Help guys!

I have a 1995 z 28 that's having some electrical problems. Several of the display lights come on when I turn on the headlights- like the parking brake light, ABS, hazard lights. It's weird because everything works fine- I just don't know why the display lights are coming on. Also related to this I'm sure- if I use the turn signal when the radio is on, the radio starts flashing or shuts down altogether. Now, I have a new battery and alternator- so that's not the problem.
[email protected]

Hmmm...regardless of them being new, usually voltage fluxuations are a sign of a bad alternator. Try starting the car up, and then disconnecting the negative battery terminal. Let the car idle for 5-10 mins with the headlights on. If it doesn't have any problems doing that, then it's not the alternator. If the lights get dim, or fluxuate, or the car starts having problems idling, I'd say it's without a doubt the alternator.

Have you hooked up any extra wiring in the car lately?

Hmmm...regardless of them being new, usually voltage fluxuations are a sign of a bad alternator. Try starting the car up, and then disconnecting the negative battery terminal. Let the car idle for 5-10 mins with the headlights on. If it doesn't have any problems doing that, then it's not the alternator. If the lights get dim, or fluxuate, or the car starts having problems idling, I'd say it's without a doubt the alternator.

Have you hooked up any extra wiring in the car lately?


Umm it has been brought to my attention that you don't wanna do that to a computer car. The voltage spikes can kill the computer. Accually I think I might of killed my computer doing that. :(

Wait untill 89IROC&RS anwersers. He'll tell you.

mabey a dirty or loose connection

ABSOLUTLY do not disconnect the battery with the car running-you will more than likely fry some electonics. Let me think a few minutes on this.

sounds like a short circuit to me...

I think you will find a bad ground on your headlite / parking lite circut. Not 100% sure on your car,but these grounds usually gang together and mount to the radiator support. If you have a small lead coming off the neg. battery cable,make sure its hooked up. A quick test for this would be to disconnect one headlite-find the ground wire- temporarily attach another wire and hook it directly to batt. neg. This will give another ground circut,and if your problem goes away its just a matter of finding the wire/connection thats causing the prob. The reason your radio is involved is because the turn signal is looking for ground and feeding back thru the dimmer circut for the radio. Sorry to be so lengthy,hope this helps.

I hate Electronics

This is not electronics,just an electrical problem. The PC you just used has chips,etc. Hate them all you want,but you could not have posted your opinion,which has nothing to do with the problem that was posted, without electronics. No offence intended,but if your going to reply,why not make it something helpful? I relize you have been on this forum much longer than I have,and I know they have off topic and stress relief forums,which is where this reply should be.

DO NOT DISCONECT THE BATTERY!!!!!!!
ok, ground is a good idea, however i do not feel that this is the case. what is more likley is that when the alternator was installed, somehow, somewhere, a bundle of wires were pinched and are shorting together, so when you turn on your headlights, instead of sending power just to your headlights, it energizes all the wires simoultaniously, so the lights come on. as far as the turn signal and radio being together, ill have to look into that. ill see what i can find for you tomorrow at work, see if there is any answers in the wiring schematics. it could also be a bad BCM.

lol, um, vettemaan, what do you think that vette is made of lmao :)

and bronco2, i understand where your coming from, but that wasnt a burning flaming or out of line post, it was kinda funny, he just had something to say, no harm in that.

speaking of off topic posts, is it just me, or is it awesome that there are finally girls logging onto the forum ;)

back on topic, texasZ28grl, ill see about photocopying the schematics for you, and try to point you in the right direction if i find anything worth bringing up. kinda a tough problem without actually diagnosing the problem, but im pretty sure it is something to do with the BCM, and a wiring harness somewhere that all these subsytems are routed through.

If I was to hard,I apologise. But, back to the problem-from reading Texasz28 post, I get the impression that the lite problem started earlier,and the alt. and batt. were thrown in as possible quick fixes.I could be wrong on this,but the only thing I see that ties all the probs. together is ground. As far as off topic-do you think girls get quicker replies?

lol, absolutely girls get faster replies :) and no prob on the reaction to the off topic stuff, sall good :)

a blower will solve all your problems

Wouldn't it be funny if it was just a dude posing as a chic?

:) Ha!!

lol

a blower will solve all your problems

Screw the blower...Turbocharge it. :icon16:

ok first off, i owe bronco2 an apology, it could very well be a ground, i forgot completely about power feedback from a bad ground into other circuits on a common body ground.

now, most of these systems come together at a junction block under the driver side dash, C200, C200a, C200B, C200C, and C200D, all at the same point, also they share the accessory fuse, being a common power source, and also converge at the BCM, there are other points of comminality, but from what i saw, these are the best bets. also i hate to say it, but with something as involved and complex as this one, im gonna have to break down and tell you your best bet, unless you have the proper tools and training to work on one of these electrical systems, take it to a dealership.

None needed. This stuff gets confusing enough hands on,let alone trying to diagnose it on the net. But, for some strange reason,I like electrical problems.

yeah man, me too, im a tech assistant for an electronics master tech and corvette specialist at a chevy dealership, getting my electronics certification pretty soon.

poop