recently my transmission has been acting up when ever i have my headlights on, which is necessary alot in the middle of winter. i rebuilt my tranny 18 months and 8,000 miles ago and has been fine until now. i notice the dashboard voltmeter shows only 12 volts when the headlights are on, 14 when they are off. connecting a voltmeter to the battery shows 14.2 volts with the engine running whether the lights are on or off. battery hold a good charge, starts immediately on the coldest mornings. yesterday cleaned all connections at the battery, ground post at the front under the hood, checked fusible links and connections at the firewall behind battery, all seem good. today i noticed
if i apply additional load to the battery such as power windows the voltage drops even lower at the dash and the headlights dim. voltmeter at the battery stays at 14.2 volts. when i rebuilt the tranny tested all shift solenoids and they were good, and again shifting is normal with the lights off. changed trans fluid and filter 2 days ago, shift is even smoother, when lights are off, but when lights are on i cant get past 2nd gear, and often have to shift manually to 2nd to get out of 1st, at times wants to slip into neutral, as when i apply power to windows. where should i look next? voltage reg? something seems to be drawing volts down beyond battery and alternator as charging seems unaffected. 94 safari awd 180,000 miles