sounds like loose wires somewhere maybe, since you say the volt meter doesnt move

 

i honestly think mine is the knew voltage regulater it never did this before i put it on.i wish mine had not went out but wish in one hand and somthin else in the other see which one comes first

 

Have you done the brushes in the alternator? I replaced mine on the old alternator and got another year out of it. They wear down pretty fast and start to skip on the shaft causing low load flicker. I found that if I had the flicker, I could max out the fan blower and it would level out. Just a thought.

 

Clean the terminals on the bulb socket. Could be corroded.

 

ive got the same problem. my headlights started out flickering, then they began to cut out, and finally they just died on me. i took apart my healight switch, and the plastic was melted along with one of the wires. my running lights still work though. very weird... the problem is i dont know how far back the wires got fried... time to do some investigation.


beachboi

 

I will have to take a look at my switch. I am positive that its not my grid heaters becuae I have disconected them and they still did this.

 

I want to know what you guys find out...

 

Do you have Daytime Running Lights? These are required in Canada so the trucks have a daytime running light module. When the module begins its slow journey towards failure, the headlights flicker as you describe.

 

i have a similar problem with my truck my wires were also melted from the switch i replaced the switch and the lights work.. but the lights on my cluster gauge dont work...now heres the tricky part...i found if you pull real slow on the switch theres a certain spot that makes the cluster lights work....but.... my headlights wont come on just my parking lights ......i hope some one finds out what the heck is goin on?!?!?!?!

 

i went to napa and bought a new switch and my headlights work! BUT the one wire that melted the plastic is burnt and i think that there is a possibility of it not beintg able to handle a full load if it is damaged.

My 3 pillar guages of Pyro, Boost and Tranny temp are wired into the headlights for power etc... could this extra load be a cause of our problems?

I think i am going to put a switch-breaker type fuse in line with the wire that melted, so rather than melting everything again, hopefully the fuse will break. ive gotta go look at my truck to figure it all out. Do you guys have multiple wires that melted the switch or only one?

I also have the part number for a replacement wiring harness too. if anybody needs it, i can try to find it for ya.

beachboi

 

yes beachboy all my wires are melted

 

Darn...

97's don't melt

 

I had this same issue.

The problem on mine was the heater grids. Not so much the cycling, but the posts where the wires hook up were loose, and would not tighten up. They would just spin. The added resistance of this loose connection was giving me over 200 amps for draw when it would do it.

I disconnected the grids, and all is well now, and my alt charge rate is a steady 14+ volts at almost any speed.

Now, the bad news...the heater grids are not replaceable. You must buy a new intake cover...about 150 bucks at cummins (cheapest place around here), and it must be ordered.



Another thing you can check/try, is moving your crank sensor closer to the balancer. Over time, the magnets in them can get weak, and that sensor is what tells the computer how fast the engine is spinning, and that in turn tells the computer how much juice to feed the alt field wires to keep things charging properly.



I plan on replacing my heaters and relays over the summer, as with a 200 amp draw, I'm sure the relays are pitted pretty bad, even tho they do test ok.

It got so bad, that I melted the wires going to the heater grids when trying to troubleshoot them once I found out they were loose.