87 GW Electrical Gauge

Jul 18, 2010 4 Replies
R

Driving down the road this morning, I suddenly noticed that the electrical gauge on my 1987 Grand Wagoneer had pegged at "18". It also appeared that the water temp gauge was reading a few degrees higher than normal. After awhile, the temp gauge and electrical gauge both returned to normal, with the electrical gauge reading below the red band, i.e., about 13.5. Later it went to the high end of the red band again, and subsequently returned to "normal".



Is this merely transient instrument flucuations, or something genuinely needing attention?



Any suggestions on what is causing this will be appreciated.


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D

Apart from checking the battery water level, cables, and belts.

I picked myself up one of these a while back. Mine is LED not LCD, but same diff.

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L

I'd check the grounds, lights on, engine running, starting with a good digital voltmeter measure from battery negative to body metal, engine, alternator. Half a volt is a bit much, closer to 0.2 is better. If you find more than that, try a jump start grade jumper from battery negative to various ground points and see if you can get it to go to zero.

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R

Ah, a great idea, and something that would be useful tohave anyway! Thanks for tip.

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R

My first shot would be that the internal voltage regulator in the alternator has gone bad. My local has Delco alternator rebuild kits for $14 that have the regulator as part of the kit. Change the brushes and bearing while you have it open.

snipped-for-privacy@mac.com wrote:

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