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What causes interior/exterior lights to dim or pulsate while the car is idling?

Pretty straightforward, the interior lights on my 1999 maxima gets slightly brighter and dimmer while my car idles. The lights pulsate.

Any suggestions? It's kind of irritating because I just replaced the alternator with a remanufactured autozone one not even 6 months ago.

1 Answer

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  • 4 years ago

    Not a professional but the lights indicate an unstable electrical supply. First thing would be that the alternator can't keep up with demand. Since you are idling, the low rpms of engine mean low rpms of alternator and less power generated. Could also be a poor connection somewhere, check cable connections at battery, alternator, etc

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