recently my choke light has start flickering (it comes and goes). There is a definite click under the dash in the group of stuff above the gas pedal. I tried to get in there to figure it out but thought I would ask here and get some insight into what might be causing it.

I disconnected the electric choke and it still didn't stop it. I'm seeing posts in other threads about the alternator and the choke light but am wondering about the "on/off clicking" that I'm hearing with the flickering. The alternator is a few months old, Put it in with the engine swap last fall.

ideas?


thanks!

 

Yup, needs an alternator.

Don't outsmart yourself over "click" and all that. That's how they behave sometimes.

 

If I recall correctly, there is a choke relay under there. Could be the source of the clicking. Not sure if there is a tie-in with the alternator, but the alternator is always the first suspect in the line-up whenever you see the choke light come on.

 

Yessir, you mos def recall correctly.

The relay is in parallel with the light; they operate together. Light on = relay drops out. Light off = relay picks up.

 

Thanks for the replies, guys. I noticed last night that the voltage on the meter on the dash is surely fluctuating a bit. Especially if I hit the defroster and turn the blower fan on high and also when I slow down and come to a stop. But I also noticed that the "clicking and light flickering slows way down or goes away completely as the voltage on the dash drops. i would have thought that the light would come on all the way in that case. so I'm a bit confused about that.

but the dang thing is virtually new. It has a few thousand miles over a couple years with that Alt. I'm wondering if I should check grounds first. Well...second. first I'm gonna put a volt meter to the Alt. But bad grounds could cause a problem with virtually everything right?

It's killing me to think that Alt could be bad with so little use.

 

you didn't buy it at auto zone did you?? if so THERE is your problem

 

haha. I honestly couldn't remember so I checked at the autozone for the "warranty" i may have gotten from them but it wasn't in the system so now I'm thinking Napa.
Where would you recommend I get one and which particular one should I get?

I'm still finding a few things very odd about all this though.

1. I took the time to clean off a couple of grounds and the voltage instantly increased and the flickering/clicking frequency immediately reduced.
2. Why does the flickering/clicking go away if I add more load to the circuits (turn on the defroster and high fan)?
3. Why does it slow and stop flickering/clicking when I come to a stop and increase in speed and frequency again as I accelerate as voltage seems to increase?