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Strobing headlights

D

D13

CEG'er
Joined
Aug 21, 2006
Messages
107
Ok,

So I just completed the replacing of the alternator and the mega-fuse. I fire up the car and all seems well... until last night. My first night drive and I find my headlights are pulsing/strobing. This was occuring before the maintenance, but I was hoping that it would be resolved.

Could a relay or battery cause this. I checked the grounds, they look good. Nothing else except my lighting system is effected. The battery voltage is stable.

Any ideas?

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1999 Contour SE
2.5 V6 ATX
115K
 
Some kinda wiring issue & there was a TSB for it. I read that the wires from the alternator can be re-configured to solve this, so don't spend money on cables, or a new alt just yet.

I don't have the info handy, so please search for 'alternator wiring' or 'headlight flashing' to try & find a post related to your problem. Perhaps another CEGer can shed more light on this issue.
 
It could be the voltage regulator (of the alternator) or the wiring from alternator.
 
he replaced the generator. my car does it to. infact all the trucks and cars i've owned do it. minus the diesel but that has dual generator
 
Ground

Ground

Do not just look at the ground connectors. Take them apart and clean wire ends bolts and bolt holes with a degreasing solvent. Then re assemble. Then you Know the ground connections are good. But it still could be a bad voltage regulator. Good Luck Dan.
 
i very much agree with dan. ur problems could be as simple as bad grounds. i had that problem when i set up my subs. if i had my amp turned up too high i would get a nasty pulsing out of my subs bcuz my ground was insufficient. and altho we are talking MUCH higher power here, its still a comparable situation :). hope this helps
 
Found part of positive battery cable to be frayed and rusted - between battery box and air cleaner.

Went to Advanced Auto and had battery tested - ok.

But when they saw the dual lead off the battery and wanted be to replace with a rigged solution, I left.

Anyone know where to get the dual lead battery cables for the Contour?
 
simple question, did the lights pulse before you swapped alternators?

I had a similar thing happen to me. I replaced the alternator since it wasn't charging as well as I liked. 100% new alternator and as the rpm increased my lights would start to pulse .... swap alternators back it was gone. Best I can figure it is there was a bad diode ....

if the problem didn't happen before I would return the alternator and get a motorcraft one ...
 
I had this problem on my E0 after I had my alternator replaced a second time. The wire-fix solved it for me though. Might just want to give it a shot to see what happens.
 
Yes the lights did pulse before. It was one of the contributors to replacing the alternator. Frustrated to find it continuing.

I did find the TSB suggested, but rigging the alternator to me is a bad idea.

Will start cheap and replace battery cables and then see about the "failing switch" for the lights.

Add it to the list with fuel filter and possible fuel pump.
 
D13 said:
Yes the lights did pulse before. It was one of the contributors to replacing the alternator. Frustrated to find it continuing.

I did find the TSB suggested, but rigging the alternator to me is a bad idea.

Will start cheap and replace battery cables and then see about the "failing switch" for the lights.

Add it to the list with fuel filter and possible fuel pump.
Click to expand...

ok, sounds like a classic wiring problem ..


the wiring fix is not rigging the alternator. off the voltage regulator there is a signal wire. It reads the voltage being out put by the alternator at the fuse panel in the engine bay. the wiring fix just make this loop shorter. Instead of reading the reference voltage from the fuse panel you read it right at the output of the alternator.
 
D13 said:
So you are going around the problem instead of fixing it?
Click to expand...


I suppose so, if you search there is a Ford TSB that discribes this fix. The issue was with the wiring so you are creating a new circuit .... I know I don't care for it that much either but it does solve the problem ...


here is the post with the TSB
 
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