11tmaste

A while back I installed new speakers, stereo, and an amp and sub, about a month after that my lights started flickering intermittently. My headlights, tail lights, dome light, in dash lights, lights on the A/C knobs, all of them. I've tested every fuse in the fuse box as well as the ones on the PCM (or is that the BCM?) under the center console on the passenger side and the one next to the battery in the trunk. They all test fine with a fuse tester. The other night I was driving and noticed when I came to a stop light or my RPM dropped below 1000, my lights would flicker, when I got up over 1000 RPM again, it would stop. That doesn't always happen though. Sometimes my RPM might be 3000 and they still flicker. I've tested my voltage while idling and it is in the 13 to 13.7 range. I was thinking my alternator might be on its way out, but I'm not so sure now. I'm not sure what the voltage is when the actual flickering is happening, haven't had a chance to test.
Additionally, I randomly get power steering warnings in my dash display and occasionally lose power steering. I know there was a recall on the power steering motors, but my vin isn't included. I did go ahead and replace the motor, but the issue still occurs. I was thinking maybe it wasn't getting enough power to it because of a bad alternator same as the lights. Does anybody have any ideas?

JapEatr

iTrader: (9)

sounds like a weak alternator, or depending on stereo could require a capacitor

11tmaste

Thanks for your quick reply. I actually unplugged the sub and amp months ago cuz it would keep cutting out. I recently unhooked the stereo too because it keeps going into some sort of protection mode or something (my theory is its not getting enough constant power). I just had the flickering issue tonight and when i got home i left the motor running while the lights were still flickering and tested the voltage. It was all over the place, kept changing between 13.5 and 15v. Sorry if this sounds dumb, but i'm no expert on electricity. Is it possible that it's putting out an okay voltage but not putting out the amount of amps it's capable of? Shouldn't everything be okay if its an electrical issue if the voltage is that high? Or is the fact its jumping all over the place an issue? When i looked at the volt meter it changed voltage multiple times per second. It also seemed like my alternator was making a lot of noise while i was under the hood.

Whitnith

iTrader: (2)

Alternator. As these cars are getting older, it's been discovered that the power steering and lights flickering are fairly common signs of the alternator getting ready to die.