Ignition light

[Ozstyle]

Hi all,

just a question regarding my late 94 Grfiith 500 I have recently bought.
Having noticed the ignition warning light (red LED between speedo,rev counter) never came on at all, I removed dash and reconnected the lead. With ignition on but engine not running the LED illuminates brightly as it should, however with the engine running it emits a dim glow. The glow is constant and does not change regardless of revs or electrical equipment running, the only thing that effects it is main beam flash which causes it to dim further each time I flash the headlights. The alternator appears to be OK, 13.5 volts on the gauge and no problems with the battery not charging. I have checked a lot of threads but can't find anything relevent to this, apart from a comment that "all 500's with aircon do this".
Any ideas would be appreciated.

ozstyle

[GriffOz]

Gidday Mate
I've no experience of the specific problem but it sounds typical of a faulty earth. The old Holden "foot off the brake - tail light comes on" kind of thing. Many threads talk of earthing problems because of the plastic body.
Peter B

[trackcar]

Yeah see this often .. you need what tvr called their *fudge circuit* mod which involves swiching the LED through relay with a coil winding over 75ohms. .. the relay then turns the LED off, bu the rest of the charge circuit works exactly the same ..

[Ozstyle]

Thanks for the replies. I have continued my search and found a few more possible causes. It might be the 100 amp fuse, maybe the ignition switch connector block, or the alternator could be starting to fail.

Ozstyle

[cinquecento]

Could be a leaking diode pack on the alternator.. I think you may be right ... alternator's a bit sus..

[shadowfax]

I learned from a chap on tvrcc site that not all griffs & chims had the 100a fuse fitted.

[aussie john]

Had this problem on an old vw golf, dim ignition light while driving but no other symtoms, it was a diode in the alternator, good luck, John.

[Toffer]

I would check out the alternator...call a good auto-electrician...best £50.00 you will spend! Honestly!