Lights dim and interior lights turn off when i use breaks

corelon

Hi all, not sure exactly whats going on but when i was driving home last night i noticed every time i used my breaks or was in Neutral my headlights dimmed and flickered and the interior lights of the car went dead. And at 2 stages the headlights went off completely. Sacry stuff really.. Any ideas anyone??? Cheers

mustang68

corelon wrote:

Hi all, not sure exactly whats going on but when i was driving home last night i noticed every time i used my breaks or was in Neutral my headlights dimmed and flickered and the interior lights of the car went dead. And at 2 stages the headlights went off completely. Sacry stuff really.. Any ideas anyone??? Cheers

I'd advise not using your breaks

Could be any number of things

First I would check earths, this can cause all sorts of problems. Check the earths on both break lights, the engine earth lead and the main earth on the battery. Even if they look ok, take them off, give them a good clean and put them back.

Your voltage regulator may be on the way out, if its the old type you can adjust it, generally you just replace them, $15 for an old type, $30 for a new one.

The third thing is your light switch itself. The interior lights and the headlights get routed through here, they are prone to going a bit mad, they take all the power of the headlights and they have loads of contacts and a pot. You can get a replacment one for about $20

How is you battery and alt?

corelon

Thanks for that.. Battery seems fine starts everytime.... Could be that the alternator aint getting juice... Will check what you have mentioned man..Cheers

b.c

check your brake light bulbs, make sure they are correct and in right,
I had the same problem and that was the cause, every time I braked headlights and dashboard lights went off, dodgy:o

corktina

make sure you have a fire extinguiser just in case.......

corelon

b.c wrote:

check your brake light bulbs, make sure they are correct and in right,
I had the same problem and that was the cause, every time I braked headlights and dashboard lights went off, dodgy:o

That could very well be the problem as only yesterday after stopping on our cruise the lad behind mentioned my brake lights were working and that they had stopped somewhere along the way.... So ill check tomorrow... Thanks guys ill keep u updated

mustang68

corelon wrote:

That could very well be the problem as only yesterday after stopping on our cruise the lad behind mentioned my brake lights were working and that they had stopped somewhere along the way.... So ill check tomorrow... Thanks guys ill keep u updated

If one of the bulbs has a short in it when you hit the brakes the normal lights will try to run though the brake light, so you'll get a dimming.

You mentioned that they dim when in neutral too?

corelon

They only dim when I touch the breaks actually