Hey all

 

This is a 1988 GL wagon d/r 4wd. Today 4 lights came on dimly, they are not on full power and I checked the things that it said were the problems. the four lights are the park brake, charge, brake fluid, and rear lamp. There doesn't seem to be a problem in any of these areas so i am guessing that I have a ground problem. So, I am wondering if anyone has seen this before and might be able to give me a good place to start looking for the ground. Any pointers would be good. I am not much of an electrical guy.

 

Thanks

It is likely not to be a ground issue, but rather an indication that your alternator is going bad. If you have a multimeter, switch it on to AC voltage and check across the battery terminals for AC voltage (not DC like you expect it to put out)

 

If your multimeter is showing more than say, 0.25-0.5 volts AC, then you have one ore more blown rectifier diodes in your alternator. In other words, its blown and needs to be replaced. The parts stores should be able to test the alternator for you, if you have no multimeter and want to try just pulling it and bringing it in.

 

There ARE other things that can cause the warning lamps to come on like this, but this is the most common.

I just got attacked with the same demon a few weeks ago..I am with daeron on this...Advance Auto tested mine for free proved it was bad ..then I had it rebuilt for under $100. Dont wait too long ,like I did,cause it can cause stuff like the battery to go bad too.

+1 for a dying alternator. I just had this identical experience recently. Happen in the middle of a 2200 mile trip from Oregon to WIsconsin. Luckily Advance Auto Parts in Fargo had one in stock.($20 more than it would have been at the local advance here in WI) Glad it's an easy swap cause it was -8 degrees at 7:30 am in front of the store where I had to work on it.

 

Another simple test. with car idling, turn on all your accesories, lights, blower fan, R. defrost, radio, AND windshield wipers. The wipers are the thing to watch, if they are moving real slow, surely it's your alernator. This is actually what I noticed before noting all the indicator lights glowing dimly.

Just in case it hasn't become clear, I'm going to throw my vote in for bad alt. Been there.

another vote for the altenator

 

nipper

i might as well add to the list..alternator..been there...same symptoms.

I'll even throw in a warning.. there is an old school "home" alternator test that involves cranking the car, and while the engine is running, removing the positive battery cable.. do NOT do this with a fuel injected soob!! doing this is one of the only ways to kill the ECU (the best way to kill the ECU is to hook the cables up backwards, from what I hear...)

Thanks for the thoughts. About that multimeter test, is that with the car running or not?? Thanks - I will check it tomorrow.

The alternator needs to be running in order to measure the AC being generated from it. You really don't have to do the test since the alternator is bad but it does satisfy the curiosity.