For awhile I've had an issue with my dash lights all coming on at once --radiator, engine, brake, oil level, etc. It happens intermittently and stopped doing it for a few months before it came back. It comes on for a few seconds, the stereo cuts off ~95% of the time. If it stays on I usually know it will go away soon.

Recently I've found that if I turned the heater on high the dash lights would go away. Though it started doing it again sometimes and the heater would change speeds like it was going faster. Because of the changed like its getting too much voltage I turned the headlights on and it went away mostly but sometimes would require me to turn the high beams on for it to fully go away. The van runs fine otherwise.

Could it be a blower resistor going out? The van has been loosing power when off rather quickly lately. I tested the battery at the parts store and it's checked out fine. It happened a few weeks ago and then recently again this week. I charged it and it was barely turning over a few hours later.

Did the parasitic drain test with a test light and a meter. The meter suggest its about .4 amp draw. I pulled all the fuses one by one but didn't see the light go out on any of them. My meter is junky and was wandering around numbers and didn't seem to hold anything, even with the leads disconnected. SO I wasn't able to use the meter to check for a voltage drop across the fuses. It may have damaged my meter cause it sparked when connecting the test leads.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? the book doesn't provide a test procedure for this sort of problem.

Also, the alternator had an issue with the power steering fluid leaking into it from a damaged gasket. I built a foil shield for it to divert any leaks until I can repair the seal. That was quite some time ago, around the time that it stopped However, I also tightened the alternator down with zip ties, as the alternator housing is stripped and I need to take the radiator hose off to add a longer bolt/nut. Now the belt tension is much better.

 

You should be more specific about your test methods. Also if you're not confident in your tools your tests accuracy your test results are void.

 

Disconnected the negative wire from battery, connected a test light between terminal and wire and it lights up bright. Using a meter it suggested .4amps before it looked like it broke.

 

Sounds like you need to get the alt figured out first, when mine went out my dash lights and electrical did some funky stuff. Zip ties could be flexing causing intermittent tension which will also give wacky results.....

I would start simple with the alternator, parasitic draws are worst case scenarios and without starting at the basic charging system you’ll be throwing money and pulling hair out

 

ok, so if I disconnect the alternator and still have power draw with the key off it should eliminate the alternator as the culprit right?

 

First and foremost, did you make sure you have good clean and tight connections at ALL points? Then go back to your meter. Continue taking powered devices off of the battery until there's nothing left.

 

I highly doubt that the blower motor resistor could cause this type of a problem, plus, as you said, you removed all of the fuses which should have removed the HVAC system from your suspects.

I would get a new multimeter that you trust. Measure the voltage of the battery when the van is running normally and when the van is running with the "high voltage" symptoms. This will show if the charging system is actually over charging.

The test light indicates that there is a significant draw somewhere. Do you know where all of the fuses are? I know that on the Trucks and 4Runners there are two main fuse boxes, and a smaller one for the A/C and Heater behind the glove box. The Van may be different.

The alternator and/or voltage regulator is suspect due to the power steering leak. I would disconnect the alternator and see if the draw goes away.

 

Got a new meter. Vintage from the goodwill bins, paid $1.34/lb for it, so maybe $2 max. Plus I had some spare leads I was able to hack into it. My other meter's current functions are completely shot. This one suggest a larger draw than previously anticipated. 1.4A if i'm reading it correctly (the bottom line of the upper black scale). The power died really quickly today when I went to the store for a few moments. I did leave the lights on for about 10 mintues while in the first store but it wasn't starting by the time I was out of the second, ~20-30 minutes max without driving. So for now I'm going always disconnect the negative wire whenever not driving it.

For fun I've posted the engine bay and alternator. Its a PIA to get to a lot of the stuff on here. Today was just getting the new meter working, I'll disconnect the alternator in the next few days when i have a better place to work on it. The weather started to turn right when I went out today. I'll also work on getting that meter hooked up so that I can see whats happening when I drive. The battery box is behind my seat so its just a matter of getting longer wires.

 

Didn't have the opportunity to try disconnecting the alternator this weekend--busy replacing rear wheel bearings. I want to get the seals for the power steering pump before I pull it off, which it looks like I might have to to disconnect the wires.

It does go up to about 17V when the dash lights come on and back down to normal range when I turned on the fan/lights/high-beams. Probably replace the alternator in the future.