"Elle" <honda.lioness@nospam.earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:H1eHf.13812$rH5.6638@newsread2.news.atl.earth link.net...
> "Michael Pardee" <michaeltnull@cybertrails.com> wrote
>> I was lucky that both my cars that had that problem also had voltmeters.
>> I noticed the voltmeter in each fluctuating as the brushes made contact
>> and then didn't, but the lamps never flickered. (Sometimes they wouldn't
>> come on before start-up when the brushes were wearing out.) Talk about
>> "idiot lights!"
>
> Would you say watching the voltage across the battery terminals of an
> idling car might also likely pick up bad brushes?
>
That's how I caught it in both cases. The voltmeter fluctuated sharply
between charging and battery voltage. I think the movement of the meter
caught my eye as much as actual dash scanning did. At first it was only a
couple seconds dropout at a time, worsening to a minute or so good and a
minute or so bad within a week. In both cases the dropouts were worse when
cold.

Mike