I have a question...

[Jakecallun20]

Concerning a power issue I think I'm experiencing. Everytime I hit the window button, and I'm sure other things that use power do it too, but my headlights and gauges and whatnot all dim just a tiny tiny tiny bit whenever I hit the button. I was thinking battery, but its a Duralast red top thats less than a year old. Battery cables were replaced 4k miles ago, and the battery was replaced 5k miles ago. (I knew I should have bought an optima.) So a few questions I have are....First of all, is this a problem anyone else has?, if not would a loose or weak or just old belt on the alternator be the problem? I appreciate any help anyone can give me.

-Jake

[Toy1mzfe]

I use to have the problem with my old battery.

I have a DieHard Gold now and it does not do that anymore.

But if u want to look into upgrading, maybe check out some Ground wire kits.

They sell them on ebay, or u can make them with 0 gauge wires.

[SleeperSolara]

I'm havin' that problem too, and i just bought a new battery and i made my own groundin' kit somewhat.
Thinkin' about uppin' the AWG.

[funboy102]

I have that problem too. But my question is, is it just a mere annoyance? Can this problem really affect anything else?

[Jakecallun20]

I really don't know what it affects, but it does make me feel better to know I'm not the only one. I have 146k on my car, is this a common number for everyone else? I think I'm going to try one of these hyper ground kits and see what happens.

[Gangis]

I have that same problem. It's just a very small annoyance and I noticed this in my old 2000 Nissan Altima when I had it, so I assume it's normal. Doesn't bother me, really.

[Chinky420]

i used to have the headlight dim when holding down/up on both windows.

i thought it was symptomatic of my sub's draingin too much electricity, so i upgraded from nothing to a 6.0 farad capacitor (a bit of overkill).

at the time, i had already had ground wires. since adding the capacitor, i haven't noticed the dimming problem, unless i'm rolling up a hill (no gas, just momentum), and also bumping, and also rolling up the windows.

otherwise i no longer have headlight dimming.

good luck

[Jakecallun20]

Hmm. I don't know what is causing this, but I'd like to fix it. IF its a problem at all. Like I said before...146k miles on the original alternator.

[boneezy]

i think thats a problem inherent in all the gen1s..you could probably upgrade all your power wiring (like from your battery to alternator etc) to a 2 gauge or generally a bigger wire, that should definitely free up more power. its a pretty cheap mod that doesnt require a lot of time.

[steffknee]

It's a really early sign that your alternator dying.

The dome light in my Celica used to dim randomly when it was on while the car was running, it has since I can remember. It did it once while my car was in the shop at work and the tech I was working with noticed and said "looks like your alternator is trying to tell you something". At this point I've had the car for almost 4 years and it's done that for at least 2 of them so I replied with "what? it's always done that" and shrugged it off as nothing. Needless to say about a month after swapping the engine this past Dec, I needed a new alternator.

[GreenSolara01]

GUYS!

It’s not a problem. The 1mz in the gen one has at least four grounds, two on either side. They look like 10 ga. I was thinking of upgrading but I found the other two and figured, Toyota over engineered and nothing needed to be done.

The window motors are low voltage, high amperage motors. They operate well going up and down. They should not draw to much current under normal operation (no dim lights). If your windows are up and you pull the switch your lights will dim a little bit. Its only to be expected to draw more current if there is something like your car pushing back against the window.

I have an Optima Red and I have rewired a lot under my hood with good thick gages. My lights dim a slight bit if I pull the switch with my windows up. I had another car with this same issue it was my db car I had a lot of batteries and stiffing Caps. Sure enough, If I pulled the switch while the windows were up it would draw more current and my over all voltage would dip just slightly.

hope this helps

[rt9101]

Also if the window motors are getting old, which right after you get new ones they do, it will cause a mechanical resistance which will draw more amperage. Basically it could be your window motors. If it is, eventually they will draw too much amperage and trip the circuit breakers. I'd just wait till then.

[Jakecallun20]

Yeah, I was thinking an alternator would be the issue too. I'm not gonna worry about it. When it goes it goes. Overall, I'm not disappointed with it. Its got 146k miles on it and its 9 almost 10 years old. That seems pretty damn good to me.

[TLMNICK]

I dont think its anything you need to worry about. Its not the battery that is causing your issue. I think if you create some stronger grounds using 4-guage wire, you'll be ok. I had that very same issue in my maxima, and once I made my ground kit, the problem has never been back.

Keep in mind too that a " not so good" ground will eventually kill your alternator.

[Jakecallun20]

Hmm...Good to know, Thanks TLMNICK. I had considered picking up a ground kit from ebay with 8 AWG, but I guess I'll make one of 4.