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Electrical Gremlins


feloniousmonk
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Two weeks ago I started having intermittent problems with the headlights turning off on their own or not coming on at all. They were wired with a fused, 2 hella relay harness from rallylights.com. I noticed when the lights are not turning on the high beam indicator in the dash is dimly lit. I suspect the relays are bad, but open to thoughts. Haven't had the chance to get new relays. None of the shops near me stock them. Pretty strange. Lights work fine when switched back to factory wiring.

 

Anyway, while checking and tightening all connections the negative clamp sheared right off so I had to replace it with a new cable from Pep Boys in the dark. That was real fun. I noticed the factory cable grounds at the block and chassis with one single cable. Figuring it wouldn't make any difference, I ran the new cable between the battery and block then added a 8 gauge stereo ground cable between battery and chassis. The weather's been good so I drove my other car all week and only moved the Pathy for street cleaning. Today was the first time I really drove it. I noticed that twice when I turned on the headlights the radio/CD player would cut out and always when I turn on the fog lights. Fog light wiring is unaltered, they can only be turned on while the headlights are on. Should I have attached that 8 gauge ground from block to chassis? Engine runs fine, only the radio's power would be interrupted.

Edited by feloniousmonk
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some kind of short as the lights must be robbing the audio power somewhere.

 

i am thinking if the relay has both regular lights and the fogs and the audio on it then i could see it.. otherwise i don't think so... too bad you don't have an extra relay just laying around to quickly check if that is it.

 

the stereo is stock or fiddled with? if latter, you may want to check the wiring there.

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some kind of short as the lights must be robbing the audio power somewhere.

 

i am thinking if the relay has both regular lights and the fogs and the audio on it then i could see it.. otherwise i don't think so... too bad you don't have an extra relay just laying around to quickly check if that is it.

 

the stereo is stock or fiddled with? if latter, you may want to check the wiring there.

 

 

Radio is not stock. Previous owner installed a cheap Blaupunkt unit. It worked fine until I changed the ground cable to something other than OEM. Headlight wiring is stock now. Aftermarket relay harness has been removed from the equation.

 

I've looked at a few OEM parts sites now and the factory ground cable is about $55. Damn thing must be gold plated. Outrageous.

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