dallison

i have a 99 es300 and my lights are pulsing just the slightest bit.
i just replaced the alternator that also has the voltage regulator attached.
the battery is fine and i am going to replace the alternator belt.

i can be on the gas or stopped and the pulsing light still occurs.


what can be the problem??
can it be a bad ground? this happens 100% of the time to the car

smokesgtp

It probably is a ground, check them out. What exactly do you mean by pulsing?

Rollin'ES3

check the alternator ground wire

dallison

an extremely light flickering. i will try to figure out how to explain it. for example if i were to watch the license plate light, it was like light was surging into the circuit. you wouldsee the normal steady light but it would flicker at a constant pace like every 1/2 second or so.
i know if you are at a stop and the motor is running you would expect the lights to dim a little or maybe i am used to this happening.

even if i stop at a light the headlights get a little dim

LAMF

the lights dim when your at a stop light because you are pressing on the brakes and the brake lights are lighting up. If checked my grounds and battery and all that. I dont know why your license plate light would flicker other than loose wires or bulbs. the dimming headlight issue seems to be fairly common with the es and if anybody has found a solution pm me.

dallison

all ground connection under the hood are fine

charley240

iTrader: (6)

im curious to know about this as well. i saw this the other day and it was strange.
Charley

LC1338

Just curious. Did the problem show up after you replaced the alternator? If so, where did you get the alternator from?

lexsterES

For as long as I have had my car I also have had this problem. The problem is noticeable when the car is idle. My light pulses with the sound of the engine on park, when I accelerate the pulsing it goes away. It's not that obvious on my car but at times it does get annoying.
Also, I have seen a few es300's before (at night) with worst pulsing problems, they we so bad their taillights almost look like strobe lights. That lead me to think that it is probably a defect for the manufacturer, well, I hope this can be fixed.

TheRupp

I also have this problem. People have actually flashed their brights at me before. I do notice that if I'm outside of the car while it's running, the taillights and license plate lights will actually do this as well. I wasn't able to notice a difference with the turn signal lights.

swifty562

check:...

...Battery Is properly tighten.
...Battery to ground is good (-).
...Battery to Transmission Wires is Good(-).
...Ground to Engine is good.
...Ground for tail lights is good.
...Ground for head light is good.
...Alternator Is properly tighten.
...Alternator voltage with lights off and on. [ex]how much does it drop with lights on.

dallison

it has done it for as long as i have had it since 70,000 miles

TheRupp

Okay, here's another thing with mine too:

The ENGINE actually bounces RPM's a bit. I had the ICV replaced already and that doesn't seem to have fixed it.

MangoMan

Happens to me to and I found out the problem. I had my battery go dead on my the other day and when I jumped the car the head lights and interior lights (heck every light was pulsing really bad). I asked the dealer about that and they said that the alternator puts out power pulses/surges and charges the battery. So the battery gets charged and powers everything else but when the alternator power surges every 1/2 second there is excess power and so your lights pulse slightly. The way to fix this would be to put an inline power filter I guess on the positive to regulate the power at a steady 12 volts. Anyways guess this is normal.

djdoughboy

I have seen this problem before and replacing the battery terminal cables fixed the issue... but it could be a number of other things as others have mentioned above. Basically the problem is not enough voltage to the lights... this can be caused by corrosion in cables or terminals. Be sure to check all of your electrical connections and cables for any corrosion... if you find some... replace it.