I've got something odd going on with my truck. The more vexing problem is I get intermittent dimming lights that I notice when driving at night. For a tenth of a second everything will go dim, and then come back. Headlights, dash lights, interior lights if they're on, and the voltage gauge will dip from 13.x to12v and then recover.I've looked for shorts in the main battery cables and alternator charging cable, and find none; nothing is ever warm either. I've checked for loose battery connections and loose alternator connections. I'm getting close to throwing parts at it with a fresh alternator to see if that makes a difference, and an external voltage regulator if it doesn't. Considering putting an ammeter in to diagnose if draw is going up or if supply is going down, too. Any thoughts?The second and possibly related issue is a seeming ignition off draw. I can only let her sit for 24 hours if it's cool out or it doesn't have enough juice to spin fast enough to fire. That at least ought to not be too hard to track down with a DVM and pulling fuses to see what circuit it's on - assuming it isn't intermittent as well.I guess I'm looking for your anecdotes on similar issues so I can maybe have a few places to check out specifically, see if anyone has fought something similar and won. :shrug:Thanks!
I've got something odd going on with my truck. The more vexing problem is I get intermittent dimming lights that I notice when driving at night. For a tenth of a second everything will go dim, and then come back. Headlights, dash lights, interior lights if they're on, and the voltage gauge will dip from 13.x to12v and then recover.I've looked for shorts in the main battery cables and alternator charging cable, and find none; nothing is ever warm either. I've checked for loose battery connections and loose alternator connections. I'm getting close to throwing parts at it with a fresh alternator to see if that makes a difference, and an external voltage regulator if it doesn't. Considering putting an ammeter in to diagnose if draw is going up or if supply is going down, too. Any thoughts?The second and possibly related issue is a seeming ignition off draw. I can only let her sit for 24 hours if it's cool out or it doesn't have enough juice to spin fast enough to fire. That at least ought to not be too hard to track down with a DVM and pulling fuses to see what circuit it's on - assuming it isn't intermittent as well.I guess I'm looking for your anecdotes on similar issues so I can maybe have a few places to check out specifically, see if anyone has fought something similar and won. :shrug:Thanks!