Electrical System Pulsing

Good Day all,

Just got to work and while driving down the highway I noticed my headlights flickering a bit. I turned on the map lights on the rear view mirror and they were pulsing as well. Not a steady pulse, but it seemed when the transmission shifted into lock up or the highest gear necessary for the speed I was travelling is when it would happen the most.

I found this post from around 3 years ago http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=281561&highlight=electrical+pulsing and read it. It may be my problem, possibly a bad grounding system.

Has anyone had this problem on their Intrigue or similar W-body vehicle? Any fixes?

Thanks everyone,

Hoppy

Well,

I drove in this morning and no pulsating lights. The car was fine and I took the same route to work as I did yesterday.

Could this be an ignition switch problem? The thing that makes me think not is while it was pulsating and as I was driving down the road I turned the ignition to start to basically joggle the switch. It didn't have any effect on the pulsating at all. Maybe it is a grounding problem.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Hoppy

this is almost always an alternator problem. Seems to pop-up more in the winter also.

Do a search on this forum for alternator. The original alternator was replaced with a new part number due to the field collapsing from vibration (that's what they say)

-check those battery connections for corrosion also. Main fuse box for looseness.

I agree with checking the connections, that can cause some problems sometimes.

See the things that puzzles me is that Hoppy's car is a 2002 model, and that should have already had the revised alternator in it.

Good Day all,
I found this post from around 3 years ago http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=281561&highlight=electrical+pulsing and read it. It may be my problem, possibly a bad grounding system.
Has anyone had this problem on their Intrigue or similar W-body vehicle? Any fixes?
Thanks everyone,
Hoppy

The grounding solution (a guy was selling large scale wire to connect various ground points ~$20) was thought up before I knew that the alternator was basically turning itself off due to vibration and temporarily running off the battery. My car still does this sometimes, much more noticeable in the Winter when it's darker. BTW, the wipers stuck at 90 deg (when turned off) has been figured out also.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=337372&highlight=2002+alternator

(safely) Clean those connections and run the car more.

When the alternator is bad, your headlights will barely work and people will think that you are flashing them. Alternator Off/Battery On/Pulse Alt on (it will cycle damn near every 3-5 seconds at its' worst) I only drive my car maybe 50-100 miles a month now and it seems to be sucking up some coolant 2000 (105K). Every once in awhile (1nce/2wice a year?) it will act up at night, otherwise it seems to have gotten 10x better.

See littlehoov, this is what confuses me as well. I don't know why my car wouldn't have the revised alternator in it either. I would go to the chev dealer but as they always respond to me they will say that there is nothing on this car in way of a TSB for the problem I am having. Thank you please let us take your car in and charge you for nothing.

Again, this morning the lights did not flicker again. I wonder if it is temperature related? The lights did dim a bit when that stupid AIR pump came on but that is a normal thing for this car. Not normal for a vehicle in my mind, but normal for this car.

The problems that exist with this car are dumbfounding me. This is my first GM vehicle I have ever bought unpurpose and am now having second thoughts on my purchase. I haven't had any similar problems with the 5 Fords that I have owned in the past. I really liked this car when I saw it and figured with only 30000 km on it it would last me a long time. Well, it probably will, but I have the job of figuring out all of the GM defects from the factory first i guess!

I have had this pulsing problem on my 73 Vette Same old alternator they just got bigger over the years. As stated on other posts 1st check your battery and alternator conections. If they are all ok, then the next cause could be a rectifier is going bad in your alternator. In the older alternators I could buy a rebuild kit and only install the rectifier and that was the fix 100% of the time. When the rectifier goes the alternator only charges every other revolution that is why all of the lights a flikering. Another test is when you rev your engine the flikering will pulse faster. The sad part here is unless you can buy the rectifier ( it's a rectangle item around 1-1/2 inches from corner to corner) which is inside at the back of the alternator the part costs around $7. If you can't buy it then you will be stuck buying a rebuilt alternator. Good luck and let us know what you find. later

Funny, I haven't had the problem ever since it did it that one day. Gremlins I guess. The funny thing was as well it was a dry morning, just cool. It has been quite cool here lately and it hasn't done it since. Weird.