Anybody seen this before? Just started happening 4 or so days ago. I noticed by starting my car up at night in the garage and my headlights were flickering against the wall. I looked down and low and behold my gauges are all flickering too. It's like all the gauges are on one bulb because they all do it simultaneously. The radio and clock do not do it, just the speedo, tach, volts, basically all of them. It's annoying and there's definitely something hosed. Anybody have any ideas?? Bad connection somewhere? It's a 2000 SE Auto, loaded with BOSE, etc.

On a side note, I drove my parent's 99 Taurus with 19K miles last night again, it definitely has less windnoise and less squeaks and creaks than my Max. That's f'n sad. Still love my car, but it's more of a love hate relationship.

 

I'm not expert... but from my own experience:

My girlfriend experienced problems like this on her car and it just before it abruptly died on the interstate. She was alone too. Potentially dangerous situation. Thank god she has a celly.

Anyway, turned out it was the alternator. It had died and the car was running all of the electrical components directly from the battery. When the battery died, so did the car.

Good luck.

 

If you're interested in testing this, purchase a voltmeter from radio shack.

One from here should be fine:
http://www.radioshack.com/category.a...1%5F000&Page=1

If the needle fluctuates (analog version of meter) or the reading fluctuates (digital version) while the lights also blink then its the alternator. A $20 investment if it's worth it for you. The dealer could test this in like 5 min but probly take an hour of red tape to get the car to them.

turbo dreams
woosh

 

It definitly sounds like your altenator but it could also be your battery. I'm sure your radio will do it but because it is LED lights they use less energy to run so it is much less noticable. If it is under warranty I would take it in and have them look at it. You can go to a parts store and have them put a load on your battery to see if that is the problem. Hopefully it is, much cheeper.

 

i had a j30 with the same exact problem!!! def. the altenator!!! go to nissan and get it checked out...they'll prolly say its your upgraded bulbs!!!!

good luck..tell us what it was!!!

 

at night when i turn my car on and then turn the heat on the headlights flicker and then dimm a bit... what is my prob?

 

When this happened on my 1999 GMC truck, it turned out to be a ground that had worked its way loose on the right side of the truck. You might open the hood and see if any of your grounds have come loose before dropping alot of cash. May be an easy fix.

 

thats a very good point!!! "somtimes the smallest things in life are the biggest things in life!!!"

 

Ok, now it's sort of stopped doing it, for now. Did it right when I started it up for a couple minutes last night, then after several minutes of driving it went away. It's weird because the battery gauge needle doesn't jump up and down or anything, just the headlights flicker and the dash bulb is flicking. The last thing I want is some sort of electrical demon, those can be the worst. What did I buy, a Volkswagen?? It's only got 41K on it, can the alternator or battery really be bad already? I bought this import ride cuz they're supposed to be trouble free for 100K plus. I'm slowly realizing that ain't the case.

 

I forgot to say thanks for the tips

 

Curious as to what the problem was . Mine does this now . I changed the battery and altinator and it still does it , ground wires checked too

 

I'm going to quit the internet if they reply. The thread was from 2002!

Could be a faulty new alternator.

Wiggling a ground to see if it's tight isn't checking properly. Sand, clean, and re-install. There are multiple factory grounds. Maybe adding one could indicate a grounding issue.