Christmas Tree - Different?
Thread Starter
2nd Gear
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
From: Canada
Christmas Tree - Different?
I have the dreaded Christmas tree issue. My situation appears to be different from the others here.
1. I have new coils (they are about one year old)
2. My plug wires are NOT new, but don't appear to be the issue (see 4. below)
3. I had an old battery, and I replaced it hoping the problem would go away, no change
4. I only get the fault at night, it appears to be linked to my parking lights, or possibly the headlights
5. I have checked the grounds for the front parking lights, they look like new
6. The issue is progressive, usually low fuel flashes, then everything comes on
7. I will be checking some more grounds tomorrow
Ideas anyone? I am sick of this 'problem'.
1. I have new coils (they are about one year old)
2. My plug wires are NOT new, but don't appear to be the issue (see 4. below)
3. I had an old battery, and I replaced it hoping the problem would go away, no change
4. I only get the fault at night, it appears to be linked to my parking lights, or possibly the headlights
5. I have checked the grounds for the front parking lights, they look like new
6. The issue is progressive, usually low fuel flashes, then everything comes on
7. I will be checking some more grounds tomorrow
Ideas anyone? I am sick of this 'problem'.
Thread Starter
2nd Gear
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
From: Canada
I am also going to check the coil wires tomorrow.
Doing a bit more searching it seems that even people who found the problem occurred only at night still ended up in the coil/plug wire area before they resolved the issue.
It would appear that my logic of ruling out plugs and wires based on the headlight issue might be flawed...
Doing a bit more searching it seems that even people who found the problem occurred only at night still ended up in the coil/plug wire area before they resolved the issue.
It would appear that my logic of ruling out plugs and wires based on the headlight issue might be flawed...
Burning Brakes
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 985
Likes: 1
Spurious hi voltage leakage is usually the culprit. A bad 12volt connection does not have enough potential to induce voltage on any of the sensitive low voltage signals. When it comes to hi tension wires looks doesn't mean too much, age is a major factor. How old are your wires? Distributor caps are another source of leaking voltage. It's difficult to contain 50,000 volts and it appears your headlight switch is the easiest path for this voltage to ground.
Hope this helps
Bill
Hope this helps
Bill
Intermediate
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 37
Likes: 1
It might still be your battery ground (as it was for me after having replaced wires/coils/caps etc.) When your lights are on it will certainly put more of a draw on your battery which in turn could exacerbate the issue if you indeed have a bad ground strap on your battery or a bad connection to chassis ground.
my $.02
--moe
my $.02
--moe
