I've been noticing that when my car is on, every light in it flickers a little(interior, gauge,etc.). It is really more noticable at night when the head lights are on. They dont turn off completely, just dim and brighten. Also the voltage gage twitches a bit. Any help is appreciated.

 

it could be a couple of things. just check each one and go from there. they could be the alternator, loose wire, or maybe a not to good battery. mine was a loose wire and that fixed my problem. it was not connecting right so i tighten it and it stopped flickering. its weird though that it only affected it when my lights were on. otherwise everything else was cool. hope it helps

 

One word...alternator. There's a diode in the alternator that burns out causing it to not charge the battery. If your lights go dim then get really bright, then dim and really bright again, it's definately the alternator. Sorry to say that, but that's what it sounds like to me. I seriously don't think it's a loose wire or anything. One way to make sure is to connect a volt meter to your cigarette lighter then turn on your car. Turn on your headlights, A/C, and radio. Your car should be putting out between 13.8-14.3 volts. If you see a sudden drop in voltage then a spike to a higher voltage.....alternator. You should NEVER get a reading any lower than 12.6 volts on a meter with no accessories running. The best way to trouble shoot the problem though is to put a heavy load on your alternator, causing it to make up for the drain. That's the easiest way to tell. Good luck

 

I would say it is a loose wire...it could be the alternator, but I wouldn't automatically assume so. A loose battery ground, or loose terminals into the battery will cause this. Also, it wouldn't hurt to pull the wires out of the battery and clean all the contacts on both the wire ends (bolts) and the battery itself.

I had your same symptoms and cleaning it and tightening everything up fixed mine...no problems out of the alternator though...

 

I hooked up a meter, and with all accesories on it was jumping aroundbetween 12.7 and 13.1. With nothing on, it was between 12.9 and 13.2. Is this o.k?

 

It should be at or around 14.3

So I would say, no, thats not ok

 

i've heard that if you disconnect your battery while your car is running and the car dies, then the alternator is bad. Is that true?