IJM

I'm on a road trip and running into some electrical issues. Earlier today, my '98 was acting like there was a bad ground somewhere. With the engine off and the ignition on, the wipers barley moved, then I got no dash lights and nothing when I tried turning the key. The headlights were working and then they weren't. After a few minutes, things seemed to return to normal, so I started it up and drove another two hours.

I noticed that during the drive the main dome light would flicker rapidly (it's converted to LED) when I turned it on while driving. I also noticed the voltage gauge on two occasions would be pinned at 19v for a few minutes with no other symptoms. The headlights didn't seem any brighter when it was pegged. When I reached my destination, the engine stalled when I braked to a stop, but I restarted it fine.

Any idea what's going on? I thought at first it could be a bad ground, but the flickering dome light (only with the engine running) and the voltmeter spiking have me wondering if it's something like the voltage regulator. Any help would be appreciated, as I'm 400 miles from home.

jordan96xj

Since, your on the go, the basics I would do immediately would be to clean and tightly reconnect both battery clamps and posts. I would want to clean up as many grounds as possible, particularly the ground going from the negative battery terminal to the body. But all of them if possible. I carry a small wire brush, and I would at least scrub each ground connection to see if any difference was made. Yes it could be grounds.

Do you have any tools or test equipment with you (multimeter)?

It might also simply be an alternator that is on the way out.

SouthSeaPirate

Known problem locations in NBS XJs
Harness in driver door to body; cracks, frays, and shorts
Harness in hatch to body; cracks, frays, and shorts

I also had another problem. The RKE unit in the dome light; if both the LED and RKE board were hooked up at the same time I would have guaranteed electrical issues.

But...... You have a problem even with engine off. This can be battery and anything that can affect its charge and path. I think youre prob spot on with the grounds. Tho I would still check the places I listed above. GL

IJM

No, no tools or multimeter, though I'll have access to a few things on Saturday. I considered the alternator, but that one time when I got nothing (not even dash lights) when I turned the key made me think it wasn't the alternator. Battery is fine, as it started strong a few minutes later.

The battery connections seem tight and clean, though I don't have a wrench to really make sure they're tight. I just grabbed them and yanked.

jordan96xj

I agree.

You'll want to check over all of your connections as soon as your have the means to do so. You can find a little wire brush at a lot of places (hardware store, auto store, perhaps drug store, etc). Does not necessarily have to be for a car.

Here is a video showing some of the most important connection locations:


But also take a moment to look at your wire bundles, particularly any where they come near to anything that might be rubbing or melting them. (around the back of the valve cover and intake manifold, and the rear of the fuel rail).

foreman05

I had a similar issue but with my headlights going full bright and my gauges going crazy. After getting a new battery,alternator and new 4 ga power and ground cables i still had the problem. I then took my dremmel to the paint on my ground from the engine to firewall on the back side of the engine. ground the paint on the firewall down to bare metal and walla!! not even a flicker since.

IJM

I'll have to try that when I get back home. On two different occasions while driving yesterday my temp gauge randomly dropped from 195° to around 140° or so and stayed there for a few minutes before returning to normal. I'd imagine a bad ground could cause all sorts of things to go haywire.

foreman05

Absolutely, my gauges looked like I was having an alien encounter.