Car Stalling When Turning On Lights

[Maaaaark]

Hey,

I'm driving a mk4 Mondeo with 2 liter diesel engine and have recently had some problems with it.

It started with having issues when putting on high beams on. The big screen in the middle would just go black for a few seconds and then come back on. As the time went by it got a lot worse, to the point where anything related with lights (signal lights, fog lights, high beams, etc.) would cause the electronics to turn off and sometimes even cause the car to stall (even while driving), it won't go the point where I have to stop the car but all the lights (ABS, ESP, Engine, handbreak) go on and revs go down. Sometimes the ABS, ESP and handbreak light will stay on until I turn the ignition off and on again.

Yesturday it happened when accelerating too, its snowing and its kinda slppery so I thought maybe cos the ESP goes on to avoid wheelspin. And it did happen when I made a handbreak turn too.

Does anyone ever had similar problem or have any idea what to check/where the problem might be? The battery seems to be OK as it starts decently for a diesel in winter and I've never had problems with that. When I did turn on high beams just after starting the car the engine (or smth under the hood) started making a loud noise too, when I took the high beams off it returned to normal. When car has been turned on for a while putting on high beams doesn't cause it.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

PS! Sorry for my lousy english, I hope its good enough to understand the problem.

[IINexusII]

Get the alternator load tested, most garages do it free. And also check the if the ground cables are not rusted

[Maaaaark]

Get the alternator load tested, most garages do it free. And also check the if the ground cables are not rusted

Could you describe where do the ground cables posistion? I'm not familiar with that term.. atleast it doesn't ring any bells in english.

[jeebowhite]

theres a few, in the engine bay you have one on the chassis, and there are also some on the subframe and around the gearbox.

It sounds like you could have a bad battery or alternator, so get them both tested.