Tail light indicator?

[Megell]

I was driving at night recently and all of a sudden my headlights dimmed slightly and my dash panel light of everything came on. Battery dash light, engine light, everything including dash warning lights I never seen before including a tail light warning light. It was intermittent and only did it on the way to where I was going. Everything was working normal on the way home.

I recently replaced the battery and alternator and the connections are clean and tight. I have a feeling my 91 Legacy ej22t was sending me a warning, but I don't know what it is. I would appreciate anyone's suggestions as to what might cause all those dash warning lights to come on all at once for no apparent reason. Car has 194K and is well maintained and I have never had any warning lights appear when I was driving.

Thank you all,

Mike

Edited December 21, 2009 by Megell

[MilesFox]

wet belts? of course this is only an isea if it was raining or the roads were moist.

[Megell]

It happened again today on the freeway. I looked down at the gauges and the ABS, tail lamp, batt. light and maybe the brake light just appeared. The engine seemed ok, but I was going 65. It stayed on and would then go of and come back on again. I got off the highway with the intention of aborting my mission and return home. Once I got off the freeway (busiest part of downtown), the light went off when stopped at light. I reved the engine and the lights would come back on. Once I turned around and headed they did not come back on. I replaced the alternator and battery in June.

BTW, I'm in Tucson, so no rain.

I would like to know what the alt. is putting out when the warning lights are on.

I'll arm myself with a voltmeter and maybe I can get a current reading the next time it does it. I thought maybe someone had experienced a simialar electrical symptom to guide me in the right direction.

Thanks everyone,

Mike

[Fairtax4me]

Get the alternator and battery tested. Also double double check all of the connections. Power - alternator, starter, battery, and grounds - engine to frame and frame to battery.

[nipper]

Odd thought. Pop the hood and check the belts visually. Press against the belt to make sure it is tight.

 

 

Any noise when the AC is on?

[Megell]

Get the alternator and battery tested. Also double double check all of the connections. Power - alternator, starter, battery, and grounds - engine to frame and frame to battery.

 

 

Thank you, good points to look at. I cleaned the terminals with the wire cone and it seemed like they were ok when I replaced both batt. and alt.

I am suspicious of either the alt. or a ground, but everything looks tight reasonably clean. I checked the alt. with voltmeter the next day after it first did it and it was putting out 14.6 v +. That was about a month ago.

Mike

[Megell]

Odd thought. Pop the hood and check the belts visually. Press against the belt to make sure it is tight.

 

 

Any noise when the AC is on?

 

 

Hi Nipper, The timing belts, crank pulley and serpentine belts were replaced earlier this year with new. I changed the alt. this last June and the belts still seem tight and no noise of any kind coming from anywhere.

I'm wondering if maybe the batt. cables, but they look good for a 18 yr old car.

Mike