I have a 1988 FJ land cruiser. Yesterday, I noticed a discharge on the ammenter, preceding this, I have had hi/lo beam actuator (stalk) occasional failure causing total blackouts between the high low movements at night...lasts about 1-2 seconds, causes real thrills. And one occasion of AC fan continuing to run with ignition switch in off position...suspect a ground somewhere failing...any one have an idea how these might be connected...had to jump off the cruiser yesterday due to dead battery, was dead again this am...Noticed after jumping off that half the way home, charging was showing neither charge or discharge. Then, about home, (total of 7 miles) that the meter began reflecting solid charge position...this is flaky and will have to take it to dealer to sort out but if anyone has a similaar issue, or knows of any connectivity between the lights failing, occasional loss of temp gauge, and off/on charge discharge, please let me know, would save lots of diagnostic time and dollars...much thanks, Paul [font=Arial Black][size=2]

Hmm... odd. I don't know much about electrical. In one car I had, the electrical did odd stuff when the alternator started dying. Whatever the case may be, you'll probably need some expert troubleshooting. Shorts can be very difficult to find... Best of luck with it, though.

I have had also some unexplained problems. Like when i opened the backdoor all of a sudden lamps on the dash were going on. It was as if the contact switch was engaged.

I found out this was due to bad wiring of the back door.
When i opened the backdoor or switch on the back interior light, the 24V would pass through:
(in this order:)
1- the backinterior lamp
2- the switch in the backdoor lock
3- backdoor wiper motor
4- somehow to the dash
This would engage the main relay under the dash and also the main relay under the hood.

This problem was caused by worn backdoor hinges. This prevented a good ground connection between battery (-) and backdoor. I solved it by adding an addition wire between backdoor and chassis.

I hope this will help you.