Quote:
Originally Posted by gastropodus
"turn signal and brake lights don't work" weirdness? I confirmed today that the brake lights are inoperative when the battery lamp is on.
Kurt
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That is sounding more and more like your ignition switch or if your car has one, an ignition relay.
The brake circuit doesn't run through any kind of relay (with the exception of an ignition relay) so that should rule out a low voltage to relay related problem. Even if your battery was low on juice due to a charging problem, your brake lights should still work.
A dodgy regulator could give you problems to the turn signal relay if you were passing too much AC or even a high/low voltage could cause the relay to play up but now that you have mentioned the brake lights are out during the gremlin run...
Could also be a high resistance somewhere on a ground but they can be difficult to trace without the use of a multimeter. And you can spend hours shining joints up for nothing.
The brake lights won't work until the ignition is set to 'on' usually:some cars are different of course like my Alfa Romeo but anyone who has had an Alfa will definitely understand the meaning of electrical gremlin!
At this point I would suggest taking it to an auto electrician as LNGfish suggested, because changing out parts, such as ignition switches aren't cheap and might cost you far more than a diagnosis would. They know where to look as it is the usual culprits with each make and model.
If you can measure the voltage on the battery that could further help with a diagnosis from the forum. Measure dc voltage at battery with car off and record, measure dc voltage with car running at idle and record and also set your multimeter to AC and see if there is any voltage; it should just jump around in AC mode but if you do get a voltage reading then your regulator is gone.
Your voltages should be (approx) 12.6 to 12.8 on a healthy fully charged battery under a no load condition with engine off and climb to roughly 13 to 14.5 when engine running and alternator properly functioning on a bosch system. You have to run the car for a few minutes or until the glow plug circuit cuts off as the glow plug circuit draws a considerable amount of juice and will give you a false battery voltage as low as 11.5 sometimes; well it's a true reading at that point in time but will be low.