flickering lights!

[John G]

My volt meter doe sthe mambo along with all of my lights flickering in sync with it on my 93 EB. After around 10 -15 minutes it settles down to almost normal. It appears that after the alternator charges the battery for a while it stops flickering. I was told to check the ground. If the ground was bad then wouldn't it continue to flicker even after 10-15 minutes? Could it be the battery? It seems to work fine. All the lights are nice and bright. They just flicker like crazy. Or maybe the alternator. Is there anyway to diagnose an alternator to pinpoint the problem without just replacing parts that might not be defective?

 

[TheRookie]

The easiest test for the alternator is with a clamp type Ammeter. (sp?) For the cost of one you could probably get yours rebuilt. Most Alternator rebuild places can test yours for just a few bucks. Not sure what would cause it to act this way though. If the battery was that weak it wouldnt turn the engine.

 

[Opera House]

Things calm down

after 10 minutes because the charging current drops down after that. Since you have that voltmeter, why don't you measure the voltage from the neg terminal to the frame. Over .2V you have a problem. One other likely problem is worn brushes.

 

[Bill Kemp]

A trip to Auto-Zone or some such auto parts place seems in order. Most of them will test the alt. on the veh. & can test the battery also. Usually for free....

 

[YW84U]

My 91 did the same thing mostly at idle - the Ford Tech simply put a new ground wire from the negative terminal to the frame on the inside of the fenderwell, and the flickering almost completely stopped. Worth a try for a few cents of wire!

As an added note, my alternator tanked on me about 8 mos later.... stepped up to a 130 amp model, and everything still works great. I left the extra wire still hooked up.

Regards,

Tom