Ok, I actually posted a thread about this about 3 weeks ago or so, but did not get much response, and it's got me stumped, and really starting to piss me off. 
It is very intermittent, which makes even harder to diagnose, on top of the fact that I am not very good with electrical diagnostics anyway. But what i've got going on is this.
The brake indicator, the battery, and the AT oil temp light will all come on at the same time, and the voltage drops. Occasionally it will do it right at start up, but usually after I have already started driving, sometimes just for a few seconds, though the longer this issue persists, it seems to do it for longer periods of time, up to about 15 minutes I think has been the longest, and then, just on it's own, the idiot lights will go out and the voltage comes back up. It did finally do it for a long enough period of time last weekend to put a meter on the battery, and voltage truly was down (wanted to eliminate a potential gauge or cluster problem), showing 11.9 at idle. I did not check it at the alternator then, and have been driving around the past few days with my meter with in hopes to get a chance to check that, but it has been too inconsistent. It also seems to mostly do it at night, with the headlights on (possibly pure coincidence), but has done it a time or do during the day. I have checked all the normal stuff, cleaned and tightened battery connections, alternator and starter connections, and so on. And also found one of fender marker light sockets and fallen out and was all decayed with the copper prongs exposed, laying on the wheel well, so I thought maybe it was shorting against the body, so I taped it off, but no luck.
Sorry for the long thread, but please help. This is going to drive me batty.
P.S. I am starting to think my alternator is going tits up, though it was replaced about a year and half ago, but what would the alt have to do with the rest of the idiot lights?
It is very intermittent, which makes even harder to diagnose, on top of the fact that I am not very good with electrical diagnostics anyway. But what i've got going on is this. The brake indicator, the battery, and the AT oil temp light will all come on at the same time, and the voltage drops. Occasionally it will do it right at start up, but usually after I have already started driving, sometimes just for a few seconds, though the longer this issue persists, it seems to do it for longer periods of time, up to about 15 minutes I think has been the longest, and then, just on it's own, the idiot lights will go out and the voltage comes back up. It did finally do it for a long enough period of time last weekend to put a meter on the battery, and voltage truly was down (wanted to eliminate a potential gauge or cluster problem), showing 11.9 at idle. I did not check it at the alternator then, and have been driving around the past few days with my meter with in hopes to get a chance to check that, but it has been too inconsistent. It also seems to mostly do it at night, with the headlights on (possibly pure coincidence), but has done it a time or do during the day. I have checked all the normal stuff, cleaned and tightened battery connections, alternator and starter connections, and so on. And also found one of fender marker light sockets and fallen out and was all decayed with the copper prongs exposed, laying on the wheel well, so I thought maybe it was shorting against the body, so I taped it off, but no luck.
Sorry for the long thread, but please help. This is going to drive me batty.
P.S. I am starting to think my alternator is going tits up, though it was replaced about a year and half ago, but what would the alt have to do with the rest of the idiot lights?
