I have 2 problems . 1st one is my volt gauge fluctuates when i start slowing down or sometimes just for no reason 2nd problem is when i turn my lights on the left side brake lights quit working and when i have the right turn signal on the left side kinda blinks with it only when the brake lights are on . any help will be appreciated i am starting to get very flustered
Sounds like a bad ground to me.
Let me Second that. Even Pros will over look ground problems. Get a wiring schematic for your car. Trace down the ground locations, check Each ground for the affected circuits. It can be a pain to do it, yet it's less expensive then paying some one else to do it. Charles
Guage fluctuation can be a sign of a regulator problem, or an old alternator which might need attention/replacement. It could also be a sign of nothing more than a bad ground....uhmmm...somewhere on the car...(Yeah, I know...REAL HELPFUL there, eh? ;)
The light symptoms are quite similar...sometimes you'll have nothing more than a bad bulb that'll throw things totally out of whack (ie: one bad turn signal bulb bungs up the flasher unit), but it might als be related to the above problem, and once again it leads to a possibility of a bad ground...somewhere...
To FIND the problem, plan to spend an afternoon tracing wires...front to back, and back to front again...until you find it, as it can literally be ANYWHERE on the car!
First on the checklist: BATTERY TERMINALS! You'd be surprised how often that goes overlooked! Even if it's not the cause of your current problem, acid DOES tend to seep into the connections and creates some rather nifty deposits that, over time, can seriously impede charging, drawing from the battery (ie: starting) or (this is where it gets obvious) the main ground from the battery. Just because you've got a "permanently sealed, maintenance-free battery" does NOT mean that you're immune at the terminals! Just had to spend a good half-hour working mine over here...they were ripe! ;)
I'd also suggest checking the rear lighting harnesses next, since that's the next most obvious starting point, as it seems to affect your lighting.
Get yourself a GOOD shop manual with wiring diagrams, as you'll find that those really come in handy when you're trying to figure out where all the
*@# those *@#in' wires are coming from/going to...the more complex these damned electrical systems get, the stranger connections you see...I had a dead dash once, and after days of trying to trace the error, it turned out to be a bad wire on a sending switch...on the transmission!
The moral of the story? Check the most likely spots first...but don't expect to find it either "quickly" or "on purpose" because it could literally be ANYWHERE on the car. You might also want try keeping a written log of the wires you have checked, as o may be able to save some time in duplicating "apparrently different" wires which are actually running the same connections you've already tested...
DISCLAIMER: "Or I could be wrong..." ;)
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