Flickering Lights

Confuses me too - not to mention other drivers!! Yes, the headlights flicker in unison with the instrument lights. Makes for quite a spectacle! Of course, this is normal, according to Saturn in Burlington, VT. I guess I'll wait until the alternator dies, then have them tow it across Lake Champlain at THEIR expense! Dana

I've seen both of these problems on my '01 LW300. The dimmer switch is on currently on order.

I only noticed the headlight and dash light flicker when the engine at idle. It was a slight but noticeable dimming of the lights 2-3 times per second. Dealer mentioned the part (which I've since forgot) that caused the flicker, but also said this was normal. I've learned to translate this to either "the part is working to its design and the design is marginal, this is the best we can do" or "our tech is still being trained in troubleshooting skills, please bring your car back at a later date."

I'll pay more attention to the headlight flicker and bring it up again when I go back to get the dimmer switch replaced.

The flicker started with just happening at idle, but now, it's a full-time phenomenon. If you can think of that part, I'd be glad to have some more ammo.

Dana

That would tend to point toward either a bad alternator, or some electrical accessory that was drawing power at that interval for some reason. You might want to get the dealer to let you see if the same thing shows up on another new L-car on the lot, if not then that may help convince them it's not a normal condition.

Dana,

There were a number of replies, and a bad ground fits the symptoms. However, this is a fairly new car and shouldn't be too rusted out. There's an easy way to check ground connections:

- Get a cheap digital voltmeter. A $250 Fluke isn't needed here. In fact, just about anything will do. Use the 2 volt range.

- Start the car. Watch out for moving belts.

- Measure the voltage between different ground points on the battery - terminal, alternator frame, engine block and metal unibody.

- A reading of over .25 volt is suspicious. In other words, the ground connection is bad enough to cause a decent voltage drop.

- Turn on the lights, heater fan, A/C, etc. and repeat.

On one car there was a .5 volt drop between the alternator frame and engine block. Cleaning up the ground strap fixed it. On a badly rusted car I had to run extra ground wires all over the place and that fixed it.

Good luck, Jim

Actually no they are not full of crap; It's a known issue :( not sure if there is a fix though. There have been some problems with headlight switch but that usually for the headlights not working at all.

The Saturn Parts Guy

This happened on my 98 sc2 when it was brand new. The dealers in Dayton Ohio are pretty good overall. Of course they replaced the dimmer switch immediately (stealing one from another car, I think). When that didn't cure it they found a ground connection that was either loose or dirty. If your dealer is open late, like ours, just get a tech to turn on the lights on a similar car and then compare to yours. I bet yours won't look normal then!

It's probably a little late for this post, but for future reference for someone... I had the same problem with my SC1, had it in for the altenator check everything and finally gave up with trying to get the problem solved under warranty. The problem with mine was the grounds, especially the ground connection on the battery. It first off wasn't tight enough, and the rubber boot around the side post (on the cable) was restricting the cable end to make contact with the battery post. Simple fix was to use a razor blade to trim the extra material away from the boot (I actually just removed mine altogether). After that a second ground strap from the motor to the chassis (I used a second mounting point on the motor and a second bolt location on the chassis, cleaning the area to the bare metal). Also a second ground strap from the battery to the chassis. After checking these connections for continuity (using a multimeter) I cleaned all the easy to get at grounds (there was a ground terminal on the left side of the chassis behind the left headlight). And finally once that was done I sprayed all of these connections, except the battery ground, with some black spray paint to slow down corrosion. This eliminated the flickering and seemed to remove some strain from the altenator, giving the car a little more pep. Hope this helps!