Bad Battery or Bad Earth?

[Roundabout-Now]

Well since getting my car back I\'m trying to clear up a few small problems, so here\'s the latest that I need help with...

Was sitting at the lights today, with sidelights on in the car, and noticed that when I put my foot on the brake pedal, the dashboard and gauge lights all dimmed slightly.

On the same trip, found that when I reached my destination and turned off the headlights, the idle dropped a bit. Turned them back on and it climbed a bit.

So does this sound like a battery or earth problem? Any input appreciated.

I\'m going to try and find time to pop to the local battery place tomorrow and get them to test the battery and see if they have a couple of extra earth leads for me to throw on to the engine as well.

Just checked the logs from a couple of weeks ago, and battery voltage with engine running seems to be 13.8V. Sound about right?

[cjr]

voltage is fine. The idle will go up when you us current i.e lights big sound system. As soon as the current is not used the load is off the engine so it idle\'s lower.
As to dash lights might be a dodgy earth connection behind dash. Would not worry to much.

[leggysrx7]

Have you replaced any bulbs recently? I seem to remember that i replaced a bulb with the wrong value and i had the same symptoms...

[Roundabout-Now]

I\'ll check my brake lights, as I know one of them was replaced for its recent MOT. Worth a check. Thanks for the ideas.

[leggysrx7]

any luck?

Leggy

[Roundabout-Now]

Not had chance to check yet. Will do soon though and let you know if I find anything.