Is my battery weak?

[Edmond]

Whenever I step on the brake pedal, my dash will "blink."

It's really more obvious at night when the lights are turned on. The other night, when I turned the brights on (because I was going down a very dark road), all the power from the car cut off. First, the dash lights came on, and then I lost all power to the car. I tried to start it back up but it wouldn't start, nothing. Didn't even click.

Do you guys think the battery isn't strong enough to power the electrical needs of the car? There aren't any lights on that would indicate something.

[phatboy555]

well how old is the battery

check the battery connections and go to your neighborhood autozone, it should be free to charge your batt or tell you if it's not holding it's charge...other than that, maybe your alt is bad but hopefully it's just the batt

[Hajoca]

I noticed the word BLINK and not DIM, so

1. You need Alternator, more than likely your battery is undercharged, because your diodes (rectifier) in the alternator have given up. you have been driving with your battery, to power the electricals, and engine ignition.

quickest fix, buy a rebuilt (new diodes, bearings, etc.) alternator and change it. Then put battery on overnight charger. Drive car back to place where you got rebuilt alternator, and give them the broken one for them to rebuild and sell again. Good like new results and good warranties with this fix.

CHEAPER: rebuild your altenator with kit. The wearing parts have served their useful life.

2. check brake light switch to see if it's wires are loose, or when pedal is moving, rubbing or straining other wires. On my Chevy it did just that and would short out my dash and radio lights every time i braked until the wire broke or burnt through.

[Edmond]

Originally posted by phatboy555
well how old is the battery

check the battery connections and go to your neighborhood autozone, it should be free to charge your batt or tell you if it's not holding it's charge...other than that, maybe your alt is bad but hopefully it's just the batt

The battery was replaced back in August. I'm afraid that it could be the alternator. I can go get the alternator checked out right? But if the alternator was failing, wouldn't the little battery light come on?

[Tercel GTS]

Have you looked around the brake pedal to make sure it's not rubbing a bare wire? Really sounds like you're grounding out an ignition source.