Battery light flickering randomly

[mlc2000]

Just started happening on the way home tonight. I first got into the car and started the engine just as my left hand flashed on the lights. At this point, no engine turnover but only my battery light was on. Turned it off, turned on the lights, they were bright. Turned them off and he started up immediately, no problem.

After getting onto the road, my battery light flickered for a split second. Only other thing happening at that time was the radio would be interrupted for a brief second and then everything normal.

By flickering I mean it came on, for not even a second, and then turned off and wouldn't do it for another 5/10 minutes. But there is no pattern in time or driving conditions, i.e. braking heavy, braking light, normal acceleration, flooring it, turning left and right.

I turned off the radio for a bit and it happened a few times, but only once my speedometer needle went to 0 and immediately back to 50. No loss of power though.

I then turned on the a/c, radio, and all the other electronics and no change in behavior, it still flickered randomly.

Went up a hill with all that stuff on and didn't happen. It happened on the way down the hill. I figured with load on the 4runner up the hill it would happen.

It also did not happen going over speed bumps.

I haven't changed/touched anything under the hood for quite a while.

Battery is '14. Alternator is about a few years old.

Recent weather - big snowstorm followed by temps in teens and single digits, went up to 50's today and very humid, with a bit of rain.

Any ideas?

 

[2016 4Runner SR5]

Check battery connections at the battery and clean them. Check battery ground at the body, and check engine ground. Check power cable connection at the fuse box and starter. Check connections at the alternator. If all check out, you possibly need an alternator.

 

[TT4RLtdV8]

Check out my most recent post. I had the battery flicker intermittently before it just stayed on and strange sh** started happening. Last night I replaced my alternator, all better.

FWIW: I live in Northeast Ohio, and except for yesterday when we almost saw 60 degrees, it’s been multiple digits below zero for almost three weeks. Cold kills things, like my alternator and my soul.


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[riceandpho]

if the alternator is not making any noise, you might be able to replace the brushes, I think the noise means the bearing is failing, if you know how to take it apart, might want to look at that option then if its not the brush, then just replace the whole thing. even a alternator rebuild might be a cheaper solution.

 

[mlc2000]

There was never any noise.

So after 1 full week, it never happened again. Most likely it was due to the huge amount of moisture we had here. Went from below freezing to 50 degrees with a foot of snow on the ground. That snow evaporated very fast and the fog was so thick you couldn't see 2 feet in front of you.

I have a feeling that moisture made a connection somewhere that was playing with the alternator and tripping off the battery light.

I checked all wires and connections, everything is fine. Battery has a full charge on it and accepting a charge under load. Nothing is loose.

Thanks everyone for the help.

 

[radlynx]

There was never any noise.

So after 1 full week, it never happened again. Most likely it was due to the huge amount of moisture we had here. Went from below freezing to 50 degrees with a foot of snow on the ground. That snow evaporated very fast and the fog was so thick you couldn't see 2 feet in front of you.

I have a feeling that moisture made a connection somewhere that was playing with the alternator and tripping off the battery light.

I checked all wires and connections, everything is fine. Battery has a full charge on it and accepting a charge under load. Nothing is loose.

Thanks everyone for the help.

i would think its your alternator. might be on its way out. when that happened to me once, i did not hesitate replacing my alternator. now, 50000 miles later, it is still working. whats your mileage now?

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[mlc2000]

i would think its your alternator. might be on its way out. when that happened to me once, i did not hesitate replacing my alternator. now, 50000 miles later, it is still working. whats your mileage now?

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I was thinking that too. In my tests I found my positive terminal was loose, to the point where I could swivel it back and forth. I could not tighten it up anymore, it was so compressed. Getting it off via the nut was just as worse as it was so compressed in there, I could not get the wrench in. Used a terminal clamp puller and pulled it off. Changed out the terminal connection and now its nice and tight.

No re-occurrence yet. I did this on 2/3. So I'm willing to bet the amount of moisture in the air combined with the loose positive terminal was throwing off the lights.