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Flickering Lights..Come Inside.

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Old 02-06-2006, 11:00 PM
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Default Flickering Lights..Come Inside.

My car is a 99 Camaro as in sig, 96k on the clock.

To the point. Lately i've been having problems with when im coming home from work and my headlights come on my battery gauge jumps around and all my lights flicker, dash lights, headlights, fog lights, just about everylight possible.

After work tonight I tried checking battery cables to see if they were tight, I came to notice that the power cable nut was stripped so I couldn't get it off without vise grips, so I'm going to wait until im at work tomorrow to fool with it and buy a new term bolt. I did hit the rubber boot around where the cbale and bolt come to meet, there was a lot of corrosion falling out of it. Almost looked like baking soda. I don't know if this is normal or not but I also check the ground on the battery seemed tight. I also checked the ground on both fenders, and the ACC power on the driver fender.

Came to a conclusion that I don't know what the hell the problem is, anyone experience this problem and fix it? INFORMATION is greatly appriciated. I'm at a loss.

Also it only seems to happen under load. When im idling it seems to stay fine.

Also my aftermarket battery is new, but it wont fit under the battery bolt down thingy. so ugh is that bad that it could be bouncing around every which way?


THANKS for all your time.

- Jesse
Old 02-07-2006, 11:17 AM
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one of 2 things is wrong. first is u have a bad connection and all that corrossion is the cause. or 2 ur voltage regulator is bad in the alternator. the alternator is the more obvious and makes more sense since u did say it happened only under load.i suggest u clean out all the corrossion u can find and then take the alternator to autozone or something and have them test it and see what they say.
Old 02-07-2006, 11:22 AM
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Sounds like it might be time for a new battery if the post threads are damaged. Along with corrosion not good. If you say the battery has been bouncing around as well might have some damaged plates or a internal problem as well.
Old 02-07-2006, 11:31 AM
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I am having the same problem. However I have a twist.


if my car is UNDER 1000 RPMS the lights are nice and normal.

if it is over, no matter what it's doing, the lights are flickering.

My battery is brand new as of this past summer......

I am thinking it's the voltage regulator, which means I gotta change the alternator.....NOT looking forward to that.
Old 02-07-2006, 04:21 PM
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i work at an autozone here in missouri and we get countless AC batterys that will have tons of corrosion on the postive side and after awhile the side post (where the screw threads in) will just come out i guess delco had alot of these problems but since most occred after warranity they didn't really care/do anything.
Old 02-07-2006, 08:20 PM
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Thanks guys for all your info...you guys are always a big help!!!
Old 02-07-2006, 11:15 PM
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Thanks guys for all your info...you guys are always a big help!!!
Old 02-08-2006, 12:00 AM
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im kind of having the same problem right now. Mine is also a 99 SS with a brand new battery put in just last month.

This randomly happens when im on gas or on idle. Battery gauge goes down to 8v when i rev and when on idle its at like 16v. Headlights go dim also when i accelerate. So sounds like we need a new alternator buddy.
Old 02-08-2006, 01:39 AM
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Heh, damn these 99 SS. I have the same exact prob. Think if we buy our alternators at once, we could get a discount??
Old 02-09-2006, 11:05 AM
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I have the same flickering from idle up on my 01 ws6, only thing with mine is that the voltage doesn't bounce around abnormaly ruling out the altternator, i've checked all the grounds and all seem tight, so i'm at a loss as to what my problem is
Old 02-09-2006, 11:09 AM
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it's the voltage regulator, which on this model is INSIDE the alternator.

My voltage is rock steady WHILE the lights are pulsing......

Yours will just get worse
Old 02-10-2006, 06:19 AM
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Originally Posted by 01pewterbird
I have the same flickering from idle up on my 01 ws6, only thing with mine is that the voltage doesn't bounce around abnormaly ruling out the altternator, i've checked all the grounds and all seem tight, so i'm at a loss as to what my problem is
I had the same problem with my 01 TA, the alternator fixed it.




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