Lil Dog

Thanks all even though I didn't post a thread on my dilema. The last 6 or so months I have had some weird charging issues and there is a lot of good information posted in these forums.

I had erratic charging, flickering lights so about 6 months ago I replaced the brushes in my alternator, easy job. They were in bad shape and needed to be replaced, however the commutator shaft was pretty grooved that it ran on so I hoped it would last for a while. It never fixed the flickering problem, occassionally the lights would still flicker and pulse, especially after the grid heaters pulled a long cycle.

Recently I was driving home and it just up and quit, voltage dropped to 12V then up to 14 then back to 12 for the count... I was concerned it was the PCM as that is a common problem with the 97's, especially the flickering.. But after reading about how to test for voltage to the alternator field, and bypassing the PCM to charge the field for testing the alternator I found out quickly that my alternator was at fault.

I think a "how-to" thread should be started to have links to all the good info I found.. So thanks to those who helped others and in the process helped me.