Strange electrical problem

Posted by Jerome Bokelmann on May 14, 1998 at 16:50:00

I've got a problem with the electrical that I'm going to need some help on.All lights work, but I've got a sever amperage draw on the headlights.
First some background:The cars electrical system is completely stock (i.e. generator, standard cutout, regular lightbulbs, ammeter, etc).
I noticed that the ammeter is in the negative area (around -1 to -3 amps) when the headlights are on and the car is idling.I tryed to speed up the throttle and in doing so, the ammeter starts to go positive then more negative.The faster the RPM's the more negative it is.All lights appear to be bright and working so I didn't suspect a short in the wiring.
I switched off the lights and ran just the parking lights since the parking lights are in the headlights and uses the same tail light. I wanted to see the draw that they have.It showed +10 amps during idle.I have a hard time believing that these littlenon-quartz hallogen bulbs would draw over 10 amps between them.
Next I went to the cutout.I opened it up and cleaned the contact points with an emery cloth.Nothing changed.So now what?Is it an alternater that is giving up the boat or a short in the wiring?I've scratched my head plenty on this one, now it's time to ask.

Follow Ups:
Re: Strange electrical problem Dennis Pierce May 14, 1998 at 22:54:00(1)
Re: Strange electrical problem - Solved Jerome B. May 18, 1998 at 08:50:54(0)
Re: Strange electrical problem carla May 14, 1998 at 18:11:20(0)

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