Lately, my 71 spider has added a new issue to its personality. The headlights surge whenever on. It is not dramatic but noticeable, nor is it RPM dependent. A few months ago I had an electrical shop work on the ignition and I believe they removed the ballast resister as they could not determine whether it was helping or causing total ignition failure. The car runs fine now, but this headlamp issue has me curious. Note I seldom drive at night as this is pretty much a sunny day car. Comments are appreciated.
Bud
Headlights surging
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Budduncan
- Posts: 60
- Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:15 pm
- Your car is a: 1971 Spider
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azruss
- Posts: 3659
- Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 12:24 pm
- Your car is a: 80 Fiat 2000 FI
Re: Headlights surging
A 71 has a mechanical voltage regulator. It consists of a couple of spring loaded contacts the control the voltage on demand. I suspect when your lights are on, the drain is telling the voltage regulator to kick up the volts to provide more juice, thus making your lights brighter. It then decides its had enough and drops the voltage down. It keeps doing this over and over. I dont know how to fix it.