ok. I've had a problem with my 84 TA since I got it. when I turn the headlights on, the ACC power cuts out...basic things like radio and CB(hooked to an ACC port in the fuse block). Guages still work, interior lights still work, Fan still works...everything else seems fine. so at night I don't have a radio. So I decided to hook up a switch and relay to run the radio through directly from the battery...when I hooked it all up and turned the headlights on...the radio still cut out...I checked the voltage of the battery with a multimeter and it turns out that when I turn the lights on the voltage drops. obviously not enough to cut anything else out other than the minor things like the radio...I talked to the previous 2 owners and they said that they never had the problem and that the radio worked fine. I didn't modiy anything at all, I noticed the problem the night I got the car...Does anybody have any clue what is going on and how I can fix it. thanks for any help you can give.

 

Somehow I suspect you lost the ground to the accessories. They are getting ground through the headlight filaments? Try running a new ground to the black wire at the radio to start with. This is a weird problem and bad grounds do weird things.

 

I'll give it a try and get back you tonight after work. thanks. hope it's as simple as that.

 

ok. tryed it real quick before I head out to work. I grounded the stereo out to the chassis and turned the lights on, stereo kept running like it should. but...now my headlights won't go down, and my parking lights and all my taillights won't work...WTF. any clue about that? there are no blown fuses. I just can't win...

 

Thats a weird *** problem. Did you check to see that everything was grounded like it should be? Check all connections, all grounds, all fuses.

 

everything is grounded right. I never did check the stereo ground though. I just assumed it was grounded....I'm gonna make sure I've got a good body ground....another weird thing is that when I try to manualy lower the headlights they won't go down but the **** will spin and then I turn the lights on again they will spin on their own. looks like they'll go up fine...but not even wanna budge to go down. I double checked all the fuses and they're all fine....I was thinking maybe a relay..? not sure what is going on with the taillights at all, but I was thinking the headlight issue might involve the headlight motor isolation relay...what do you think.

 

Fixed it.
Hooked up a few new grounds and everything came back...I need to do a once over on the electrical of this car and make sure there are no more problems. thanks for the help.