Every time I turn on the headlights the interior clock light dims to the point it can barely be seen ???

 

Any weird noises?

Just a few weeks ago I was having flickering lights, car having hard time starting etc etc and then the alternator related components seized and blew up

 

The clock is part of the dash light system that are dimable. Are the lights for the speedo and other gauges ok? If the other lights are ok, then maybe the clock is developing cold solder connections.

 

they go dim on my 2002 GLE also but not to the point of not barly not seeing them

 

Totaly normal. It's tied in with the dimmer switch too.

 

Its normal. It dims it when the lights are on so its more pleasant to look at in the dark. But it sucks when you have the lights on when its light out. Im pretty sure theres a thread showing how to make it bright all the time. . I think it involves cutting wires

 

You should have a roller down near the steering column that will cause the dash lights to be bright when you want them. I have an I35 and I wish my lights on the console with the controls and radio would not dim so much when I get the gage cluster where I want it. They are about right with the dash lights maxed, but the cluster is too bright.

 

It's as stated above - if the dimmer is all the way up and it's still very faint, it's the clock going out due to cold solder connections. Remove it, resolder any cold joints, and reinstall. Easy peasy

or even easier, perform the "always bright" mod (it's the RED wire with the BLUE TRACER that you cut)

 

Just did this and it worked, so far so good its the red wire with blue tracer and it has silver dashes on it in my 2003