I noticed when I'm driving at night that when something that has to go on (either brake lights or turn signal lights) that there are certain lights in my car that seem to go weaker.

For example, when I'm at a light and I have my turn signal on to go left, the light on my dash for the D4 alternately gets dim as the turn signal goes on. Is this a sign that my battery may be dying? I don't remember when I bought the battery I have now (It's a Sears DieHard) and was thinking of getting an optima battery.

I just wanted to get some ideas if the battery is going bad or if it's something else so that I could properly take care of it.

 

Could be either your battery or your alternator. My first step would be to get the battery tested.

 

this really doesnt mean that yah batt is dying.Its a possibility that wiring and such is going bad witht he car.I remember a friend had the problem replacewd his batt and changed the alt,and nothing.do you have any other things in yah car? like a system or anything like that.Sometimes when Bass hits it takes eccessive amounts of Power from the Batt and the break lights will dim.Wa I would do is have the Batt tested..and if its fine then yes it could be yah alt.

 

No system. The only thing I have in terms of a "system" is an old kenwood cd player with kenwood door speakers (I don't even have rear speakers h: ).

But now that you mention it, when I do hit the brakes, I can see that the lighting of the radio gets dim really quick.

I do remember that the alternator was changed about a year or so ago. I'll have the battery checked out and see...

 

Make sure all the grounds are on your car's engine.

Make sure your battery terminals are clean and corrosion free. This includes the wires.

Make sure your alternator is putting out more than 14 volts. It's supposed to crank out 14.5v from the charge post to a known-good ground... or you should be able to measure at least 13.7 at the battery when the car is running, 12v with it off. Get your battery tested at Advance Auto for free.

If that stuff checks okay, the problem is somewhere else in your wiring. Wiring problems are 10x more likely on any car that's been in an accident.

 

My car before the one I have now was all jacked up like that. Would be driving, hit a pot hole, and wham, everything would go out. It sucked. We changed the alternator twice, took the battery out and tested it then gave it a deep charge and it would still happen. Finally figured out it was the connection between the wires and the terminals. It's a Chevy so it has those side mount screw on ones and wasn't as easy to see that they were jacked up. Then after that the batter wouldn't hold a charge. Turns out the top posts aren't clearing the hood. WTF type of design flaw is that?! But it's probably because we switched the battery out for one with top posts to replace the annoying screw in side posts. So the post was touching the hood and discharging slowly over time. Just a story. random: do what everyone is suggesting.

 

i have the same problem...ever since my mechanic installed auto locks for my doors ... when i hit the brake...everything flickers and sometimes my speedometer needle drops to 0 and jumps back up quickly

 

Tighten your battery's positive and ground terminals and it should stop. Especially if your dash lights all come on for a few seconds after it happens.