sirtokesalot Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 (edited) ive been trying to figure this one out for a couple months now. battery and brake light come on and go out together intermittently sometimes stay on for a bit before going out. has brand new alternator and brand new battery when the lights come on it is still charging at 14 volts. have taken engine grounds apart and cleaned all grounds on block took grounds off firewall and cleaned those did the ground next to the battery to the body what els can cause these lights to come on and go out together? its a 2004 outback Edited January 7 by sirtokesalot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Was this happening before the alternator replacement? define "brand new alternator"....OEM? Reputable aftermarket? Parts store cheapy? Those lights are controlled by the alternator, supposed to indicate charging failure. If the lights are on and alternator is still charging, I think it would have to be a faulty alternator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirtokesalot Posted January 8 Author Share Posted January 8 12 hours ago, Numbchux said: Was this happening before the alternator replacement? define "brand new alternator"....OEM? Reputable aftermarket? Parts store cheapy? Those lights are controlled by the alternator, supposed to indicate charging failure. If the lights are on and alternator is still charging, I think it would have to be a faulty alternator. the car had a reman one when we got it we tried a used one from a car i know it worked on first then bought another one from part store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvu Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 On 1/7/2025 at 1:19 PM, sirtokesalot said: what els can cause these lights to come on and go out together? The brake indicator is also connected to the alternator. If it's going off and you're sure it's not the fluid/parking switches, the alternator is grounding itself. Either it's bad or there's a short somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirtokesalot Posted January 9 Author Share Posted January 9 i dont understand why the brake is tied to that circuit could something in the brake section be causing them to come on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvu Posted January 9 Share Posted January 9 Likely as a failsafe. If the charge bulb burns out, the alternator would stop charging and there wouldn't be any other way to know until the battery's drained. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted January 9 Share Posted January 9 Pretty common to have other warning lights come on with the battery light. Our Honda Odyssey lights up like crazy when the alternator quits. That diode in the cluster prevents it from working the other way, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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