Ignition light going off and on while driving

rafrover

rafrover

Member
Happened yesterday where the ignition light came on and off while I was on the motorway driving at maybe 80km/h.
It did this for less then a minute. Can't seem to find someone else having this issue so that I can learn from it but posting
it up here for any thoughts.
 
means the alternator isn't charging?

Worth checking what voltage you're getting as you rev the engine in case a regulator has gone....
 
rockdemon said:
means the alternator isn't charging?

Worth checking what voltage you're getting as you rev the engine in case a regulator has gone....
Click to expand...

OK thank you. To test the voltage, where should I place the red and black clippers of my voltmeter? And what measurement
should I be seeing? Any idea? When you said the regulator has done, where can I find this regulator?

thx a million
 
rockdemon said:
means the alternator isn't charging?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily the case if its an 11AC as fitted to the car in the OP's avatar. Could just be the 3AW warning light control.
 
harveyp6 said:
rafrover said:
where can I find this regulator?
Click to expand...

The 4TR regulator is behind the passenger glovebox, and the 3AW is behind the driver's one.
Click to expand...

I think that might be more likely. I will do some investigation once I get the car back. If I leave it as it is,
while this cause any issue to the car? Or is this something I must replace real soon?

I recently changed the flasher unit with something that is not exactly of the same watts, could this be
what's causing the IGN light to flash?
 
Another option is sticky Brushers in the alternator, if it is not as Harvey has suggested and it happens again in a more consistent manner then you can try a tap with a hammer on the aluminium part of the alternator.


Graeme
 
ghce said:
Another option is sticky Brushers in the alternator, if it is not as Harvey has suggested and it happens again in a more consistent manner then you can try a tap with a hammer on the aluminium part of the alternator.

Graeme
Click to expand...

Thank mate...I will monitor and see how it goes. You guys have been a big help.
 
Hi guys...something unthinkable just happened. The car upon turning the ignition switch, is not doing anything at all. No sound from the starter motor. All the lights came up, wiper and water jet work but no cranking of the engine nor the starter motor. Batt is good. Any ideas?
 
Your signature needs changing :( Dead Jim!
Possibly the starter solenoid or the start contact on the ignition switch, is it an auto or a manual car? if auto you need to be in park or neutral or it could be the inhibit switch at fault.

Graeme
 
ghce said:
Your signature needs changing :( Dead Jim!
Possibly the starter solenoid or the start contact on the ignition switch, is it an auto or a manual car? if auto you need to be in park or neutral or it could be the inhibit switch at fault.

Graeme
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haha..yeah probably if she doesn't start anytime soon.

the starter has just been replaced with a brand new one 2 months ago, so can't be the starter right?
it's an auto and it was in park. I did not shift it to neutral but will try when i get to the car again..it's parked
about 15km away from my home. if it's the inhibit switch, what can be done? i did take the ignition out to look at
the back, all wires are intact.
 
I am not too familiar with the Series 1 cars, were it mine I would be looking with a multi-meter to check that the ignition switch is passing 12 volts to the starter solenoid as a first port of call, first at the solenoid and if not present there then at the back of the ignition switch, depending on results of that will determine where I would look next.
 
Well well turns out the gear was in R but it was so close to P. Stupid me. Anyway it started beautifully and I managed to drive it home only after I swapped the inline air filter with the clear glass fuel filter. The gunk was blocking the filter that the engine was losing power all the time. Once I swapped the filter it ran smoothly. So my first project now is to clean the fuel tank. Any tips on how to do that?
 
Oh the IGN light came up for a wee bit while driving yesterday. So that's still need sorting. But now that she is home, I can at least start somewhere.
 
For the voltmeter red lead on the battery +, black on the battery -. Should normally be around 14.5 volts - you're looking to see if the voltage changes when you rev the engine too. Harvey will know far more about this stuff, but i think it's worth checking the voltage?
 
Look very very carefully at your IGN light when it isn't on, make sure it isn't just barely glowing as that would indicate a dud diode. If the maechanic shorted the battery accidentally when he/she installed the new starter that would kill the diodes and cause the light to come on. I just remembered this rahter useful site on thesubject: http://www.coolcatcorp.com/faqs/Lucasalternators4.html
 
mikecoombs said:
Look very very carefully at your IGN light when it isn't on, make sure it isn't just barely glowing as that would indicate a dud diode. If the maechanic shorted the battery accidentally when he/she installed the new starter that would kill the diodes and cause the light to come on. I just remembered this rahter useful site on thesubject: http://www.coolcatcorp.com/faqs/Lucasalternators4.html
Click to expand...

Thx Mike..the starter was installed by myself a few months ago and Al, who is an expert in these things came over and checked it too, so I think the installation is good. However as it is a new starter motor, the shop said it was for Toyota Corona, the starter only had 2 electrical points, not 3. The 3rd wire was left there, well kind of dangling. Over say 50-100km of driving now, could this caused the IGN to blink a little?
 
Hi "rafrover",
I had this exact same situation about 2 years ago, this carried on for about a year, as you say coming on and staying on for about a minute until one day the ign light came on and stayed on!!! panic!! the amps were well down in the minus, almost as far as it would go, did all the usual checks, e.g. alternator (lucas AC11) 3AW, all okay, I then suspected the 4TR unit (my car is a 1971 3500 auto) this unit on my car is a 4 spade type (I understand that some may have a 3 spade) I bought a new from Holdens for about £55 and all has been okay since then. Holdens web site is:- http://www.holden.co.uk e-mail is sales@holden.co.uk
hope this helps.
DAV8
Dave
 
dangling is not good, tie it off to something so it won't short when the car is moving around. there should be four wires in total, one is the main battery feed another is the line to the coil for starting, third is the switching circuit wire coming from the ign switch via a relay that pulls the solenoid in and the last is an earth line. I'd suspect the dangler is either the earth wire or the coil line. Probably the earth because if the coil line earthed (shorted) the engine would miss. so I think I agree with Dave... new 4tr required...You can drive quite some distance with no alternator in the daytime, less so at night with the lights on. so you could wait till it packs in altogether but you might upset the battery getting home
 
Alright guys. Thx u. I managed to crank the engine and the multimeter shows 10.4v from 12.4v. Once engine started it goes back to 12+V. So is it still the 4tr? Thx guys.
 
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