Ok, so my 92 Aerostar is a champ, or at least it was. All winter it started no matter how long it was left unplugged. It always ran.

Today I run an errand and I notice the "Amp" light is on. Ok. Not sure what that meant but everything seemed to be working. I ran my errand, turned it off for 10 mins, and it fired back up with ease.

On the way home I noticed the amp light is still on, my spedometer is dead, and my battery gauge is dead too. The van is still running great though and the oil gauge and gas gauge still work.

Once home I turn it off and try to fire it back up. I get a chugging half of a turn over and then nothing. It's dead (interior lights are still on when I open the door though)

Ok, I let it sit for a while. An hour later I try again. This time I can hear the starter (at least I think it's the starter) tapping away, but it's not turning over.

Ok, so I let it sit for 4 hours. I start it up and almost everything works. The spedometer is all over the place, but at least it's moving. And the battery gauge is at almost half way. I get a block away from my house (smoke run) and I watch the battery gauge drop to zero, all my lights went out (headlamps, dash, everything), and it's seems like it's struggling to run.

I manage to get it home and into my driveway. I notice while exiting it that the interior lights do come on, but they're dim. I checked it 2 hours later and the interior lights are bright again.

Someone help me, please.

 

start at battery connectors and battery cables, any corrosion, bolts good, no corrosion ate up cables inside insulation?

have the battery and alternator tested, most auto parts stores test for free nowdays.

what work has been done on electrical system? how old is the battery?

check the alternator wiring to make sure connections are tight

 

did you happen to notice if the amp gauge was at like, 10 or something when you were driving around? when my alternator went out, i ran off my two batteries for 3 days...

 

.......your alternator is not charging. Check all connections to/from the alternator, it could be the voltage regulator also (around $25 if it's external). Hook up an Voltmeter across the battery, a good one will read about 12.5-13 volts fully charged (yours wont though if it's flat!). When the engine is running it should show between 14-15 volts, anything outside this range indicates a problem in the charging system. If the wiring is O.K. & reads below 13.8 volts running,...... replace the Alternator would be my best guess at this point.

The fact that the engine ran without the charging system functioning does indicate that your battery was good enough to start the vehicle, so it's likely O.K. for now;. recharge & see if it'll come back up to 12.7 volts.

All the other strange goings on are to do with the low voltage of a nearly flat battery.

ATB Aeroman.

 

Ok, I called a local partsource and I'm going to take the battery and alternator over there for testing.... I'll post again with the results....

 

I have seen a bad diode pack backfeed power through the stator line/wire and freek out the instrument pannel. Sounds like Alternator failure.
Specificly a bad diode pack.
I fin good one on ebay. Cheap.