So the test light came in handy today. The entire right side of my fuse box lit up. I checked each and every fuse holder and they all lit up. Left half was fine. So my dome, stop lights and courtesy lights dont work now. There is a metal prong on the bottom of my headlamp switch. Well that lights up too when I =check it. The thick red wire from my ignition to voltage reg. to horn relay lights up. Also the yellow wire to my starter lights up. Where do I check 1st for the problem(s)?
you need to change the ***le of this thread to "I'm in Bakersfield and I need help with my Pontiac!" and maybe Brandy will come over and help you out
Yep there's a thought. First the dome/dash lights are contoled by the round whitesh thing on the headlight switch nearest the dash/knob, very common for them to **** the bed. Only fix is normaly a new switch. Stoplights is a whole diff ballgame. First fild the S/L switch ,one side should be hot at all times. If test light shows you power on one side have someone push on the brake,now should have power on both sides. If no bad switch if yes put a jumper across both terminals. Then wiggle turn signal sw. and see if they come on. Power flow is through the S/L sw. to the T/S sw. A dirty/bad T/S sw. will cause no brake lights if you are getting power through the S/L sw. This of course ***umes no broken wires anywhere . Make sure you have no loose connections also. Drag it over to Phoenix and we'll get you fixed up !! LOL
first off, don't use a test light, they can give " false " impressions, buy a cheap meter and you will get a better idea of what voltage is there. Also check grounding points.
My test light has never pointed me in the wrong direction. The meters confuse me for finding a short. I have come to the conclusion that it is the starter solenoid yellow wire. It was pushing power back through the ignition circuit with the keys off/out.
Fixed all my grounds. Have a new solenoid to put in. I tested to make sure it was not the battery. I jump started, drove it around for 5 minutes let it start carging and when i turned it off and turned the key again i didnt even get a click. The battery still had 12+ volts. Also, why is it so damn hard to remove the starter? I can only see one bolt holding it in and I cant even fit a ratchet in their. Got to use a wrench and where is the 2nd bolt? Chevy starters are way more practical.
You really need to get a meter, I'd love to help but it's REALLY hard for me to even think in terms of a test light on or off, I don't know about any of you other guys. You definitely got an electrical issue, so you really need to get a better tool for the job. Sorta like using a crescent wrench on a car... It might work, but its a pain in the *** and it definitely isn't the tool you want use to do some real wrenching. It'd be easier for us to help you with a meter (at least it would be for me), we can make it not so confusing, just get an el-cheapo ****og ones, help, for lots of stuff they're better anyway (my world almost ended when my Simpson ****og meter kicked the bucket, and I have a couple high end digital ones). It sounds like you have sorta an ugly issue... How do you know your battery's good? You have to test it with a load, a ****-out battery can still read 12V. I actually JUST changed one out that was acting that way.
I have had the bat tested 1 week ago. I do have a multimeter. I don't know what to look for with it. I also don't have a second set of eyes (my wife hates when i work on the car). The car still has a 12v generator. I noticed at idle the battery drops the charge fast. Once I took it around the block it started charging again. Soon as I shut it off and tried turning it back on I get no noise at all from the starter. Where do I check with my meter to see if it is the starter? I have been told numerous things from heat-soak in the starter motor to a bad solenoid (even though it turns the car on more than 90% of the time when the battery is charged). I re-checked with the test light as well (i know i know) from the neg post to the neg cable and the lights doesnt even dimly turn on. It is somewhere in my charging system or the starter/ignition.
Well there are uses for both the meters and test lights. A meter can show voltage at a certain point ,but yet there is not enough current [amperage] available to make whatever operate. A test light in this case will not light or barely glow. Ponch : A generator system does not put anything out below about 800 or so engine RPM. Here is where the meter comes in ,with it running at a fast idle [1000-1200] get volt readings at the battery and Arm/Gen terminal of the volt reg also the arm term on the gen. You should get between 12.5 and 13.6 volts depending on the state of charge in the battery,low bat lower volt readings. You are absolutly postive the battery it's self is good? Have a load check done on it at your AZ Checker etc. A bad cell in a battery can still show full volts but die when a load is put on it. Corrision inside a battery cable can cause major fits ,lights etc work but won't crank. Start at the beginning 1 make sure the batt is good 2 do the same with the cables 3 using a good jumper wire jump from start terminal on solinoid to + battery term-it should crank. A GOOD set of jumper cables are a good test item as you can byp*** both battery cables to eliminate them,need to be atleast 4 gauge though. Finally drag it to Phoenix as I don't make house calls !! LOL
Another thought : To make sure your volt reg is not draining your battery with engine off pull large wire off gen. It should not show power there ,light test light or show voltage on meter.
Thanks JohnEvans. I'm going to buy a new battery and cables tomorrow before I drop the starter. I don't think it is the solenoid but prying eyes keep demanding that's it.
Beetlejuice---long before men had meters---they had testlights---I spent twenty years in the automotive electrical bussiness---and my test light was the most used tool there--made a small fortune off off a good 10 dollar test light
If the car starts with a fresh charge in the battery it's not the starter or regulator. Or even a jump
This car has a automatic trans Right? Something I thought of in the middle of the night Neutral Safety Switch. Somewhere either on the shift linkage or the trans there is a switch. A bad one could very well be the cause of the occasional no crank. Try wiggling the shifter or try putting it in neutral the next time it does not crank.
I am familiar with the neutral safety switch problem as my 66 buick has that. This car is a 3 on the tree, though.
I'm not arguing the use of a test light, I had one (it broke and I never replaced it. I'm a meter guy, sorry) and did use it. But for troubleshooting over the internet, whether a test light is on or not isn't exactly the best way of going about it. All a test light does is illustrate a voltage difference between two points, there's no way to really quantify it's brightness for internet translation. Poncho, didn't read the thread before I got back to your PM, let us know what happens with after the battery swap. Like I had mentioned I have the unfortunate first hand experience of a battery that read 12.6V and load tested OK, but was still shot because of an intermittant bad cell. It honestly acted sorta like you're describing. Did all this **** take a dive at the same time? I mean, did your starting problems and light problems all show up together?
The lights haven't worked since i bought the car. The starting problem happened after 1 week of the car not being started while I worked on the paint. I had the bat charged and it ran for 1 week then it did this.
OK, at least they're independent problems... Whew! Running a car battery down all the way is real rough on it, you may have just mentioned your problem. That's finally did in my last battery, workin' on the interior and my dumb*** forgot to disconnect the battery so it ran down and sat for a couple weeks, and what you're describing is exactly how it acted. That's considered "deep cycling" and normal starting batteries aren't designed to function that way.
Exactly who did I kill in a previous life to warrant the attention? I will be out in my garage this Saturday morning puttin around. IF you want help, I suggest you call me and I'll give you destructions. If I don't answer, it's okay to leave a message; just means I'm probably sitting in cl*** reading a romance novel. Brandy 330-9087
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