Crazy ass check engine light?

[BS87]

Ok, so recently my check engine light has been sporadically flickering. It will never stay on for more than 2 minutes max. It will blick on and off like a loose wire or something. At 1 point, i thought it was rev-related, because if as i revved higher it would blink on and off. Then tonight, on my way home in the rain, it came on and the wipers went to full speed, even when i had them on intermitant or even if i just tapped down once. The whole time this happened the check engine light was on, and as soon went off the wipers returned to normal. 2 minutes later, it came on again, and the headlights suddenly got brighter. Not high beam bright, but brighter than usual. Light went off and brightness went back to normal.


What the fuck is going on?

[RobertK]

It seems like someone else had this same problem a month or two ago. Something to do with you're voltage regulator.. something along those lines.

[kowalski]

try the self diagnostics thing. see what code it gives you...

[BS87]

no codes display. Dunno if it's because there's nothing to display or i don't have motronic 1.3. It has a remanufactured ECU in there for some reason and i couldnt be arsed to look it up.

[tonytony]

mine did that to a lesser extent, it came on and when i blip the throttle it would go off, but then it got worse and came on and off by itself, it hasnt' been on in a whiel though

[BS87]

ok, i need to get this fixed cause i look like a jackass driving down the road, flashing his lights, and the wipers cycled so violently today they came off the motor arm.

I'm thinking either main relay or Load reduction relay, because it's affecting more than one system (wipers and headlights). I'm leaning twords load reduction (if my understanding of its function is correct) because the wipers go full blast and the headlights get brighter, they do not dim.

[The Sly]

If your lights are very bright and your wipers are faster than usual, i would say your voltage regulator is gone mad....

[BS87]

That's a possibility, but if it were bad, wouldnt the symptoms be constant? or no?

[Charlie]

That's a possibility, but if it were bad, wouldnt the symptoms be constant? or no?

No, they wouldn't be.

If your lights are flickering, it's the voltage regulator.

-Charlie