Electrical Oddities 1989 S-10 2.5

[burkza]

I had been driving for about an hour, it was a rainy day and my headlights and windshield wipers were on. Suddenly the following things started happening:

• The windshield wipers moved at about a quarter of their normal speed. The driver's side wiper also extended past the windshield on the upstroke, something it has never done in the past.
• The speedometer took off indicating a speed of 85 MPH when I was near 35 MPH. After which it simply floated around in a seemingly random manner.
• A noticeable loss of drive power, in 2nd gear going uphill the vehicle would lurch repeatedly. At one point the vehicle died when I pushed the clutch in to downshift, luckily I was able to pop it and keep the rpm high enough to keep going.

Then after a few minutes of this stuff it would all go away for a comparatively short amount of time only to come back minutes later.

Last year I replaced the alternator, battery and thermostat. I checked my battery cables and they were ok. I have an oil leak that has covered part of my manifold near the rear of the engine compartment. I noticed a few wires that had oil around them but am not sure what these wires go to other than they aren't the spark plug wires.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Zach

[Mikado14]

Zach, is it possible that you went through a puddle or the rain was heavy enough that your alternator got wet?

[burkza]

I suppose it is possible but I was on good roads the whole time and the water wasn't very deep.

I remember water being on my seat before I left that morning and am wondering if my interior light was on all night.

If so maybe the battery was dead enough that the alternator was trying to power everything and recharge the battery at the same time.