mikeg75

Hey all. Could use some electrical help, after reading some threads and already replacing my ignition switch.

My radio and climate control lights have been flickering on and off intermittently as in this 13 second video I just took.
Can anyone help point me in the right direction? I have an original alternator but so far, no dash warning lights have flickered. The battery is two years old, and the starter is about 13 years old.

The car has 199,500 miles but aside from some ripped up leather, runs amazing and I replaced the front steering rack and other suspension parts recently so want to get some more reliable miles out of her.

Thanks!

JoshG

does the A/C atleast work? I assume that the wiring behind it are loose and not making full contact cause when you replace the ignition switch..alot of the wires are touched/can be loose if they dont tighten it..when I installed an aftermarket Radio the A/C wasn't working..all they had to do was reconnect the wire they forgot to connect, make sure its nice and tight.and no problems for 2+ years after that.. Congrats almost hitting to 200k miles! big achievement.

mikeg75

Hi Josh - thanks for your comment. I replaced the ignition switch after the problem started but come to think of it - it started after my mechanic did my steering rack, so maybe there is a loose connection back there as a result of his work.

lux97Max

iTrader: (24)

Id replace your climate control with another one to see if it still does that.

mikeg75

If the radio is flickering as well as the climate control, why would changing the climate control fix both issues? I'm not doubting but am just ignorant on these things.

I also noticed a light behind the speedometer flickering but since it was day, I didn't notice it when I took the video clip. Did you see the video clip?

JoshG

honestly I would just check the wiring, If it happened after the steering rack..it has to be that, cause if it was fine before..he probably let a few of the wires loose or not connected tight. Make sure you tell the mechanic that to fix the problem he caused and either pay little for his mistake or none.

its kinda like common sense, if the bulb has little contact and is trying to light up, the connections are not making full contact..once it does, the bulb stays on and has no flickering.

and by the way, the radio and A/C work properly right? I want to know.

mikeg75

The ignition was a little weird a couple of times before taking it in for the steering rack. It required rotating it to the start position and with no reaction, turning it all the way back and forth a second time, on more than one occasion. The key feels a little loose in there so I'm not sure it isn't something with the lock cylinder, after changing the switch didn't do the trick.

mikeg75

In answer to the question of whether my A/C still works, yes, but it is the original.

This morning I started checking fuses and found fuse #6 to be blown, so I replaced it with a 20 A fuse.

Then I cleaned the negative battery terminal and two grounds behind the passenger side headlight that were a little damp/dirty.

After reconnecting the battery and starting the car, I put the radio on first and it worked, and then I put on the A/C, which also worked. I turned them off then checked the current on the battery and it was 14.0 so I think things are ok again.

I'll post again if things crap out again. I guess I need to find out what caused the fuse to go bad.

Is it OK to replace a 15 A with a 20 A fuse?

JoshG

well if the fuse is 15 A, replace it with 15A, they have their fuse for a reason, if u go too high on a certain fuse..it'll blow out the fuse and potentially blow out other fuses.

so replacing the fuse/cleaning battery terminals fixed it? I'm sure it has to be the fuse that caused it.

mikeg75

Ok, I put a 15 A fuse in there. I'll drive it around and see if anything goes bad.

Thanks again.

mikeg75

My intermittent flicker is still happening but I believe it only starts happening after the engine is warmed up. Could this be a sensor ground that is causing a short once the ECU starts taking readings from the sensor? The one I'm thinking of is the MAF because I had to to replace it after the old one failed (was a $35 eBay one) this summer.

To do further troubleshooting, I did an alternator load test last week and it seems to be working normally but as a novice, I would like to have someone watch the video clip ( ) to see if the readings on my multimeter seem reasonable? It started off at 14.5V right after being started, then when I turned on all accessories (lights, rear defrost, heater, radio, windshield wipers, and 4-way blinkers), the voltage fluctuates. When the fan goes on in the video, you can see the voltage drop to the high 12's. Can anyone share some thoughts on this?

Thanks very much!

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

There is something wrong with the charging system. The voltage should not be jumping around like that. It is OK to see a very short duration fluctuation of a tenth of a volt or two, but then return to the previous reading. When you have EVERYTHING turned on, the voltage reading may (or may not) drop down a couple of tenths, but never below 13.8 volts.

The problem could be the alternator, either the voltage regulator of worn brushes, or maybe something as simple as the alternator belt is loose and slipping.

mikeg75

Thanks for your thoughts Dennis. I'm guessing voltage regulation is as important as charging, because I'm definitely still getting an adequate charge out of the old alternator.

Watching the clip again, it seems like the fluctuation would be less if the voltmeter wasn't showing the reading in the hundredths, but it definitely does go from around 14 down to 12.9 every time the radiator far cycles on.

Can a break in a circuit also cause that voltage fluctuation?

My windows have had a sporadic loss of power that I'm going to try troubleshooting using the wiring diagrams in the Haynes manual and doing some more research on how to test. After watching some videos last night, I may have to pick up some new tools like a test light and a test wire harness.

The window issue may be unrelated to the flickering lights but I'll have to see. Yesterday, i also I found that after longer drives, all of the electrical problems seemed to diminish, as if the charging smoothed out and any glitches worked themselves out early on. For example, I put the back left window down and then it only went back up after about 15 minutes into the ride home.