Can a duff battery cause dodgy electrics?

[Malky]

My brother in law bought a Clio 1.2 Dynamique recently. 02 plate.

The car had been lying for a while and the battery was dead, but the car fired up with a jump start.

He's having a few electrical issues, when he brakes, the fog light dash light comes on, and the indicators seem to have a mind of their own. They will stick on, rather than flash, the reverse lights come on with the indicators.

Could this be battery related, or more possibly an earthing issue with the lights.

Also, there was the dreaded mayonaisse under the oil cap. We managed to get £300 knocked off the price to replace the head gasket, but the seller was insistant that this was merely due to condensation, claimed most Clio's had this issue. Any truth in this?

 

[lemonnobby]

yes the condension is true, but i would do a block test anyway.
proberly a faulty earth somewhere

 

[Malky]

Cheers. The car runs fine, not overheating or using water, but I had never heard of condensation causing this and argued blind with the bloke that it was a head gasket lol.

I'll get the gunk cleaned up and see if it clears up with daily running of the car.

Would the earthing issue be with the connections at the rear lights?

 

[MicKPM]

£300 off for some cap mayo after its been stood for a while - Stand and deliver you pikey! As long as it doesn't return in massive force and the coolant isn't vanishing all should be well.

Poor/corroded earths deffo the most likely causes of the electrical issues though. Dash rear fog light coming on when braking is a common Clio II rear light earth issue and the indicators are probebrly similar.

Mick

 

[Malky]

£300 off for some cap mayo after its been stood for a while - Stand and deliver you pikey! As long as it doesn't return in massive force and the coolant isn't vanishing all should be well.


Mick

Hey, we're Scottish and like to haggle lol

 

[Malky]

Poor/corroded earths deffo the most likely causes of the electrical issues though. Dash rear fog light coming on when braking is a common Clio II rear light earth issue and the indicators are probebrly similar.

Mick

How do you diagnose/rectify this earthing issue?

 

[MicKPM]

Look at it and know its filthy or test it using a digital multi-meter to see if it has an acceptable resistance value. If its "high" (I don't mean if its smoked too much weed) it'll need "improving" usually by cleaning both the chassis mount and wiring connector and refitting.

 

[Malky]

Thanks for your advice.