Earth Problems? Or not?

[crav]

1997 Chimera 450. I'll Go through the symptons. The car will Run and perform perfectly with everything working correctly including the instrumentation. With no warning, all the indicators will glow dimly as well as the front head lights, the fuel gauge will show empty and the fog and light switch on the dash will illuminate. If you engage reverse the engine will misfire. I have bought the 'bible' as recommended by Piston Header's, located all the earth points and cleaned them all, fit new washers and bolts and tightened them accordingly. The problem still persists, is the any chance it could be another fault i.e. dashboard unit? or do I start again with the earth points? Can Anyone help? Please?

[Cider Andy]

It sounds like an earth fault to me, the one under the radiator sounds favourite. You say you've checked all the earth points: did you check the battery earth terminal?

[crav]

Yep Checked that, Are there any earth points to the rear of the car? I ask this because when this problem happens, engaging reverse, pushing the foot brake or putting the lights on all make the engine run worse or even stall. Is the rear wiring loom for the light clusters earthed at the rear or taken from one of the points at the front of the car listed in the 'bible'? Thanks for the reply.

[GreenV8S]

Check what is happening to the electrics whenthe problem happens. Is there a voltage difference between the coil +ve and battery +ve? Is there a difference between the engine and the battery earth? If this all looks good expand the search to the ECU loom and the relays in it. Once you have found where the voltage changes, you can start to narrow down the cause.

Oh and just take a look at the state of the multi-plug between the ignition switch and the main loom. I don't see how it would cause these symptoms, but it is such a nasty piece of work that it is worth checking anyway.

[k11chm]

It does sound like an earth fault, have had a similar problem with my 93 Chimaera. Engine runs lumpy, then when I switch the head lights on the indicator warning light on the dash glows dim. Also with indicators and side lights on, the side lights go bright then dim in tandem with the indicators.
I have cured the above by putting a new earth in. Made sure the chassis was earthed well (earth lead under the drivers side front wheel arch. This was not very good so made a new earth using the large bolt that locates chassis between the front wish bones, just under th ealternator. Using this as the main earth I ran new earth wires to each head light. I then mounted a stainless steel bolt behind the front grill at the bottom and ran an earth wire to this. Then used the bolt as an earth point and ran the old headlight earth wires to this (this earths the indicators and the rest of the loom).
What a difference, I now have nice bright headlights, no dim warning lights and a much better sounding engine.

[crav]

Thanks for the input. Sounds Like a multimeter is the next purchase.