Power failure

[strange]

Driving home last night, I looked down at the dash to see all of the idiot lights suddenly turn on together and then after about two or three seconds, all go out with the exception of the airbag light, which took another two or three seconds before it went out too.

I was driving at about 80km per hour at a steady speed. The truck did not stutter or shake before, during or after this event. The weather was damp, the truck had been at that speed for about twenty minutes and the driving lights were on.

This happened about three weeks ago too. At that time, the mechanic did a tune up replacing plugs and wires among other parts - and the rotor cap. The alternator was replaced in the fall and a new belt installed at that point. We also replaced the belt tensioner.

The truck is a 2000 Safari with 235,000km on the clock. Motor is stock. I was thinking a grounding problem...?

Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

Michael

[Smiliesafari]

My first guess would be defective alternator.

[sfeaver]

I had this before, was the ground connection on the back of the driver side cylinder head. Tighened it up and problem went away.

[strange]

Thank you gentlemen. I'll do the repairs this weekend and let you know how I make out - either way!

Michael

[SafariRob]

My van is an 89, so this probably won't mean much considering that yours is a 2000, but maybe it'll give an insight.
My van's digital dash began to act erratically; all gauges were affected. The battery wasn't getting charged very well, either.
The problem turned out to be the ground cable that bolted to the front of the engine--there was rust on the metal where the engine ground bolt fastened the ground cable to the engine. Removed the cable, cleaned everything up, and reconnected it and all was good. It struck me as odd that the battery wasn't getting charged until I realized that the alternator uses that engine ground strap to charge the battery. Just to make sure that the alternator would continue to do its job, I added a 10 gauge ground wire from the alternator's case to the battery grounding point by the radiator. Have had no problems since with the battery being charged. It even took care of the erratic operation of the digital display.

[strange]

Thank you Rob. I intend to both clean all connections and add an additional ground.

What a great site this is!!

Michael

[rlsllc]

Any update?

I was thinking ignition switch...