I have a 1986 diesel van. I (foolishly i now believe) upgraded to a 150amp alternator. Recently, i was driving and when I turned the van of, it wouldn’t start again. I realized that the positive battery cable had come disconnected so that the van was running off the alternator, for potentially an hour of mountain highway driving, and then extended idling.
In the days since, I have infinite electrical gremlins. My lights flicker, my windshield wipers are inconsistent and sluggish and all these things are intertwined. Adding a load somewhere worsens everything else. Turing on the headlights slows the wipers down.
This is the most interesting clue I would really like to understand. My fuel pressure gauge shows higher fuel pressure the more load I add to the system. If i tun on the headlights it goes up 3 psi. If i turn on a turn signal, i ticks up and down 1psi. This is an electrical fuel pressure gauge that (to my understanding) compares it’s ability to ground through the sender to a consistent ground at the gauge.
I feel like if I had a stronger theoretical understanding I would immediately know what was wrong. Maybe somebody can help me expand my understanding.
What diagnostics should I be running to evaluate this problem?
In the days since, I have infinite electrical gremlins. My lights flicker, my windshield wipers are inconsistent and sluggish and all these things are intertwined. Adding a load somewhere worsens everything else. Turing on the headlights slows the wipers down.
This is the most interesting clue I would really like to understand. My fuel pressure gauge shows higher fuel pressure the more load I add to the system. If i tun on the headlights it goes up 3 psi. If i turn on a turn signal, i ticks up and down 1psi. This is an electrical fuel pressure gauge that (to my understanding) compares it’s ability to ground through the sender to a consistent ground at the gauge.
I feel like if I had a stronger theoretical understanding I would immediately know what was wrong. Maybe somebody can help me expand my understanding.
What diagnostics should I be running to evaluate this problem?
