Tapped Air/Fuel gauge ground wire to Cig lighter Light..and now car wants to die...

[97ClipseDSM]

My buddy wired both red and black autometer Air/Fuel gauge wires into the cigarette lighter Light bulb...yes the 2 wires that connect to the light bulb. This includes the ground wire. The air/fuel gauge only got power once the head lights were turned on, and even then, it was getting its voltage by not the cigarette lighter, but the wires that lead to the light bulb. I dont know why he chose those 2 wires but he admits it was a mistake. After 2 weeks of driving like this, I noticed everytime I turned the head lights on the cars idle dropped to around 650-700 and car started to sputter like it wanted to die. When the head lights were turned off, the car started to idle fine and sputtering went away. Soon the stock gauges started to dim, head lights eventually started to flicker, and car would start to jerk around anytime I turned the head lights on while I was driving. I thought it was the battery, replaced the battery and the problem remained. I replaced the alternator with another good tested one, and the idle/sputtering problem still remained. So finally, i disconnected the air/fuel gauge wires from the cigarette lighter light bulb wires, and the problem went away. Does anyone have any ideas why this was happening?? My battery volts read around 13.6-13.9 during Idle, when driving they go to almost 14.0. Once i turn my head lights on at idle, the voltage drops from 13.6 to 12.9-12.6 but in a second goes back up to 13.6. During cruising, the voltage stays consistent to around 13.6-13.9. I dunno whats going on and I dont know if the voltage drop when head lights are turned on for a split second are normal..cause once the lights are on and car is continually running, it wont drop that low. Alright I did enough talking, someone please help or give ideas or something. Thanks

 

[MrBoxx]

Tech article. This may help you install the gauge correctly. What I will add to that to help you is a picture of the ECU pinouts from the VFAQ. This is the vfaq, with the list of what each wire is for. These two articles together should give you enough to reinstall the gauge.

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[97ClipseDSM]

Tech article. This may help you install the gauge correctly. What I will add to that to help you is a picture of the ECU pinouts from the VFAQ. This is the vfaq, with the list of what each wire is for. These two articles together should give you enough to reinstall the gauge.

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Im a little lost, I do know that the Air/Fuel signal wire is tapped into terminal number 76. However my ground is wired right behind the panel that is removable. However, right now my main concern is not the air/fuel gauge, its what caused the terrible idle, sputtering, to my car. Because once i removed the air/fuel gauge wires from the cigarette lighter light bulbs, the problem went away. The air/fuel gauge Im just going to throw away and get a wideband. But like I said, Im more concerned about why the air/fuel gauge wiring made my car run like complete crap once the head lights were turned on. Since the Air/fuel gauge was wired in a way that it only got power when head lights were on, thats what is puzzling me. Why was it idling/sputtering/jerking so bad with the headlights on, and once i removed those wires the problem dissapeared!! Im stumped

Edit: About the writeup on the gauge install, is that the manditory way to do it or is the way that I just did it now with the ground on the metal surface behind the panel ok?? The gauge seems to be working fine but what I did was for the hot wire, i connected a circuit which holds 2 fuses into the passanger fuse box which one of them is the original fuse that goes in that spot and the other being for my hot wire.

 

[97ClipseDSM]

Im not trying to be a dick but it seems like no one reads the problem diagnosis anymore..you can no longer find the quick help like you used to be to able years back. Ive got one person who replied to me to help me with the gauge, but that is not what I was really looking for even though I appreciate the guy trying to help. Im more concerned about why the car acted this way when the gauge was installed so I can start to dig deeper on the problem.

 

[MrBoxx]

Try installing it the way it is the tech article and see if you have the same problem. Also, you might as well take the car to an Autozone or similar to get the charging system tested. It's free and the lights dimming may be the first sign of a failing alternator. If they're putting that much strain on the system to where the car wants to die, it would be a good idea to do some diagnostic tests to find out why.

 

[dizasta72389]

I Installed my gauges today. I wired 2 gauge's to the cigerette lighter. The actional lighter itself not the light. What I used was some speaker wire and electrical tape. It works fine for me. I installed a Boost gauge and an Air Fuel Gauge if you wanted to know.

 

[luv2rallye]

My buddy wired both red and black autometer Air/Fuel gauge wires into the cigarette lighter Light bulb...yes the 2 wires that connect to the light bulb. This includes the ground wire. The air/fuel gauge only got power once the head lights were turned on, and even then, it was getting its voltage by not the cigarette lighter, but the wires that lead to the light bulb.... Does anyone have any ideas why this was happening??

Because the cig lighter light bulb power comes from the taillight relay. And the "ground" wire (black/yellow) is not a ground at all - it goes to the dimmer switch. You should have used the other 2 wires on the cig lighter - blue for ignition switched power and black for true ground.