I tried searching...only brought up threads for maintenance light and rev limiter...

Anyway, the past two days, the entire dash dims/flashes two or three times when I start the engine, and looks like it's somehow not getting enough juice. Is that possible? It's never done it before...battery? starter?

Everything else seems normal, I know it's not a big deal but would like to know why it's started to do that.

Thanks!

 

might be ure alternator?

 

Mine has always "flickered" when my finger was on the start button. Is this what you're talking about, or is it after the car is started?

 

no, it's only as the car starts, and it's definitely new. not just the regular flicker (the same one that momentarily stops the radio, etc.)

It simply seems like it's having more trouble getting power than it used to, like the dash is struggling to light up. Hard to tell if the engine itself is starting any slower though...

any recommendations on how to check? alternator, you think Slickz?

 

i cant be positive, but when i had my old 240sx..i was driving and my dash board and all my interior lights started flashing..next thing u know..my alternator went bad...and my car just stopped.

 

slickz, same thing

on my LS400 when the alternator was on its last legs, the damn dash emergency lights would all come on, rofl.


sccs2k, take the car to an autozone and have them throw it on the alternator tester. if they say its bad pull that thing off and find a local generator/starter/alternator shop, they can usually fix alternators really easily and cheaply

 

sweet, will do. thanks man.

 

Mine does it also. My battery is 3.5 years old. That would be my first suspect. The alternator does not affect startup. My car is a garage queen which sits a lot and it happens less when I charge the battery.

 

I had similar issues and just replaced my battery with an Odyssey PC680.. which is less than half the size and 13 pounds lighter with about the same juice. No more flashy dash and the car actually runs smoother.

 

I had a similar flashing dash symptom, ignored it because I wasn't sure what I had seen. A few days later, the battery Bit the Big One. Simple battery replacement cured the problem. What I was seeing was obviously a big voltage drop when cranking the engine. Because of warm weather, and the fact that the car is garaged, failure to actually start did not manifest itself until the battery was almost totally dead.