Indeed, with today's gas prices and 15-17 mpg, who can afford to pay a
mechanic? Or even to drive at all? That's why I parked my Explorer in the
garage and re-commissioned the long mothballed 21 year old LTD. No ABS, no
airbags, no dual-media entertainment system, and the headlights don't turn
on and off on their own; but boy, that obsolete throttle body injected V6
and three speed transmission are still happily delivering an astounding 19
mpg!

Don't know much about Lucas oil products. Electrical products by the same
name have a spotty reputation, but I have not heard of any of those ever
being used in an Explorer... So before we pull out the chart, let's figure
out if this is just the gauge, or the voltage is actually flickering. The
simplest way to tell might be parking at night in front of a wall, taking
your foot off the accelerator and observing the headlights. If the lights
are bright and steady, you can probably leave your vehicle parked right
there and go to sleep peacefully, as there is little to worry about (unless
you are a perfectionist like me, and want every gauge to work in a 15 year
old vehicle with over 200,000 miles).
The other crucial piece of information that you kept secret from us is
whether the engine is idling steadily or not. If it idles poorly, the
voltage will be justified in doing what it's doing and you need to take care
of the idling.

And no, it does not rhyme with 'altimeter'. The word is 'voltmeter'.

"nashjeff" > wrote in message
lkaboutautos.com...
>
> the most problematic and anxiety-causing is the upper-left battery gauge.
It seems to flicker like a stereo equalizer
> whenver I push the brake pedal or come to a resting idle.