Revs drop to 0 when i turn on my lights

[bill2989]

Hi everyone im having trouble with my speedo all is ok when engine is runnning as soon as you turn the lights on the revs drop to nothing and like theres no power goin through anyone now why
please help!!!!!
Bill

[brian100pd]

i have the same problem :( please let me know how you get on, i would really REALLY appreciate it

[davey670]

get your alterator tested under load.
it may be ok with nothing running but under load such as trying to power the headlights and run the car it may not be giving out enough if any amps to keep everything going, so you end up feeding a bad alterator, the lights and the engine all from your battery.

also check the engine earth's for bad contacts.

[Crasher]

Bit confused here, the speedo does not show revs and if it dropped to 0 the engine would stop so I imagine the rev counter needle drops to zero with the lights on but the engine revs do not drop any more than they normally would with a load applied so it is just the gauge at fault. In that case, the problem is a bad earth to the gauges.

[brian100pd]

thanks for your input, ill take a look at that when i get a chance. might get the alternator refurbished anyways cuz its makin noise (wel i hope it is, rather than somethin else!) if it works im goin on the **** straight away to celebrate cuz its really botherin me!!

[brian100pd]

yeah the engine is still tickin over, although at slightly lower revs as if its under pressure. there was an alarm put in the car at one stage an then its was takin out so theres loose ends of wires in the engine bay but everythin round the fuse box seems ok, although i can tell someone was rootin at that too cuz theres a load of them blue wire conecting clips where they wanted to take current from a wire to run somethin else. my head goes to mush wen i think bout wiring circuits but i cant help think that there are just 2 plugs in the bak of the speedo. if there was a bad earth wouldnt it be in one of those plugs and then just stoppin it from workin altogether? (sorry for long message :o)

[davey670]

its very normal for a carb controlled engine to drop a few revs when the alterator is under load, what happens is the more you need from the alterator the harder the engine has to work to turn the pully.
and your revs drop, not my much just a little.
computer controlled injection the engine speed is increased a little by the computer to allow for that.

really depends on the age of that golf some later golfs have one plug some have two, but if a bad earth is to blame you should see other problems in the dash as well, such as temp gauge playing about.

clean all the main earth points in the engine bay first, just follow the main wires down from the battery, clean both ends and see how it goes from there.

[brian100pd]

well, i got the alternater refurbished and got new connectors for it. didnt help the problem but at least its quieter and i know the alternators good :P Anyways... I FOUND IT!!!! theres a brown and white wire coming from one of the looms thats tied to the loom that has the 3 wires goin to the distributor. the middle wire on the distributor plug is also brown and white, but the loose one i found seems to be coming from the dash. anyways, i earthed it, and seen that my rev counter works as normal when i switch my lights on. so i soldered a wire to that and led it to the battery negative terminal.