My 2006 Sonata GLS headlights dim along with the entire lighting electrical system when my car slows down past 1500 RPM. Why??? I had the car worked on 2 weeks after i got it because of this and they replaced a timing chain thinking this was the problem, but it wasn't.
View 31 RepliesMy wife has a 2006 Sonata and it ran great up until about a month ago, she started noticing when she hits the brakes and sometimes when she hits the gas the a/c blower motor would stop blowing for a second and all the lights would dim. So i drove the car for a day and she was right. the blower motor shuts off and the lights dim for roughly 1 second during breaking then it all works fine again.
What this could be? the car has no check engine light on or anything. I was hoping this is a common thing with a known fix.
So the past week I've noticed that on occasion my dash lights will get really dim then randomly come back to full on (to where I have it set at.). Is this normal?
View 6 RepliesHaving issue with the sonata 2006 as regards to headlight dimming for a second or two then returning to full power. Also at the same time all the internal light dim down then return and the heater slow right down and then returns to full power. Its dangerous when traveling at night.
View 7 RepliesI have a 2006 Hyundai Sonata GLS with 118k and just recently my car has started vibrating while going uphill past 55mph. On level ground it's just fine, but when I go uphill the whole car starts to shake. I've checked the motor mounts and they all look good with no cracking (replaced them last year for engine shaking at idle). My only other guess is a bad CV axle. The CV axles are not ripped.
View 13 RepliesI have a 09' 4cyl automatic engine with 54k.
About 30min ago when when I parked the shifter would not move past neutral into reverse and go into park. I can go from D into neutral or the next slot over for manual shifting. Naturally this causes a problem as you can't take the key out of the ignition if its not in park.
I took a screw driver and popped open the cap for the shift release button and used that to move it into park. Turned car off, back on, etc etc seemed fine. So when I tried moving it into reverse and it wouldn't budge. It instead would make a electronic click or snap coming form the steering column but more back toward the engine. Like more into the dash area but back in it. It would make this noise every time I attempted to move it but it wasn't a continuous sound. Just once with each jerk to the side to move it out of park.
So the car works fine except for this. I used it with the screw driver/shift release to unlock it and it drives fine. Goes into reverse and back in park but if I move it into neutral or drive it will not go back into reverse or park.
I tried going up the driveway and as I was accelerating, I almost noticed a little "slowing down" while trying to accelerate up the driveway. It was really snowy so I am thinking that it might have been the ESC trying to fix the path. I thought about this after I got it up the driveway, so I couldn't test it.
Is this normal or should I have it looked at by a mechanic???
2011 Hyundai sonata SE...
Last night, I was driving around and noticed that my lights seemed to be flickering and dimming like CRAZY. It was really bad. Not just the headlights, but all the lights. The climatronic, radio, dash, map etc. The climatronic seemed to make things worse, but it did it even without it on.
Then I was in my buddys driveway in neutral and noticed that if i gave it some gas, the lights got brighter...it wasn't a small difference either...like when the lights dimmed, it was nearly HALF as bright! its like the car was losing juice big time...
I checked my battery cables this morning and they're tight. the car starts right up in the cold so I don't think its my battery. what other signs of alternator failure would i be noticing, or could it be something else?
Lights in my 01 Vitara dim and fade every now and then. This includes everything from the Brake lights, to the dash.
Trying to find solution, so the electronics need to be checked out, could it a be a fuse or something?
Just installed my new fogs in my 2012 LE and the install went GREAT! The switch has an LED in it to illuminate it AND one that comes on when you turn fogs on. What circuit I could tap into to dim that led? In lieu of that can you just put a resistor in the circuit to permanently dim it? I have the factory Wire diagram, so I will look for a light that is dimmed with the dash lights.
View 4 RepliesI recently have been running into some problems with my 03 jetta 2.0. Last night as I was driving home my radio start to turn off followed by ABS, airbag and battery lights coming on and then lights on the dashboard were dimming followed by headlights going out for a few secs then returning on but dim. I stopped in my drive way to open door and when I tried to press the accelerator, my car completely died.
Over the past 2 weeks or so I have had to change the fuel pump and the alternator because i thought that was the problem. I noticed when i first had problems the fuel pump wasn't charging so i changed that. then days later my car started to completely die when I tried to start it(not turning over, no lights no nothing). i tried a new battery it would still die. So I installed a new alternator. My car worked fine for about a week-week and a half before last night.
I have done some vag com mods, and noticed that the front dome lights and one of rear lights in the roof, are dimming very low, is it some kind of convenience stuff or something is messed up?
Done all the coding through long coding so it should be fine, however I think it might be the case (of wrong voltage, I am using leds in interior lighting, or it is due to some comfort options....)
The car has 269,231 miles. A few days ago, my wife said the lights began dimming, the fuel indicator needle began dropping and rising and the low fuel light came on (with 3/4 of a tank). Thinking it was some kind of electrical issue, I took it to the local parts store and had the battery, starter, alternator, etc, checked. There was a little corrosion build up on the positive battery terminal but everything else checked out ok.
View 1 RepliesFor 8 or 9 months now the dash lights and headlights on my 2001Chevy Tracker are dimming (more like flickering but they don't go completely out). It is not the alternator - it has been checked. For a period of 4 orso months in between the beginning of this and now - the dimming stopped and now it's back. The only thing I can correlate to the dimming stopping was I had to have my car jumped because I left the headlights on and the dimming seemed to stop for the long period of time.
View 1 RepliesMy car came stock with the LED strip on the grill and was wondering if there's a way to keep the lights from dimming when the headlights are on?
Noticed that with the stock ones but they get dimmer when you're headlights are on. I want to keep a constant brightness.
Can the speedo and tack lights be dimmed to almost off with the + and - buttons either side of the headlight switch on a 2014 Escape?
View 2 RepliesThis week I noticed a sound that sounds low that increases then the vehicle goes faster and decreases when it slows down. It is not wheel bearing noise. Took a doctors type scope and put it on the pulleys listening for the bearing noise in each pulley and found my alternator pulley making more noise than usual, My car needs new accessory belts so I ordered 3 new belts and will be replacing them soon. I am hoping the noise is from worn belts and not the alternator. If it is the alternator its going to cost me 250 bucks for a rebuilt one. I'm not sure if I can tear the alternator apart and replace the part bearing part. Have to look into this. Is this normal for a car with 161 thousand klm for accessory belt bearings on items to start to go bad? I sure hope the water pump and power steering and ac compressor and ac tensioner last. These all have bearings in them as well.
View 10 RepliesI have a 2006 Prius and lately, the fan will stop blowing hard on long drives on hot days when the fan is set to High. This happened on a 3 hour trip on the interstate and again when I was driving some back road for about 2 hours. The first time, I noticed the cabin temp was getting hotter so I went to switch the fan speed higher and noticed it was already on high. It was not set to Auto.
When I got home, I let the car cool down for about 30 minutes and when I turned on the car, the AC was blowing full speed and was getting cold like normal. When the fan speed slowed down on its own on the interstate, it was probably blowing at a speed similar to what the fan would normally blow if set to the middle position or maybe even below that. Why the fan would slow down on its own when set on high.
I also just checked the temperature coming from the vent after running the AC on LO temp for about 10 minutes. It was reading 50 degrees with a digital meat thermometer and 46 degrees with an infrared thermometer. So, when the car is cool, the AC seems to be working fine. Just wondering about the fan speed and the fact that the car gets really warm when it slows down on its own.
I have a 2007 Taurus and for some odd reason I get a message saying to check the brake system. Its accompanied by dimming dash lights and symptoms of a bad alternator. I'm suspecting the battery (its from 2009). Sometimes the issue goes away and when I drive and get the car above 1300 rpm it will go away until the next stop light/sign.
View 11 RepliesOur 2010 Santa Fe SE V6 just developed a problem where when we turned the key, the car wouldn't start, and there was a loud clicking sound during start attempt. Battery tested 100% OK.
This often points to a starter problem, but a telling symptom was than the headlights would dim, almost going out, along with the dash lights and most any other lamp. If it was just the starter, unless dead short, this associated dimming would not happen. I also put a volt meter on the battery and watched battery voltage during cranking attempt, and the voltage showed minimal drop, so once again the battery was not the problem.
Traced the problem to the ground strap from the battery which terminates to the driver side front wheel well. Two bolts hold the strap to the wheel well, and they are oxide coated and the contact point on the wheel well is painted. This means all the current returning to the battery is essentially passing through the bolt threads and cap where the oxide has been scratched enough to be conductive.
I sanded underside of the bolt heads to remove oxide, sanded the ground strap itself which seemed to have some sort of clear coating, and sanded the paint away from the wheel well where the strap makes contact. I didn't have star washers, but if I did they would have been a good addition.
Car now starts with no problem.
I am concerned with the possibility of corrosion under the strap where I sanded away the paint, but will monitor this. I think the contact between the strap and fender wall is tight enough with the two screws to seal out moisture and oxygen.
I am also going to locate and check any other chassis to engine ground straps so I don't have any new problems in the future.
Any work around/fix for the gauge brightness dropping so dramatically with the headlights on? I have it maxed out on the rocker switch (brightest) but would like to be closer or equal to daytime brightness.
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