Re: Electrical problem on 306TD

Anthony G Walker · 2003-07-28T13:42:49+00:00

if the rearront lights as well as the instrument lights are flickeringthis is probably due to an intermittent fuse holder or switch.hope this helpstony walker

Jul 28, 2003 2 Replies

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Anthony G Walker 23 years ago

How about this - I started my 306TD up this morning and noticed that the

> instruments light were flickering from normal intensity to bright and
> back again. I put the side lights and then the main lights on, but this
> made no difference. I checked all the external lights (front & back) and
> they were flickering just like the instrument lights. It appeared to be
> "voltage surges" on the main 12v system. The frequency of the flickering
> did not seem to be particularly related to engine speed. In the end I
> switched the engine off , turned the ignition right off and then
> re-started it again - the problem disappeared. Any ideas?
> --
> Stephen Howell

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Anthony G Walker 23 years ago

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Stephen Howell 23 years ago

I think I may have fixed this last night. I decided to measure the battery voltage, firstly without the engine running. I connected the meter probes to the terminals and got 12.8v. When I got into the car to start the engine there was no power at all - completely dead! Turns out that the connection to the positive terminal was intermittent - by just connecting the meter probes to the terminal broke the connection.

I cleaned the terminal connection and re-assembled. OK. I reckon that what I saw the previous morning was this intermittent connection effectively disconnecting the battery from the alternator and the rest of the car's electrical system. This meant that the alternator was running without the battery connected and I assume this caused the fluctuating voltage and the flickering lights. Don't know how it managed to start the car and behave itself other than this one incident.

Of course I've lost the radio code (which I don't have) - but that's another problem.

Thanks for all the replies.

In message , Anthony G Walker writes

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