The instrument panel and lights will go dead at random times. All indicators down to zero, as if the ignition were turned off. Even though we’re still driving down the road.
Then it all comes back on either after several minutes, or after the van is stopped and restarted. Often restarting will not make the instruments work.
Now a new problem: The batery light will come on, and there is a clicking down under, behind the steering wheel area. It sounds like an electronic relay or something like that. Power to the radio will cut off randomly when this clicking occurs. The clicking will often stop by itself, but the battery light still stays on.
I had someone run a test on the alternator (at a time when none of the problems were occurring) and he said it was putting out plenty of voltage, around 14 volts.
The van is at about 220K miles.
Thank you for your help!
Did they check for AC voltage present?
Sounds like a bad ignition switch to me.