Finally my electrical ground ghosts are gone. No more interior lights blinking while braking. No more headlights blinking at night while the bass thumps from my sound system. And the problem was the damn alternator. I had a leaking p/s pump which apparantly ruined the alternator from the fluid leaking on it. When my mechanic pulled it out it was very greasy looking. I was able to see fluid all over it. SO FAR SO GOOD. I am thinking of adding a capacitor to my system just in case but i need to find out if that will even be necessary. what u guys think?

 

Dying alternators will cause all kinds of wierd and annoying problems...

Are your lights dimming at the bass peaks? If not, you don't really need the cap. They never hurt tho. Unless you touch the contacts with something conductive by mistake.

 

Congrats man, I know what it's like to have to deal with that ish. I had my car shut down on the freeway several times due to electrical ghosts. Not cool to lose all power while going 80 on the highway. Glad you got it settled. Maybe you could look into building some kind shield to protect your new alternator from this happening in the future? Just a thought. Don't know why Lexus didn't think of that....

 

Did you replace your alternator with a heavy duty version because of your stereo setup, or was it just a new replacememnt for stock?. I just put in my stereo system and even with a 1 Farad cap it still clips about 30-40% of the time.
What kind of alternator will I be needing (probably truck/suv type) right? Also what kind of prices am I looking at? Any particular brands you recommend for/against. Any pointers would be appreciated, I am a real newbie at this stuff

 

Clean your ground cable too. If you want to get an even better ground (which also causes problems like you described), get a 4GA cable, attach it to your ground at the battery and to the engine somewhere.

If you do a search, this topic has a lot of information available. When I had the problem was after I changed my alternator from fluid damage and the ghost just popped out of no where.

 

well now i have a gost in my system i got a 95 sc400 and for some reason while i was driving my radio and cd player went out on me so i looked at the underhood fuse box and yes the 20A fuse was blown and i think it is a short but i want to check where it is grounded but i have no clue where to start and i really sucks driven with no music