The other day I'm driving home and suddenly all teh lights on my dash got extremely bright and looked as though they were going to explode and then they went back to normal. The next day go to turn on my headlights and nothing. No brights or regular headlights. So I checked the fuses and they are all still good. So I am wondering what it is. I'm assuming the surge of power was from the altenator as I was on the highway and RPMs were high. Some basics on the truck. It's a 87 pickup extra cab, with a 22R and 5spd. Manual transmission. While I'm here does anyone know where/ has a picture of where the regulator is? I'm thinking if that failed it could lead to this problem. Thanks guys

 

sounds like you had a short and your bulbs got super bright, and when you turned em off, it killed em... same thing happened in my old place during a power surge, stuff got real bright, then went back to normal, then next day wouldnt work. check the bulbs, wires, etc.

 

I checked and for the bulbs are really hard to tell if they are good as it looks as if the entire sealed housing is bulb. The wires didn't look any different bu tI only checked one side I should check the other. Sounds exactly what happened to me. And you are saying yours was a short. Hmm. Well now I need to find that.

 

Is there an easy way to find a short?

 

When your voltage regulator is going out it can do that. Have your alternator checked ASAP.

 

Altenator is good and all systems are charging. But I am reading my battery while running is at 15 to 16. Which is way to high. That would be the regulator right? If I get that fixed will my headlights come back or do I need to address that as well?