Thread: Lights Dimming / flickering

I have the same situation with my series 3 SWB, almost exactly as you described (except the charge light is rarely on) so I am interested to see what others have to say about it...
Additionally, I have noticed that when the indicators are on, they flash at longer intervals when power is low...
And finally, the car has a display showing the voltage and I see huge variations from 10V to 15V, depending on many factors ( seems to be quite random though).

Originally Posted by morg

Hi All,

Lights on my series 3 SWB dim / brighten at different power levels (as do the dash lights).

I am finding a few different things happening as well. The entire power system seems to drop in and out on rough roads (suggesting bad earth / old wiring etc) and the temp guage goes all the way up into the red when I put the dash lights on. As soon as the dash lights are switched off the temp returns to normal within 10 or 20 seconds.

The charge light has been on ever so dimmly for a few years ( ) also.

I am guessing that my alternator is on the way out but thought I'd ask on here before going out and buying a new one just to be sure.

Are there alternatives to a genuine alternator and do you just go out and buy a new one or are there places that recondition them?

I have the 2.25 petrol btw.


Cheers Fellas.
Morg

there was a time when you could go to an auto electrician and they would hook up their meters and wires, run the engine for a few mins and give you a diagnosis of where the charging system is failing or failed. Do they still do free diagnostics? That might isolate the prob. W

yeah they do, you can do a field version of it with just a multi meter Ive got a bit of kit thats plug in and can do it.

personally, youve got bad earths and thats screwing with everything.
time to pull the dash and clean up all the connectors in there, clean up the multitude of earths and put them all back together.