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I turn on my high beams and i lose my tail lights?

Old Dec 29, 2009 | 05:27 PM
  #1  
jesteratc's Avatar
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From: Norristown PA
I turn on my high beams and i lose my tail lights?

i have a 1981 corolla wagon with a 12a rotary in it

We have wired the new quad light system into the car, and nothing has changed.

specs:

I have 4 sealed beam headlights, All for headlights have high and low beams.
Currently the way the system is hooked up is (click lights on, outer 2 headlights turn on. (Click foward for High Beams, and all 4 headlights turn on, and on high)

Sympthoms:

When high beams are on, all lights in the front go dim, they werent bright to begin with. I also lose all the lights in the back of the car, like driving lights.

Very bad situation.!!!!


We have noticed that coming off of the alternator there is just power and ground, there are 2 wires coming off the back, which appear like they would have originally gone to a volatge regulator, but the wire are just cut. We dont know what they were supposed to do

Also!! even with the extra headlights removed, the problems still remail. So its not a matter of having too many lights.

Any help would really be appreciated.

Basically what was the light system coming off the stock alternator from the rx7

Thanks everyone. Hope i can get this cleared up.
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Old Dec 29, 2009 | 06:34 PM
  #2  
Siraniko's Avatar
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From: Socal
let me finish my 12pack so I can understand what you're saying
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Old Dec 29, 2009 | 07:09 PM
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From: chino,CA,USA
doesnt sound like a problem to me u can use it to run from the po po's lol
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Old Dec 30, 2009 | 04:55 PM
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Sounds to me like the Alternator is not putting out enough amps or you have too much of a current draw from something else. If it is only a 2 wire alternator then it has an internal voltage regulator. The 12as did not come with a high output alternator to begin with so if you have any type of aftermarket radio with larger amps on it then you are probably already starting to overload it. The 7s only used 2 headlights high and low, you are using 4 that puts another large draw on it. Are you using an electric fan for engine cooling. You also have not said if the problem gets any better if engine speed is increased. Does this only happen at idle? Are you running an underdrive dual sheave alternator pulley? If so this will further reduce the alternator output at idle. Just some things to think about.
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Old Dec 30, 2009 | 07:36 PM
  #5  
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From: Norristown PA
ok, fixed the problems

All things were running into one wire in the dash. Like 10 pounds of crap in a 5 lb bag. Started moving things back on to there own circuits, and it all came back to life.

Just thought id update everyone, incase anyone else had this problem.
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