Just driving along minding my own business, look at dash, and my AT oil light, my Charge light, and my Brake light are all on. Truck is running fine. Trans is not overheating. Brake fluid level is fine. As far as I can tell the alternator is doing its thing too. Where on earth do I start looking for this gremlin. I can pull the charge fuse under the hood and they all go off. The check engine light is working as it should as is the 4x4 light and the gauges. Any thoughts as to what to start with would be appreciated. I cant see any sign of loose wires or anything that is damaged. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

You say that your alternator is working fine as far as you know. I don't know about the v6 engines, but on my 86 with a 22r, all of the idiot lights come on when the alternator goes bad. I would start the engine and disconnect the battery and see what happens. If the engine dies, you probably have a bad alternator. Thats where I would start.

That's what I was thinking too. It is the original alternator on this truck. With almost 180,000 miles on it. I'm thinking its as good as any place to start looking. Thanks for you input.

Usually not a good idea to disconnect the alternator on an EFI vehicle, may do bad things to the ECU. Have a look at the following page for the symptoms and repair of the alternator:
http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/alternator_brushes/

X2 on not disconnecting the alternator. Modern vehicles just aren't designed to tolerate that.

Put a voltmeter accross the battery before & after starting. If the voltage isn't up after starting the alt is likely bad.

Also a bad groung to the cluster can cause all sorts of wierd things to happen....

Dave

yea, the battery should read about 12.6v when off. after started it should read 13.3-14.5 or so. if its not then the alt is going.

my truck drove fine for like a week then just died on the way to work.... everything electrical went first then the truck just rolled to a stop.

Thanks everyone. Alternator is dead. Pulled pos. wire...truck died. I will pull it this week sometime and rebuild it. It's nice having two other trucks and a cycle to get around on when something breaks. I guess I can't complain too much. I've never touched the alternator once, and I've owned this truck since 1991. jeff <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />