1984 Cj7 ghost in the electrical!

[cbhph2003]

I just bought this and when I drove it before I bought it it ran great. Get it home and there is a ghost in the wiring. It does one if three things. Turn the headlights on and the voltmeter pegs to the left low side and I can hear the motor straining. The sometimes I works OK not often and twice now the headlights will not turn on the voltmeter pegs to the left and the oil pressure gauge pegs to the right. Let it sit off and then goes back to the first thing. Today we checked every wire and grounds with no luck. I have a friend who owns a mechanic shop for the last 30 years look at it today. He is old school and does great work with older cars. Like i said we went through it with no luck. But a new headlight switch in and the voltmeter in the jeep was jumping from 14 to 12, and back and forth and killing the motor even with the headlights off. We watched it for a couple of mins and when it cut off for the last time we walked in to the shop to get the voltmeter we cranked it back up and running perfect headlights on and headlights off runs like a champ. I drove it around for an hour with no problem but there still is a ghost in it somewhere who know what it will do tomrrow. I don't know and any help would be appreciated.

 

[Torxhead]

I would suggest starting with the battery connections, if they are loose and/or corroded that can cause problems. From there you might have some bad fusible links which are connected to the hot side of the starter relay, so jiggle those while the motor is running and see if that changes anything.

 

[cbhph2003]

Thanks I will check that tomorrow and give an update

 

[tarry99]

I just bought this and when I drove it before I bought it it ran great. Get it home and there is a ghost in the wiring. It does one if three things. Turn the headlights on and the voltmeter pegs to the left low side and I can hear the motor straining. The sometimes I works OK not often and twice now the headlights will not turn on the voltmeter pegs to the left and the oil pressure gauge pegs to the right. Let it sit off and then goes back to the first thing. Today we checked every wire and grounds with no luck. I have a friend who owns a mechanic shop for the last 30 years look at it today. He is old school and does great work with older cars. Like i said we went through it with no luck. But a new headlight switch in and the voltmeter in the jeep was jumping from 14 to 12, and back and forth and killing the motor even with the headlights off. We watched it for a couple of mins and when it cut off for the last time we walked in to the shop to get the voltmeter we cranked it back up and running perfect headlights on and headlights off runs like a champ. I drove it around for an hour with no problem but there still is a ghost in it somewhere who know what it will do tomrrow. I don't know and any help would be appreciated.

I would take the alternator off and have it checked or if it has an external regulator have them both checked at your local NAPA.........Make sure your grounds on everything in your dash have a path to the ground strap at your battery............if you cannot determine that ....run a temporary 12 gu. jumper wire from the Battery ground to a good groundable surface on your dash panel.

 

[mfistler]

With all of the previously mentioned information, I would replace your battery ground cable, as well as the ground cables to the frame and the body. Checking them they might ohm out fine however when they get hot that is another story. Also I would replace and check the ground going to your ballast resister, I have faced these gremlins in the past, these are the many joys of owning a Jeep, good luck to you.

 

[Jimbos76cj]

as stated already.. ground, ground and ground. Also chek your altenator. MAke sue that it is also grounding well.. Ive seen a guy with a pretty new painted/powder coated brackets have a issue because they were not grounding right