lights flickering

[btomike]

my 1992 truck is scaring me. my lights flicker when turned on. plus with the lights on or off the voltage gauge is under 14 and mover down and up. this is what i find strange though, when i was driving up to college at highway speed, the voltage gauge never got to 14, where it usually is. does anyone have any ideas what it could be. my brother checked the altenater and said it was good, could it be the batteries? :confused:

[meanchev]

I it could very well be the battery but being as you voltage never got to 14 volts i would still suspect the voltage regulator in the alternator is shot. Best thing to do is take it to a parts store and have them do a load test on the charging system that will tell you what you problem is.

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[ 08-30-2005, 02:10 AM: Message edited by: jbplock ]

[Turbo Al]

The light on my 1993 were flickering and it ended up that it was the wiring in the stalk shorting out -- made in Mexico-- written all over it. I will go out and see if I still have the part number.
Al

[ 08-30-2005, 03:33 PM: Message edited by: Turbo Al ]

[Kennedy]

My 2002 is exhibiting similar symptoms. My plan is to have the alternator checked out by my expert contact first and see where things go from there.

[btomike]

yeah i'm going to have it tested when i get a chance. hopefully it's nothing serious

[Turbo Al]

So much for keeping the bills in the glove box a bloody mouse deceided it wanted to make a nest of them. :mad: There must have been something toxic in there because I found it dead in the nest :D -- maybe indigestion from the GM bills?
Al

[btomike]

well i had my batteries and my altenator checked yesterday and they said they were all fine. so what do you guys think the low voltage and flickering lights might be..

[NH2112]

How does it start? Does it always crank strong, or do you ever get a delay between turning the key and cranking? Does the voltage gauge every drop really low during cranking? It could be loose connections on the starter, everything that's powered through the ignition switch gets its power from the starter and loose connections there will cause intermittent problems.

[btomike]

well that's what's weird. sometimes it starts strong and sometimes it takes it awhile. i'm going to check my battery connections tomorrow before the Aggie football game.

[Tatraplan]

I've completely rewired the headlights on my
'83 C20. The original wires are so thin that
they looked like a joke. IMO they are of the
size that's big enough to control a relay with.

I now have relays 20 cm from the headlights
and feed them with thicker cables directly
from the battery on each side. The standard ones
are just used to control the relays.

When I bought the truck the voltage gauge
showed around 12 volts maximum. With new
wiring to the headlights it's shows 13 volts
in idle and 14 volts while driving.

I haven't changed/fixed the alternator itself
in any way. The headlight wiring caused most
problems with low voltage I previously had,
but a new wire from the alternator to the
battery on the right side helped a little as
well.

/Robert