A weird Electrical problem

I don't know if this every happened to any one before: I have a 300 TE with 130M on it, Last month I had a valve job done and the head gasket replaced at the same time. Last Saturday night when we got ready to leave (we live in Michigan and it is cold) I went out and started the car up and turn on the heat. After about 5 or so minutes I went to leave. I turned on the head lights, and the wiper I notice the wiper ha a hard time moving, well I shut it off the wiper and went to back the car up the car just died. I went to restart it and there was nothing no power not a thing. I said a few cuss words and went to get out and the dome light came on. Well as the car sat longer there was more power. After a half an hour the car started up again but the light were dim when I raced the engine my head lights got bright and everything seamed to be working fine. This is the second time that this has happed to me. The battery is only 1 year old I have replace the OVR is this s sigh of a failing alternator, a bad OVR or the ghost in the machine.

My first guess would be the alternator...if your headlight intensity changes with engine speed (other accessories off), it's not doing its job.

More than likely, it's the brushes or the regulator, both replaceable components on certain alternator models.

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

replace the voltage regulator. you can get them for under $25 and it takes a couple minutes to change using a screwdriver. a bad voltage regulator can cause all kinds of weird electrical problems.

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2005 Mercedes C230k sport sedan, 6 speed
1987 Porsche 924S - 968-engined track car

my guess would be the alternator but why would the system go dead and after 5 min come back up? If the battery went dead it would not start with out a jump. It was like something turned off the power and then turned it back on.

Chip