Whenever my brake lights come on, all the other lights in my car (dash, dome, headlights, everything) gets really dim. Then the radio shuts off for a second and comes back on. This is really really annoying. The battery is new so I'm thinking maybe the alternator is going bad? I pulled the ECU fuse to reset it, but no dice. Anyone have an idea what the hell is going on here?


Modified by Redtail at 9:43 AM 5/14/2004

 

you werent lying - it sounds like it could also be a short - does your car have the original wiring harness?

 

definately a short.

Electrical problems suck.

Especially without schematics/Helms electrical diagrams.

 

Damit electrical crap is soooo boring. The car does have the original harness, but sections have been cut off b/c the air conditioning has been removed. I guess I can go through all that crap and make sure things are where they are supposed to be, but what a royal PITA. I thought maybe a grounding issue too, I guess I can check it all at the same time. Meanwhile, the car still moves me back and forth so I guess I can't complain too much. Hopefully I will get out of this mess for cheap (or possibly free )

 

Unhook the brake switch harness, get a DMM and set it on continuity and check for ground on the wires,.

 

I didn't use the DMM tester yet, but I will check that out this weekend. Last night I went through and checked that all the wires from the cut part of the harness were not manking contact and the battery ground was okay. Fine there. new problem though.

The CEL started throwing out code 17 - Vehicle speed sensor. Does anyone know what this does and where it is located? I reset the ECU and it still gives me that code. Could these two problems be related? I will try to find a new sensor this weekend and replace it and hope my other problems go away too. In the meantime, I have switched to my walkman while driving to work as I can not stand the radio cutting out every 15 seconds.

Anyone know a good place on the web to buy sensors?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Redtail &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I didn't use the DMM tester yet, but I will check that out this weekend. Last night I went through and checked that all the wires from the cut part of the harness were not manking contact and the battery ground was okay...</TD></TR></TABLE>If you didn't use a DMM, how did you check that?

The VSS is located in the top of the transmission. It drives the speedometer, & the ECM watches it's signal too...

 

I just checked the end of the wires and all of them looked like they were taped well. I'll go through with the tester this weekend and re-check everything.

I guess most of the time it is just the cable that is corroded or something. I'm gonna check it out some more tonight.


Modified by Redtail at 1:55 PM 5/14/2004