Dimming Lights

[Mitsubishi_Lover]

Alright I have a 95' Galant for the past few months I have been having trouble with my lights on my dash, and my clock, and even the headlights dimming when im in idol, or when the fan turns on with the heater, or when the gears shift. Here is kind of a break down from starting up the car to truning it off. When I start the car it seems to be fine, but once it warms up, and the rpms go down they tend to start dimming, I then switch it to drive, and they dim even more. After that I start driving, and they start to get brighter, then I break and they flash right when I hit the break pedal. I then put it back in park and the light get a bit brighter. Then I turn it off. First I thought it was the battery so I bought a brand new one, and it helped a little because my lights were always dim before that picked it up to normal brightness while im driving. I then bought a new alternator, and that has helped a little bit more, but im still having the same problem. The problem began before any mods to my car including the intake, or the system, or even the foglights (which dont work anymore). I also just installed some new gauge faces the El 6 glow ones, and they dont flash when i put on the break or dim when the tranny switches gears or anything, but the lights behind them do (the stock ones)any suggestions would be much appreciated. By the way love the site I cant believe I didnt find it sooner ive only been searching galant stuff for about a year and just came accross this site last week so I hope to become a valued member.

[NiTrOuSoXiDe]

Stupid question, but did you check your dashboard lighting control to the left of your steering wheel? You know, the little roller thingy that makes the interior lights brighter and dimmer? Just check that and make sure your lights are set to their brightest setting.

[Mitsubishi_Lover]

yep i have definately checked that i did that about 50 time and even made sure it was still on the correct setting when i took out the trim so i could paint it.

[95mitsu03]

have your battery checked, it could be a weak battery.

[NiTrOuSoXiDe]

Possibly a bad alternator??

Just a guess here...

[Mitsubishi_Lover]

Well I guess i could get the alternator checked since i just bought a new one about 2 months ago for $300, and i also replaced the battery with a brand new one at the same time. If I get a voltometer will that tell me any info on what volts i should be getting durring idle, and driving, and if so what should i look for. Thanks for the help tho any other suggestions could it just be bad wiring maybe a new ground wire for the battery or something if that doesnt work? Sorry if this is all kind of a run on sentance or something I got my wisdom teeth pulled, and im on some heavy drugs so im real tired and stuff.

[theblackpearl]

i would say the altenator. i know my battery puts out abut 14.2 v while at idle. what rpm do you idle at? normally if it gets down to about 500 or so ( on my car at least) it will start to die and the lights and shit will dim or something like that.

[Xrs2]

You could have a shitty ground. But prolly the alternator.

[Mitsubishi_Lover]

I know i dont go below 500 rpms I idle at about 900 - 1000 rpms my car doesnt even pass inspection I have to pay someone to pass it , Ill get the alternator checked then and see if I can get the tripple gauge pod, and put a voltmeter in there to check for sure. And one more thing could it be the ground to the alternator, or the battery cuz I had to reground the alternator once I put the new one in the old ground broke off, and was grounded onto a screw on the oil filter ummm holder thing cant think of whats its called are all 7gs that way, or would it most likely be the batteries ground?

[Mitsubishi_Lover]

Ok well I noticed today that my car does idle arround 500 rpms (sorry im an idiot) so if it is then how can I get the idle higher?

[MBowen574]

i blieve theres an adjustment screw on the throttle body to change the base idle...

[MBowen574]

and the alternator might test good but be bad... mine did (lights flickered constantly when i pressed the throttle and dimmed when i hit the brakes), got reman'ed alternator for around $150 and all is solved

[Mitsubishi_Lover]

Hey thanks for the info. I think i will try both see what goes on cant hurt to try anyway so if I get some more problems with that ill let you know. I when you had the problem yourself did it also dim when the fan turns on or is that just mine?

[MBowen574]

i never noticed it w/ the fan... however there is a common problem (even has a corresponding TSB on it) of the dimming lights when the fan kicks on while youre slowing down... not really a huge problem though so there wasnt a recall.

[Mitsubishi_Lover]

Thanks seriously Ive tried looking up info on it and I couldnt find anything so this is real good info. I went home extremely ill yesterday from work so I didnt wanna work on my car, but ill be doing that soon prolly tomorrow.

[Russian7G]

first, check your alternator belt tension - that's for dimming lights

as for the idle, it's not a good idea to adjust BISS to correct idling problems. you are masking the problem instead of correcting it. look for vacuum leaks, check your O2 sensor. rpms just don't go down for no reason.

[Mitsubishi_Lover]

Alright well I read through some more forums, and everything I dont remember where I came accross this, but alot of people were talking about using throttle body cleaner. I did that instead of adjustin anything on the throttle body, and I think that worked alittle, but im beginning to think the problem is more with the battery because I also noticed that I have the same problem with my lights dimming when the car is off. Lets say I have my door open so the light is on, and I step on the breaks, or try to roll up the window the interior light will dimm. Could it be a problem with my battery even if the car is on such as "the alternator belt isnt tensioned right" like Russian7G said? and If it is alright should I just go and buy another new battery just to be sure?

[pinoyesv6]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mitsubishi_Lover)</div><div class='quotemain'>I think that worked alittle, but im beginning to think the problem is more with the battery because I also noticed that I have the same problem with my lights dimming when the car is off. Lets say I have my door open so the light is on, and I step on the breaks, or try to roll up the window the interior light will dimm. Could it be a problem with my battery even if the car is on such as "the alternator belt isnt tensioned right" like Russian7G said? and If it is alright should I just go and buy another new battery just to be sure?</div>

if hte car is off then the lights will dim when you are using other accessories at the same time since the car isn't producing power anymore. its just relying on the power that the battery has in it.

if you think its the battery, most auto parts store will check your battery for free. if its still good they'll charge it. if its not, they'll sell you a new battery. same thing with an alternatore, if its good, they'll tell you if its bad they'll sell you a new one.

[Mitsubishi_Lover]

Alright so I woke up today, and I was thinking that I should go move my car cuz it was parked in front of the mail box (in case they decided to show up) and I had some sort of feeling that I should go for a drive so I asked my gf if she wanted to go, and she got outta bed we got our dog and started driving. I made it about a mile, and I stopped at a light. By the way it was raining so I had my windshield wipers on, my heater, and of course my system. So the light turns green, and my gauges start turning on and off, my rpms rapidly go up and down, and im pushing on the gas and not getting any where. So my car dies and there is a cop that was waiting at the light that had just turned. I turned on my hazard lights and of course people are honking and going arround me. I put the car in park and try to start it a couple of times, but it wont the cop goes and directs traffic to go around me, and some lady in a van comes to my car and I roll down my window she asks if I need help pushing the car to the side of the road I say maybe, and I turn off my sterio cuz it kept trying to come on when I would turn the key to start, and I turned off my headlights. I then try to start my car a couple more times, and it works. I start going forward, go through the intersection, and stop on the side of the road next to the park. The cop comes up behind me and askes if im ok, and if ill be able to make it home. I tell her its probably no big deal, and that I dont live to far away thank her for the help and I try to get on my way. So I get to the next light which unfortunately is red, and I stop my gf was like did you know that was going to happen, and I was like I kinda had a feeling this morning, she was like oh thats wiered its like you and your car share the same heart. So we make it home with pretty much no problems, but the odd thing is is that this same thing happend to me about 2 months ago in the middle of an intersection I just blamed it on not driving my car for a couple days, and it was raining then 2 so it was kinda cold, but I drove my car yesterday, and today it did this to me does this mean anything to anyone, im going to go buy a new battery today no matter what to see if that helps at all, I realy hope its not the alternator, cuz i had a hell of a time with that when I got the new one so... sorry for wrighting a novel any way.

[Bezzle]

u should definitely check out the alternator if u get a new battery or not...i went thru something a bit similar becuz of a dead battery, even tho the battery was only 3-5months old.after getting a new battery i still had flickering here n there...my systems capacitor would work every other day so i had my alternator checked and found a chewed up belt. :? ...and to this day it acts a little rough but from what im told its just my car fighting the cold weather