Where to begin..... I love my car, but the past year has drug me into the ground...

1. Occasionally, usually after driving for a while, pressing the accelerator revs the engine but does not accelerate the car. Almost like it slips into neutral for a moment. Releasing the accelerator and pressing again makes it go away. This happens once every few weeks at most, and in the middle of driving on the highway, not in town driving. NO transmission problems aside from this very sporadic issue.

2. My electrical system seems weak, most notably when breaking at night. For example: I am driving in the middle of the night, lights on, music playing. Stop sign is coming up so I lightly press the brake pedal. For a moment, the dash lights and headlights dim. Occasionally it kills the cd player and has to reload the disc. I have also noticed the dimming when adjusting the seat position and hitting the physical stop. It almost seems as if it is putting a serious strain and drain on the whole system. I have replaced the alternator and the battery for an unrelated issue and this problem existed both before and after.

3. My ambient temperature display occasionally reads -22 degrees. Oddly enough, the air conditioner blows hot air until this corrects itself. Maybe unrelated, but I have always noticed the AC issue when the ambient temperature display was wrong.

Any help with these three issues would be greatly appreciated. I have more equally troublesome issues, but this seems a good start.

 

1: Have you checked the tranny fluid leve, and fluid color?

2: Thats REALLY strange. It IS normal for our cars to dim the lights, BUT not to the point the CD player will blip off.

3: I know the Camry, not so much the ES, so I can't help on that one.

 

Thanks for the response. I did replace the transmission fluid the first time I noticed the issue. I did not at the time take note of the color but the level was good. That has been a couple months, so I can go check again as I know it has happened again since then.

As for the power issue, the cd player has only reset twice, both within the last two months. It has been in the car for several years.

 

I wonder if #2 is alternator related? It seems odd that it would do that unless there was a power supply failure of some kind.

 

I had the same feeling about the alternator. I did replace the alternator at the beginning of winter; I was having trouble with the battery not charging/holding a charge. The alternator tested ok, as did the battery. I replaced both at the time and the issue disappeared. This new alternator also tested ok when taken to the local Auto Zone two weeks ago (when the cd player dropped power on me for the second time).

Edit: The battery cables have both been replaced as well, power loss issue existed before and after.