voltage light on dash acting up

[Ti Kan]

Geordie writes:
> So I just noticed the other day that the voltage warning light on my
> instrument panel is dimly lit at night. Well, I guess it's always dimly lit,
> but it looks fairly bright at night; I don't notice it in the day. I checked
> the battery with a hydrometer and all the cells are good, but I can't
> imagine this light is dimly lighting itself for no reason.

Common occurrence on the type 81/85 cars.  Does the alt light come a bit
brighter when you turn on the headlights or other heavy electricity
consumers?  It is possible that the main 12V connection from the battery
(on the back of the fuse/relay panel) is not making optimal contact,
so that a voltage drop is occurring at that location.  That would be the
first place to check.

As to the alternator, if you check its output voltage while the car
is running and you get something around 13.5 volts (probably slightly less
when headlights on), then it's fine.

-Ti
01 S4 2.7 biturbo quattro
84 5000S 2.1 turbo
80 4000 2.0
-- 
    ///  Ti Kan                Vorsprung durch Technik
   ///   AMB Research Laboratories, Sunnyvale, CA. USA
  ///    ti at amb.org
 //////  http://www.amb.org/ti/
///