At night, I've noticed that my headlights and dash lights pulse...as though there's a drain associated with firing on one of the cylinders. It's a new problem but was amplified when I replaced my rear defroster switch. I've checked all the grounds at the head.
Any ideas?
Alternator is new within the last year.
Dim headlights and other symptoms, exspecially on older vw's, tend to be the battery cables corroded and the large wire from the alternator that goes to the starter being undesize and also corroded. Replace it with a larger wire going directly from the alternator to the battery. Examine your battery ground cable and you'll most likely see that between the wire strands it's all green with corrosion. Also your new alternator could have a problem. Joe
The alternator cable does run directly to the battery (it's 4 or 8 Ga.) The battery posts and cables look ok but I'll check them today.
Thanks! Darryl.
How about your try this, it was my problem and now it is cured. Unscrew the regulator from the alternator, inspect the brushes for replacement, and clean the contact point on the regulator that presses up against the metal part inside the alternator with sand paper. Then clean the contact inside the alternator and apply die-electric grease to the contact point and the regulator itself. Flashing and pulsing will disappear unless the VR is bad then it's a $10 part replacement.
I've never worked on an alternator, but does this one have servicable brushes? (It's an '89). Before I do any further work, I'm gonna take it into the local Canadian Tire where it's warrantied for 5 years. They have a tester and such poor skill that they'll think it's bad, give me a new one, and I'll see what happens then :)
Thanks for the reply, Darryl.
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