headlights flicker. where do i start?

ryno · Jul 12, 2020

new guy here. i tried searching for the answers but i have a few things going on and not sure where to start.
my headlights flicker while driving. i know. check the switches, but my battery light flickers too.
battery has 12.9v off and 14.8 idling. so at first look everything is working correct.
what would be causing the battery light to flicker? bad alternator, battery or grounds?
it's not rough road because it will do it idling sometimes.
volt gauge is a little bouncy around 15 volts but never seen it dip much.
no issues with dash lighting that I noticed.
this is my first sn95 and i just bought it last week so i am not real familiar with it yet.
any help is appreciated.

ttocs · Jul 12, 2020

have you swapped for led/hid? Voltages sound good if I were you I would turn the lights on and then go and dick with all the wiring behind the lights. Now "dick" is of course the technical term and by that I mean grab the wiring and push/pull/bend it until you get the lights to turn off. I would actually start with technical taps by thumping on the lights with your fingers and then knuckles first and see if you can get them to flicker.

ryno · Jul 12, 2020

no headlight upgrades. car seems bone stock aside from head unit and flowmasters.

ttocs · Jul 12, 2020

could be the switch or a bad ground. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS start with the connections and grounds. Like I said thump the lights a few times and then dick with the wiring and see if they flicker.

07GtS197 · Jul 12, 2020

Whoa 15 volts? That sounds a little high. If its not a flaky connection I would bet its the voltage regulator. My 02 gt charges around 13.8v or so.

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ryno · Jul 13, 2020

I know the headlight switch gets hot but that thing almost burned me while troubleshooting yesterday. Will relays eliminate that heat on the circuit?

ttocs · Jul 13, 2020

well maybe. If there is resistance in the connection it can still build heat but relays will help if done right. have we checked the connection at the harness? It might be best to replace it first rather than add relays

ryno · Jul 13, 2020

The wires look ok, but the connector has heat damage. I sanded the headlight grounds and I'm going to replace the negative battery cable.

ttocs · Jul 13, 2020

start with that and I would probably replace the harness before adding relays myself. A bad connection is not going to get better just because it has less current going through it.

ryno · Jul 13, 2020

I saw autozone had a replacement pigtail. Are replacement harnesses available?

ttocs · Jul 13, 2020

well I think you answered your question but yes they are available as they are known to fail.

ryno · Jul 14, 2020

I thought i would have worked on it more, but life has other plans for me this week. Thanks for the input. I will update with the fix if i figure it out. I hate following a thread where they never tell you what worked. Lol.