I have 2 federal signal highlighters on the roof of my xj, they she wired through a relay under the hood. I went to a fire call the about a week ago and forgot to turn them off. They completely drained my battery. So i got a jump start and ever since then im having intermittent problems. The radio turns on and off, the dome lights barely glow and the headlights dim at random times. It starts and runs fine but seems to have a shortage of power inside the cab. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Do these dimming and flickering things coincide with engine speed at all?

 

Sounds like something's draining your battery or your alternator is going out.

 

Seems like it could also be a ground issue since it's affecting several things. Cruiser54 has a great write-up on ground refreshing (<<it's about the third or fourth response down this thread).

 

The battery and alternator are good. It does not seem to follow the engine speed.

 

Ok read the part about refreshing the grounds and i could see where that could be an issue. I did not know about the stud by the dip stick. There is enough grease and oil in that area that it could have alt to do with it.

 

Any progress on this?

 

Ok i finally had some time to work on this. The previous owner was not a real wiz at wiring. Somehow he placed a fuse with a relay up under the dash above the steering colum way up out of sight. Somehow when i left my lights on it blew the fuse and then the relay fed back through the radio wiring to the dome lights and beyond. No clue what this fuse or relay was supposed to do, but it was there screwing up everything. I removed it changed the dome light fuse and removed all associated wires and now everything is back up and working in the proper way. I also checked the ground on the side odd the block and found 2 badly corroded wires. I cut them back soldered new ends on and cleaned the mount. Now it starts faster and runs smoother. ??? Don't know why, but it works for me. Thanks for all your help and happy jeeping.