Flickering lights

[jpaz]

I'm having an electrical problem with lights flickering. When engine is running, all lights flicker, even turn signals. Less with higher rpm. When I turn headlights on, my radio goes out & signals flicker & barley work.

This doesn't happen when engine is off. I can have turn signal on & when I turn headlights on the signals barley dim.

I put a new alternator on this spring, I have a Motorcraft electronic VR, newer headlight switch, all connections are clean & not corroded.

Not sure what to look for. Could my VR be going bad?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[John J]

I'm having an electrical problem with lights flickering. When engine is running, all lights flicker, even turn signals. Less with higher rpm. When I turn headlights on, my radio goes out & signals flicker & barley work.

This doesn't happen when engine is off. I can have turn signal on & when I turn headlights on the signals barley dim.

I put a new alternator on this spring, I have a Motorcraft electronic VR, newer headlight switch, all connections are clean & not corroded.

Not sure what to look for. Could my VR be going bad?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

sound like a VR problem to me. Are you using a electronic one? The repo ones are know to fail. I have been using a Standard brand electronic VR for a while with no issues. I think Rock Auto sell them.

John J

 

[midlife]

I'm having an electrical problem with lights flickering. When engine is running, all lights flicker, even turn signals. Less with higher rpm. When I turn headlights on, my radio goes out & signals flicker & barley work.

This doesn't happen when engine is off. I can have turn signal on & when I turn headlights on the signals barley dim.

I put a new alternator on this spring, I have a Motorcraft electronic VR, newer headlight switch, all connections are clean & not corroded.

Not sure what to look for. Could my VR be going bad?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

sound like a VR problem to me. Are you using a electronic one? The repo ones are know to fail. I have been using a Standard brand electronic VR for a while with no issues. I think Rock Auto sell them.

John J

+1. It could also be a loose alternator belt or a bad alternator. Is your battery being charged?

 

[jpaz]

Alt belt is tight. I think it is charging, lights get brighter w/increase in rpm. Battery cranks engine fine.

I think I might have a grounding problem. I have no ground strap from engine to firewall that I can see.

I just replaced my transmission mount and that's when this all started happening. Does that make any sense?

Actually I thought it was my turn signal harness at first. Every once in a while my turn signals would go out & if I moved the harness around a bit they would come back on. So, I replaced it with a new harness. Everything seemed to work fine after that. Then I changed the trans mount and all the weirdness started.

All I did to do that was just jack up the trans enough to remove & replace it. I'm baffled!

 

[jpaz]

I'm having an electrical problem with lights flickering. When engine is running, all lights flicker, even turn signals. Less with higher rpm. When I turn headlights on, my radio goes out & signals flicker & barley work.

This doesn't happen when engine is off. I can have turn signal on & when I turn headlights on the signals barley dim.

I put a new alternator on this spring, I have a Motorcraft electronic VR, newer headlight switch, all connections are clean & not corroded.

Not sure what to look for. Could my VR be going bad?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

sound like a VR problem to me. Are you using a electronic one? The repo ones are know to fail. I have been using a Standard brand electronic VR for a while with no issues. I think Rock Auto sell them.

John J

Hi John, ya I'm using a Motorcraft brand. It was on the car when I bought it, so its not very old. Car was restored in 2010.

 

[midlife]

Yeah, install the ground strap from the engine to the firewall.

 

[jpaz]

Ok, good news to report. I put a grounding strap on & that was the problem! I still can't believe it. Had some really strange things going on with turn signals and lights, but all seems to be working fine now.

Thanks guys!

 

[midlife]

I finally won something! Woohoo!!! I'll at least take half-credit!

::goodjob::::congrats::::congratz::

 

[jpaz]

I finally won something! Woohoo!!! I'll at least take half-credit!

::goodjob::::congrats::::congratz::

Thanks Midlife!

 

[jpaz]

I must also thank the search tab/forum for some help too. By looking thru some threads there is how I figured out I had no grounding strap. Always great info in there!

 

[71fast]

Ok, good news to report. I put a grounding strap on & that was the problem! I still can't believe it. Had some really strange things going on with turn signals and lights, but all seems to be working fine now.

Thanks guys!

I had the same problem and installed the grounding strap from engine to firewall. Since then I noticed some dealers sell neg. battery cables with a ground terminal to be bolted to the inner fender and to the block. Anybody have a picture of where this terminal is bolted? This would eliminate the ground strap.