Electrical Gremlins

[CHaingKaiShek]

Hey all. Trying to make a habbit of posting here as I cannot seem to get too many replies about my truck in other..er.. areas I'm posting. I have a small, or large problem as the case may be.

After installing a new stereo, getting my wipers fixxed, getting the blower motor on my truck replaced, and a few other minor things. I've noticed that the ol' voltmeter is just dragging towards 10volts at night while driving, with the lights on mind you - sometimes the stereo but not lately. I'll explain that later. I've noticed while sitting at stop-lights, my headlights tend to flick in key with the turn signals - at first this was just minor, but is becomming worse and worse (now even MORE-so after I replaced the alternator).

Leading me to believe of course my problem was not the alternator in the first place.

So to see how much of a load I can put on the truck, I turn on the lights, Wipers, Hazard lights stereo and finally the blower. Now if I turn on the blower, the voltage meter will drop sharply, and my stereo will go off for a second, then come back on. Leading me to believe there is an amperage draw that the alternator cannot handle when everything is 'running'.

Could a bad ground cause this? My Neg.cable is hooked to the alternator bracket (OEM location I think.) Now normally I do not see this being a problem. However I have and ALUMINUM Manifold/waterpump now, while the factory stuff was Cast Iron.

Both the waterneck (Where one edge of the bracket hooks.) And the water pump (other half) have aluminium, plus a gasket, and a good amount of RTV. Normally, yeah I guess the bolts would be driving into the block/manifold and creating a useable ground - But for some reason I dont think it's 'quite right'.

Anyone else think the neg. cable could be the cause of my problems? It's really starting to annoy me.

Open to suggestions (By the way, yes the belt is at it's proper tension).

Jeff