than my best guesses.

 

[rbohm]

Thanks for both of these suggestions.

The ground strap turned out to be missing entirely. I should have caught that.

I'll get on the relay and fuse block set ups over the next few weeks. The relay for the lights seems like a good idea even if it turns out I have older incandescent bulbs.

save yourself a lot of headaches and get this harness from lmc truck;

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/FB/full.aspx?page=59 part number 47-3660 the complete harness lists for $30 plus shipping, and it is plug and play.