I've got a 2000 trans am M6......When I turn on the lights at night I notice that the headlights flicker and so do all of the gauge lights in the dash, also the done lights and everything....my battery/volt gauge needle jumps around too.....I hooked the car up to the battery/alt/starter tester at work and the alt tests out fine....could the voltage regulator in the alternator be going out...I just replaced the battery a few weeks ago and it didn't solve the problem....anyone else experienced this? can this cause your car to loose some power and maybe idle rough sometimes too? the car never gets below 13volts but the volt needle jumps around even while driving..it wiggles back and forth.....bad alternator regulator? car has 126K on it.

 

Pontiac's have had alot of problems in the past with electrical. It could be bad wires or a number of other things. Thats the bad thing about electical problems they can become a nightmare. I would try calling a dealership and ask if they have heard of this problem before

 

yeah but I know they would probably give me the usual "if you just bring the car in we would be more than happy to look at it."...but I have been told to check for bad ground wires usually associated with the alternator...even the plug in for the alternator can be faulty....

 

Its your alternator...specifically, voltage regulator.

Just go get a NEW one with a lifetime warranty

 

I have an 02 SS that is SuperCharged and the Alt was relocated to the bottom. I had to change the Alt and still had problems it ended up being the small lead wire that plugs in. It drove me nuts. I finally figured out that the wire came loose inside the plug. it didnt cause the same problems you are having but it did do some strange things. Hopefully its that simple for you. Good luck.

 

thanks guys I'll check it out tomorrow.

 

Make sure the BCM (body control module) is connected right. Mine is flickering too but in my truck cause the BCM plugs are loose.

 

That must have been a difficult relocation seeing as that's where all 98-02 F-Body alternators are located.

 

I was thinking that to lol

 

Make sure all of your connections are good and clean. I have had this happen before on a W-body with the remote Positive terminal from the battery. Take all connections at the fuse blocks under the hood and clean them with scotch brite or a wire wheel on your drill. Fixes it right up.

Could also be a bad cable or something. Get the alternator checked first because that is easiest.

 

Actually, now that I been thinking about it, it was the connector that goes to the alternator, the harness plugin. I took my alt off and the harness came out with it, but the alt. tested good.

So, take the alternator off, have it tested. If good, most likely the harness connector or another cable.

 

My bet is on the alt...I had the same problem and had my alternator checked three times but three different places and all of them said it was good. They thought their tester was checking the voltage regulator but apparently it wasn't because I tossed in a new alternator from O'reilly and haven't had a glitch since.

 

Soory my bad I was at work when I wrote that, doing two things at once. What I was tring to say was my powerstering res was relocated and the hoses started leaking on my Alt which caused it to go out.

 

Check the cables at the battery for a lose connection. then check the ground cable on the block by the starter and the one close to the battery. Those are the most common ones to cause that problem. If not; make sure the belt is not jumpen around.