Flickering Power

hey Folks:

I own a 1984 Dodge 150 Royal SE Power Wagon truck. It has a 360, 4-barrel
carb. Recently, I have noticed that on occasion when I hit a bump the radio
will flicker off then back on. This intermittent annoyance has progressed
into a fairly regular occurrence and now also includes the blower fan and
headlights.

Lately, it happens less when I hit a bump but more often and much more
consistently when I am slowing down to make a stop or corner. As I live in
northern Alberta, Canada, the winter sun sets at about 4:30 PM here and the
headlights are a necessity to avoid the many deer on or near the highways.

Any suggestions on where to look. I have checked and cleaned as many of the
major wire connectors as I can find to no avail. My battery seems fine and
my belts are ok as well. I am wondering if it could be my alternator or
voltage regulator. Unfortunately, I am truly lost with automotive
electronics.

Layne

Suddenly, without warning, KaFuff exclaimed (20-Nov-06 1:46 PM):
> hey Folks:
>
> I own a 1984 Dodge 150 Royal SE Power Wagon truck. It has a 360, 4-barrel
> carb. Recently, I have noticed that on occasion when I hit a bump the radio
> will flicker off then back on. This intermittent annoyance has progressed
> into a fairly regular occurrence and now also includes the blower fan and
> headlights.
>
> Lately, it happens less when I hit a bump but more often and much more
> consistently when I am slowing down to make a stop or corner. As I live in
> northern Alberta, Canada, the winter sun sets at about 4:30 PM here and the
> headlights are a necessity to avoid the many deer on or near the highways.
>
> Any suggestions on where to look. I have checked and cleaned as many of the
> major wire connectors as I can find to no avail. My battery seems fine and
> my belts are ok as well. I am wondering if it could be my alternator or
> voltage regulator. Unfortunately, I am truly lost with automotive
> electronics.
>
> Layne
>
>

This... sorta... sounds like the problem I had recently with my ignition
switch. With my truck (2001 Dak), it was the radio and turn signals
that we noticed. It went from an occasional flicker to a state where
it'd go off, and stay off until the truck was, uh, rebooted (it'd work
when the truck was turned off, then restarted ...

Replaced the ignition switch (easy job, even for a newbie), and all was
well.

Try wiggling your key while your truck's running, and see of that
doesn't trigger the problem.

I'm not an expert though, so hopefully someone here who is can tell you
if I should shut up or not

jmc