Hello all,
New to this sight. Just purchased a 86' with a 22re. My problem is boggling me... when I activate my headlights or off road lights the truck starts acting up. Starts sputtering and as soon as I turn lights off its fine. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

Check and clean battery cables and grounding points, add a couple new grounding points.

Check the alternator output voltage before and after lights are turned on.

Clean the cables and grounding points first.

 

Besides what He said

Just how do you have your off road lights powered ??

Then no telling just how the electrical system is befuddeled by the last owner.

Bottom line charging system unable to meet the demands

 

Ok great. I'll check that stuff! Thanks for the quick replies. As far as adding grounds, just another one from the battery to the frame?

 

You should not be having a problem when you activate your stock headlights. It sounds like you're having problems with the original circuit somewhere. Since the truck is new to you I'm going to suggest you go through the whole grounding system to help eliminate future problems.


This is the 22re Ground Wire Guide, clean them all and make sure all of the cables are in place, they are important. If you need to replace a cable there is no reason not to use thicker cable like 8 or 6 awg on the body grounds and 4, 2, or crazy big 1, or 1/0 awg on the battery. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...-guide-194413/

Since you're cleaning connections I'm going to suggest you also unbolt the alternator cable from the back of it and give that a cleaning to.

Do not trust a visual inspection unless something is seriously wrong (cut wire, frayed wire, badly corroded), clean them! Every connection point needs to be clean shiny METAL TO METAL CONTACT, not metal to paint or rust.

Use a brass or fine wire brush on both the connector and the area it connects to until it's clean and shiny again. That could mean a bolt, metal frame, fender, connector, battery terminal, or a battery cable end.
Before you bolt it back together you might want to rethink that because You're not done!

After you've brushed the surfaces clean it's important to keep those surfaces corrosion free and applying a thin film of Dielectric Grease to both the connector and the surface it connects to will -help- keep it that way. Dielectric grease is available at all automotive stores and most hardware stores. I've used so much of it over the years I won't even consider purchasing the small tube anymore.



There's a couple more grounds not mentioned in the ground wire guide that can make a big difference but you need to remove the drivers side kick panel to get to them.
With the kick panel off look under the dash between the fuse box and the door opening. One has two wires, white with black, to twin connectors. The other is just above, two brown to one connector. Give them the same treatment you gave the other wires.
I cleaned these grounds and had a stronger heater blower, brighter dash lights and the engine seems to run a little smoother. The white with black wires are for your heater, a/c, dash illumination, and the fuel pump. The brown ones are for the combination meter (ecu driven) and something else, haven't found out what that is yet.





ronfrancis.com
Proper Grounding

Never overlook the importance of good grounds. – Scott Bowers

According to Bowers, there are ten items which can make or break your wiring installation. First and foremost is proper grounding of the harness and all related electrical items.

“The importance of grounding is often overlooked. For any individual circuit, it equals half of the circuit and can cause havoc when a ground is compromised. Make sure paint, powdercoating and rust are cleared away for any grounding location,” he explains. We’ve all seen (or been) that racer who is constantly chasing electrical issues, with individual items not turning on or off when they are expected to – many times this can be directly traced to a poor ground.”










americanautowire.com
Grounding Tips

"The main cause of most automotive electrical problems is caused by a bad ground situation. Always keep in mind that a circuit has to be complete. This means that the current has to be able to travel from a good ground to the positive side of the energy source in order to operate. Do not rely on just the negative battery cable as the only ground; always incorporate a separate ground wire or cable from the engine block to the chassis."

.

 

Wow! Thank you for the detailed write up. Ya, the alternator tested good so I'm going to go through all the grounds mentioned above and do a thorough cleaning and inspection. The previous owner has wires running all over the engine bay and throughout the truck so I need to go through those as well. Thank you.

 

You want to be careful remember All Father Dielectric grease is non conductive get to much in the wrong spot it can back fire and cause a poor connection .

I use a Copper based Never Seize with good results .

Dielectric grease is good for the outer parts of connections .

 

100% Correct and in theory it shouldn't be used on any electrical connection.

Fortunately I've never had that happen. Maybe I've just had good luck with it, but then again I don't apply it heavily, just a dab spread thin with my fingers is enough. I guess I should start mentioning that before someone goes globing the stuff on everything like it's barbecue sauce. Keep it in mind that I not only use it on my cars but I apply it to anyone's stuff I've made battery cables for, my friends cars and even friends of friends that have some questionable looking connections. I just hate to see anyone having trouble in that department when it's so easy to take care of that area but it can leave you stranded.
On wires under 10 awg I don't use it, instead I use DeoxIT.

I also apply it to all kinds of rubber and plastic applications outside of the vehicle realm so I've gone through more than the average person and it's why I purchase big tubes.

 

Update:
So I've cleaned all the grounds. Same thing is still happening. Battery seems to be holding a charge fine (starts good, powers lights, heater, etc). I notice my voltage meter on the dash fluctuate when a load is applied such as headlights, off road lights, wipers... is it a bad alternator or battery? Not too good at this stuff. Thanks again.

 

Time to break down and get a Multi meter so you can get some real readings

The volt meter gauge gives you an idea what is going on but not to accurate

 

Stupid stuff but make sure the alternator belt has proper tension and doesn't have oil or antifreeze on it causing it to slip.

You do have a 10 or 8 awg ground wire going from the battery to the inner fender right?

I'm not saying that this will fix your problem but did you add a 4, 2, or 1 awg wire from the block to the frame?
Different electrical issue but it helped this guy https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f131...issues-291475/




wyoming is right, it's time to start getting a little more technical.
scope103 and RAD4Runner are others that I trust when it comes to the electrical system.

It's pretty easy to test the alternator and you don't need a highly accurate multimeter to do it with. scope103 is always recommending this inexpensive multimeter for those who don't have one. http://www.harborfreight.com/7-funct...ter-90899.html



If you can't get one or just don't want one you can easily remove the alternator and the battery from the truck and take them to dang near any automotive parts place NAPA, CarQuest, Advanced Auto, O'Reilly Auto, Pep Boys, Autozone, and have them Load Tested. Normally it's a free service.

If both check out you better purchase a multimeter and start hunting for problems that way. Taking the truck to a shop will drive costs up fast when they start poking around. When it comes to electrical problems sometimes shops replace things that aren't even a problem. Unfortunately you still pay for that and get nowhere.






Make sure the headlights are on high and the heater blower is on full blast when you do these tests!
The system has to be under a load (asking for increased power) for the fault to be exposed.

 

The thing is sometimes these trucks have passed through several owners .

Who have done who knows what to the electrical system.

Could be as simple as something being powered off the EFI fuse that should not be..

Over the years I have seen some very strange electrical work.

It can be a very frustrating slow process .

Just look for wiring that looks out of place and does not belong.

 

I hope it's not the typical rats nest of red wires with smashed and unsealed butt connectors. Thaaat always works well