belairbrian

The 14 years is my 98. And why replace a switch if 15 minutes in the vat will fix it?

Maybe I'm just getting old or maybe too many years working on cars where part aren't available.

But I'll refrain from offering any further ideas.

03shadow

im with you, check out the problem first before buying. its not like it takes that long

BabyGT

Doesn't make much sense to spend 45 dollars on something that might not be the problem, if you can clean it and test it for free why spend the gas and money to get a new switch, if it turns out not to be the switch that was just about 50 bucks you could be putting towards the real problem. Also you keep replacing alternators, have you ever thought to check the connections to the alt or the cables from the alt to the battery, I used to work at Walmart and would see people replacing there battery like once a month, they never once thought that maybe the battery cables with corrosion dust falling out of them or the EXTREMELY dirty alt connections and cables could have anything to do with it. Same thing happened with a buddy's bronco, went through about 4 alts and it turned out to be a bad cable causing the alt to work overtime and killing itself.

nativenyerintexas

Well, I appreciate the suggestions, I really do and I won't buy anything unless I'm sure that's the problem. That's why I posted my question here in the first place. What I meant to say previously was if I'm going as far as taking something out, like the headlight switch, ad even if it needs something small like a good cleaning, then to me, it just makes sense to replace it and be done with it so I can avoid having to deal with it in the future.

I replaced he battery once last year and the one that came out of there was the original battery. The cables look good and there's no corrosion on the terminals. The same goes for the connections to the alternator. When they'd die, O'Rielly's would check them and tell me that a diode blew.... so, they'd give me a new rebuilt. Granted, I don't know what the other end of the alternator and battery connections look like because they're out of my field of vision and I have no way of getting under the car or where ever those wires go but the connections to the battery and the alternator look A-OK. I have been told by many that O'Reilly's alternators aren't that good and it's somewhat of a known issue that they need to be replaced more often than others.... but I'm not willing to spend almost $300 on a brand new one. I don't even know (or think) the alternator is the problem concerning my original question.... the dashboard and headlights dimming occasionally but coming back up when I twist the dimmer ****. As of now, the alt gauge on my dashboard reads where it's supposed to, to the right of center. I haven't had time to test the charging state at idle with my volt meter yet and/or the battery when it's not running. Just out of curiosity, what numbers am I looking for when I do these checks? As far as I remember, when I worked on cars about 3,000 years ago, the alternator should be charging somewhere in the high 13's to low 14's.