22RE_yota

I am not sure whether anyone else has had these problems and I appoligize if I'm going over the same old ground, I can understand how annoying that would be.

I have a 91 22RE reg cab/long box 4X4 truck as my daily driver/off roader and was wondering if anyone had any tips of hints as to what may be causing my head lights to flicker on/off randomly? I was driving home and my head lights just randomly shut off then came on 5-10 min later and did this randomly through out the drive home. Then they shut off and have never came back on.

A week later...
I figured to check the relay. I poped the cap off everything looked ok (I'm no specialist), so I taped the contacts together and only put the relay back in when driving at night. THis means that My head lights are on all the time if I have the relay in, so when I park I pull it out.

I would like to know if there is a common place where there is a short circuit, or where to look for trying to find the missing connection.

I was also wondering if anyone knew why my parking brake light and battery idiot lights stay on from time to time in my instrument cluster? I have a nagging suspicsion that my alternator is slowly dying. Am I on the right track?

I have only had the truck since July of '07 and stated doing some mods; Headers, exhaust & cold air intake.
-Any suggestions are much appreciated! thanks

OSU4Runner

For the headlights, start at the bulbs and work your way back the harness checking for shorts, like wires where the insulation has rubbed through. Sounds like you have a loose connection somewhere. Clean all your contacts real well with electrical contact cleaner or isopropyl alcohol. You could also hook a mulitmeter up to each of your headlamp plugs to see it you're getting 12V, leave it hooked up and wiggle the harness around to see if the voltage drops off.

As for the parking brake light and alternator, check your brake fluid level. You can take your truck to autozone and have your electrical charging system checked. Or.........you could have one big electrical problem and everything might be tied together behind the dash.........who knows....start with the basics.

22RE_yota

Thanks for the advice, I am still working on the head lamp situation,. but my suspicions were correct about the alternator. Also my brake fluid level indicator (reservoir cap) was shotty, so it needed to be replaced along with the alternator. LOL the parking brake sensor error turned out only to be a broken tab on the engagement shaft, under the steereing wheel console...and there I was chasing wires! any how thanks for the help I really appreciate it.

OSU4Runner

No problem. Good work man!