Lights flicker all the time

[1980c10]

My lights are flickering all the time. It did it with the 2G alt. and i just did the 3G swap and its still doing it. All connections are good as far as i can tell. Its the head lights, dash lights, and clock. Where is the voltage regulator located? Please help.

[1987cp]

2G and 3G regulators are both internal, that was covered in your other thread. How did you mod the wiring for the swap?

[86VickyLX]

My lights are flickering all the time. It did it with the 2G alt. and i just did the 3G swap and its still doing it. All connections are good as far as i can tell. Its the head lights, dash lights, and clock. Where is the voltage regulator located? Please help.

Voltage regulator is on the back of the alternator. It's the thing with the 3 wired plug coming out of it. Have you cleaned or replaced your ground wires? I have been told that that could cause the lights to flicker. You may have had bad luck and got a bad alternator, take it out and take it to autozone and have it tested, if you got it new one have it replaced under warranty.

[1987cp]

What ground wires?

[1980c10]

yea what ground wires? haha, The wiring has been modified using an rjminjection harness. Also it has done the same exact thing with 3 different alternators. I'm so puzzled. Also all 3 altternators have tested good.

[87_crown_vic]

umm i am sure he meant ground wires that connect to the battery. i have had an issue where i thought it was alternator or battery and happened to replace both. the car still acted like it was draining the battery and wasnt charging stuff right. changed out ground wires on battery and stuff and no more issue with power. bad grounds can and will cause issues in the system.

[85crownHPP]

I would suspect your headlight switch...

[gadget73]

ground from battery to engine, ground from battery to rad support (if equipped) and ground from engine to body (back passenger side, attaches near the hinge). Make sure those are clean. I'd also check the grounds for the headlamps, its a dinky little wire on each side that grounds to the inner fender if I remember right. If all thats good, headlight switch is a definite possible, they have been known to melt. Also, you might want to check the battery voltage to see if its fluttering or if its just fluttering at the lights. An analog voltmeter will be your friend for this.

[1980c10]

Thanks for the advice guys i will check all the grounds, and make sure there clean and good. All my dash lights and headlight are flickering would a bad headlight switch cause the dash light to flicker also? I can't do anything right now anyway, to cold and im a pussy haha. I will keep you updated on what i figure out.

[1980c10]

OK, so i havent got to check the grounds yet, ive been busy. But on the drive home tonight i was watching and paying attention to see if there was any rhythm to it, there was none as far as i could tell. But i also noticed its not just the headlights and dash lights, it is everything in the car. Gadget73 you suggested a analog voltmeter to see if the woltage was fluttering. I dont have one but i have somthing similar, the factory temp guage. If any of you have had electrical or charging problems before you know how sensitive it to voltage spikes and drops. Anyway the thing goes crazy up and down and up and down when the lights flicker. anyway does that give you guys anymore ideas?

[91waggin]

Since the factory temp gauge uses resistance to relay temperature information, and (if I remember my electronics theory right) the amount of current directed through the sender would change given the voltage applied, it might make sense for the gauge to be all over the place if the voltage at the battery was fluttering.

However, to be completely sure, it might be a good idea for you to buy an analog voltmeter. It'll cost you less than $10 at Wal-Mart.

[gadget73]

the temperature guage does work as sort of a voltmeter, but its fairly heavily damped so it won't respond quite like a normal guage. If its dancing all over the place though, it probably does indicate an overall battery voltage problem.

[1980c10]

So do you think it would be bad grounds since the whole car is having voltage fluctuations?
Sorry for so many dumb questions, Its just that electrical problems are usually a nightmare and i dunno wanna go buying stuff or doing sumthing untill i get it fairly narrowed down.

[gadget73]

Could be, could also be screwed up wiring to the alternator, bad connections at the starter relay, bad battery cables, etc. Unless you start checking things, it could be damn near anything. Do not start buying parts and hanging them on the car though, check what you have and figure out what exactly it is before going to the store. Half of these things you can fix with nothing more than some wrenches and a wire brush.

[1980c10]

It's finally fixed. After cleaning and checking and re-cleaning all the grounds it still had not helped anything. So I was down at the local watering hole and one of the old guys thats always in there has had probly 10 box panthers, he loves them. Anyway haha we were chit chatting and he said he had the same problem, and the ground wire that comes out of the oxygen sensor harness had broken in half and was laying on the block making intermitten connection causing the fluctuation and lights to flicker. So i went home and checked it and sure enough there it was broken in half laying on the back of the intake just barley touching. So I tossed another connector on the end and hooked it back up, bam everything is working perfect again.:banana: