[GaJoe]

Last night I was driving my 66 sbc to the gas station and I noticed the dash lights were more dim than normal..when I touched the brakes, the dash lights went out. Let off the brakes and they came back. The headlights stayed the same and did not flicker at all. High rpm's didn't change it either. After I got gas, the battery was pretty much dead and I had to get a jump. Same thing happened on the way home and when I got home, the battery was dead. The generator light was not on and I haven't had any problems with it. About a month ago I installed an internally regulated alternator and the wire kit from AAW. I also put in an aluminum radiator and attatched the ground straps (previous owner had no grounds attatched).

Anybody want to take a stab at this before I start going through it? I suppose I should have the battery tested first.

 

[seventychevy]

I had a similar problem with my 97 Bonneville... except when I touched the brake pedal the car would die. Most of the time it would start up althought the starter barely turned over. Finally, it cut off and would not restart. Checked the battery and it is good. Replaced the bad alternator and haven't had a problem since. My light never came on and the gauge read @ 12 volts ( now it reads closer to the 14 mark. ) Bad alternators don't always cause the light to come on.

 

[GaJoe]

Hm, I suppose it could be...1 month of use on that alternator...you know I think it would be an easier fix if the car did die haha. Seems the newer calls will shut off on ya when the alt. is out. I don't know if I should charge the battery before I have it tested, or just take it up there dead....if I jump the car off, and get it to start on it's own, I can at least know I'm getting a charge and then I can top off the battery w/ my charger....

 

[BULKSS]

To me it sounds like two different problems , I think you may have a bad ground somewhere. That may cause the problem with the dash lights and the rear lights . Check the grounds for the lights in the trunk.As for the charging Problem I would charge the battery get the car running and test with a volt meter.

 

[Chuck]

I am sure you have a bad ground. Normally the brake switch is grounding the circuit. When a ground is bad or missing, the circuit will take a strange path and everything looks wierd. I had the same problem with the clock in my 67. The clock would stop when I turned on the headlights. I ran a separate ground to the clok and all is well.

Also remember that the dash lights are connected to the driving lights so a bad ground on a tail light migh create the same symptoms. Check all the grounds with a multimeter and be sure you have a good ground from the dash frame to the negative battery supply.

Chuck

 

[GaJoe]

Thanks for the help guys...I think it's two seperate problems as well...actually three, that same night to top it all off, my key bent while starting the car, I guess I didn't have the key all the way in the switch?????? In any case it's pretty fragile, I don't want to take the chance of it breaking off and having that much more haslte to replace the lock cylinder, so I'm waiting on my new set to come in, get that fixed, then go back after this stuff...I'm going to clean up the grounds for the tail lights..and also the brake switch first and see where that takes me...then when it's running I'll check the battery situation...I'll post the results...thanks.