Flickering lights on 2001 Venture

[toledospod]

Hi all,

Fairly new to this forum, but I must say that I found some really useful stuff in here that answered a few questions I had with my Venture.

I just bought a pre-owned 2001 Venture here in Ohio about a month ago and even though it needed some work on it to get it up to the point I could drive it without worrying about anything, I'm really happy with it.

The only issue I noticed now(which has been going on for a few weeks I think, but may have been since I purchased the vehicle)is something that a few other users have had in the past, which is that the dashboard, car stereo buttons and the headlights themselves flicker for a while when at idle, but I noticed that they don't do this all the time, or while I am driving at speed. I know that there was a previous thread here: http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...ckering+lights
but I see that there hasn't been any relevent replies to it for a long time, so I followed AF guidelines on here and started this new thread.

My question is this - I don't wanna spend any more money at this point in time, as I'm about to go on vacation for a long weekend and I've spent a lot this month on various things, so with that in mind, is the flickering lights issue something that I could leave for say a few weeks and then get it looked at, or is it a problem that could get worse if I don't get it looked at now? I can't see myself how this could effect my vehicle at the moment and everything else is good.

I'm not a mechanice at all, so I would most likely take it to my local non-Chevy dealer garage to get it fixed as I don't feel comfortable trying anything myself(this guy fixed all the other issues for me before this one and did a great job too)

Apologies if this post is a bit long! Sometimes it takes a me a while to get out what I want to say!

[Sparky1349]

Hey,

You may want to call your local dealership and ask if they have the parts and how much it would cost to have the service in the TSB01-06-03-005 performed. From the other thread you quoted it doesn't sound like the part is very expensive and it should only take a short time to perform so I would hope it would be less than $50.

What ever you do don't let them talk you into replacing the alternator until you have this fix done.

Good luck,
Sparky

[toledospod]

Originally Posted by Sparky1349

Hey,

You may want to call your local dealership and ask if they have the parts and how much it would cost to have the service in the TSB01-06-03-005 performed. From the other thread you quoted it doesn't sound like the part is very expensive and it should only take a short time to perform so I would hope it would be less than $50.

What ever you do don't let them talk you into replacing the alternator until you have this fix done.

Good luck,
Sparky

Thanks Sparky. Whilst I won't have time to do this until I get back from my vacation next Wednesday, this sounds like a good way forward.

Do you think in your opinion that I need not worry about this until then? I don't wanna worry myself over something as minor as this seems to be.

[Sparky1349]

Originally Posted by toledospod

Thanks Sparky. Whilst I won't have time to do this until I get back from my vacation next Wednesday, this sounds like a good way forward.

Do you think in your opinion that I need not worry about this until then? I don't wanna worry myself over something as minor as this seems to be.

Hey,

Nothing that I have read indicates that this is anything but an annoyance issue. I think it can probably wait.

Sparky

[toledospod]

Originally Posted by Sparky1349

Hey,

Nothing that I have read indicates that this is anything but an annoyance issue. I think it can probably wait.

Sparky

Thanks again man! You're right about it being an annoyance My mind has been put at ease now

[GregA]

Originally Posted by toledospod

Thanks again man! You're right about it being an annoyance My mind has been put at ease now

Toledospod,

You might want to talk to a local dealer about the "kit" for fixing this (mentioned in the TSB). It is just a new screw and washer for the ground of the generator. When I got mine a while back, it was a grand total of about $4.

It only takes about 15 minutes, and a stubby screwdriver, to do the fix.

Take Care,

[srlbotanical]

Originally Posted by GregA

Toledospod,

You might want to talk to a local dealer about the "kit" for fixing this (mentioned in the TSB). It is just a new screw and washer for the ground of the generator. When I got mine a while back, it was a grand total of about $4.

It only takes about 15 minutes, and a stubby screwdriver, to do the fix.

Take Care,

X2

I purchased the updated screw and washer in a kit from my GM dealer and it was about $6. Although this has to be the most expensive screw I have ever bought, it was an easy fix.

Also, you could get away with NEVER fixing the flicker and it wouldn't hurt a thing.

Steve

[papi62596]

Originally Posted by GregA

Toledospod,

You might want to talk to a local dealer about the "kit" for fixing this (mentioned in the TSB). It is just a new screw and washer for the ground of the generator. When I got mine a while back, it was a grand total of about $4.

It only takes about 15 minutes, and a stubby screwdriver, to do the fix.

Take Care,

I had this same problem and fixed it with the above parts. I guess this was very common with all of the cars that used that alternator. Seems like something they forgot to put on it at Delphi when they built it.

Later

[dj1111]

I had the exact same symptoms with my 98 Venture and thought it was the same screw thing with the alternator. Was ready to dig into it when I thought could it be? No it can't be that simple. I had the battery replaced about 6 months earlier and the place I bought it from offered free installation (by some teenage wannabe mechanic). So I located the positive terminal connection and sure enough it was just loose enough (about half a turn) that it would cause the lights to flicker at idle. I was so pleased.