Flickering Power

Nov 20, 2006 3 Replies

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KaFuff 19 years ago

hey Folks:

I own a 1984 Dodge 150 Royal SE Power Wagon truck. It has a 360, 4-barrel carb. Recently, I have noticed that on occasion when I hit a bump the radio will flicker off then back on. This intermittent annoyance has progressed into a fairly regular occurrence and now also includes the blower fan and headlights.

Lately, it happens less when I hit a bump but more often and much more consistently when I am slowing down to make a stop or corner. As I live in northern Alberta, Canada, the winter sun sets at about 4:30 PM here and the headlights are a necessity to avoid the many deer on or near the highways.

Any suggestions on where to look. I have checked and cleaned as many of the major wire connectors as I can find to no avail. My battery seems fine and my belts are ok as well. I am wondering if it could be my alternator or voltage regulator. Unfortunately, I am truly lost with automotive electronics.

Layne

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jmc 19 years ago

Suddenly, without warning, KaFuff exclaimed (20-Nov-06 1:46 PM):

This... sorta... sounds like the problem I had recently with my ignition switch. With my truck (2001 Dak), it was the radio and turn signals that we noticed. It went from an occasional flicker to a state where it'd go off, and stay off until the truck was, uh, rebooted (it'd work when the truck was turned off, then restarted ...

Replaced the ignition switch (easy job, even for a newbie), and all was well.

Try wiggling your key while your truck's running, and see of that doesn't trigger the problem.

I'm not an expert though, so hopefully someone here who is can tell you if I should shut up or not :)

jmc

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Gordo 17 years ago

I vote bad ground somewhere. Check for loose grounds from the dash to the firewall, and from the firewall to the block. Also check the ground from the battery to where ever it grounds on the block. There may be some rust under the contacts, or the wire gets coroded inside the wiring insulation, causing a bad connection.

Good news, ..... Spring is coming :)

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Gordo 17 years ago

OOps, just noticed the posting date, hope it worked out.

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