Hi guys,
A couple of months ago I posted a problem I've been having with my daughter's 1986 240.
Basically the car would run for weeks with no problem at all and then all of a sudden the car would not start and the battery appeared to be completely dead.
Well after over a month of no problems at all, the issue raised it's head once again, yesterday.
I drove the car to a nearby town with no problem.
Upon driving it back home the radio shut off.....the tach,temp & fuel gauges stopped reading and the car began to run really rough.
Well after a minute or so of this, the car actually died and I could hear this rapid clicking sound coming from the location of the glove box ( I assume this was the fuel pump relay, trying to operate).
In short, this was not a good situation to find myself in.
The only bright side to this story is that after I coasted for a couple of blocks I ended up about a half a block from my home. I was able to walk home....get my truck and drive it back to jump the car.
Upon giving it a jump, the car started right back up and I drove it into the driveway.
Well today I went out and turned on the headlights....the blower motor and the radio without the motor running. The result of this test is that within 30 seconds the lights had dimmed and there was not even enough battery power to make the solenoid click.
Okay, so I now knew it was a charging problem which made me start looking for the culprit.
Well the first thing that I did was give her a jump and check the alternator output.
I checked this at the battery and my volt meter read 8.2.
I then shut the car off and began to check for obvious problems first.
Well the first thing that I came across was the belt running to the air conditioner......it was very loose.
Now I honestly don't see how this could be my problem since this really has nothing to do with the alternator but after having tightened the belt, suddenly I was getting a reading of 13.5 volts at the battery and 13.8 volts at the alternator. Coincidence? I don't know.
Also, I'm still having issues with my dash warning lights.
When I turn the key to position 2, I often only get the oil light to come on.
I have grounded the exciter wire and this does light the lights.
I have also tried grounding the alternator case but this does not make the lights come on.
Is it now safe to assume that my problem is in the cluster, and would this cause intermittent charging issues?
I'm pretty much at the end of my rope concerning this problem. The car will go for weeks, if not months with no problems and then all of a sudden it's there again.
If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears. This is starting to tick me off.

Dave
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I dream of a world where a chicken can cross the road without having its motives questioned.