Flickering lights/oil pressure light

[Retrospekt]

My camry recently had a terrible rear main seal and I took it to get the engine pulled and replaced. All the gaskets were replaced in that time and the car runs like new. I've driven about 1,000 miles on it and today something weird happened.

I had the window open while cruising on the highway (80mph for about 30 miles). When I pulled into my driveway I had the car idling (Idles around 700rpm) and rolled up the window. As I rolled the window up, car still turned on, my lights (interior and exterior) started flickering and so did my oil pressure light. The window closed fine, I turned off the car and checked the engine, all looks fine.

Is my alternator or battery dying? And why would it cause the oil pressure light to flicker?

[chronoti]

sounds like a bad ground connection to me, the ecu takes a resistance reading to ground to see what the pressure reading is.

check all the ground connections and the neg battery thermal

[hill8570]

^+1

What he said. Since the engine has been recently pulled out of the car to change out the rear main, make sure all of the ground straps have been hooked back up correctly. There's a couple of biggies on the left and right side of the intake manifold that are easy to forget, and a couple of smaller ones near the engine hangers.

[73sport]

^^ +1
^^ +1

Just don't underestimate the battery health too if all the ground and (+12v) connections are good. It sounds like the window motor drew more current than the system could supply thus the flicker and dash light issue. Could be battery or wires. . .

Does it still start up (crank OK)?

Loose connections may be warm to the touch from having high resistance.

[Mike Gerber]

Karl,

This could also be a weak alternator. After you have tested all the ground connections, check the output of the alternator itself. You can do this yourself if you have a digital volt/ohmeter. If you don't have one you can buy one for a few dollars at Harbor Freight Tools on Dundee Road in Arlington Heights. Get the cheapest one they sell. They are usually on sale there for $3 or $4. They work just fine. You can also try a few of the auto parts stores in our area that check out the charging system for free with the alternator still on the car.

Report back what the output of the alternator is.

Mike

[Retrospekt]

I haven't had a chance to test the alternator yet, but yet another oddity occurred today. I parked my car at school, turned it off, noticed I completely botched the park job so I get back in and turn the key to fire her up. But instead of starting up without a hitch as it has since I owned it, nothing happened. I turned the key all the way and nothing moved, no turn over, nothing. It was as if the engine didn't have any power. The radio still worked though, and the lights also.

I left it alone for 2 minutes while I freaked out that I'll have to tow the thing. Put the key back in, and it starts back up again.

This happened twice today...

Another sign of a bad ground?

[hill8570]

Originally Posted by Retrospekt

I haven't had a chance to test the alternator yet, but yet another oddity occurred today. I parked my car at school, turned it off, noticed I completely botched the park job so I get back in and turn the key to fire her up. But instead of starting up without a hitch as it has since I owned it, nothing happened. I turned the key all the way and nothing moved, no turn over, nothing. It was as if the engine didn't have any power. The radio still worked though, and the lights also.

I left it alone for 2 minutes while I freaked out that I'll have to tow the thing. Put the key back in, and it starts back up again.

This happened twice today...

Another sign of a bad ground?

If it wasn't for the other symptoms, I'd say it was classic worn starter contacts. Heck, even with the other symptoms, I'd say it was classic worn starter contacts.

[JohnGD]

Autozone has free alternator and battery testing service. Don't know how well they do it.

[Mike Gerber]

^ I have to agree with hill8570 and JohnGD. It does sound like the classic case of worn starter solenoid contacts. However, you haven't had the alternator and battery checked out yet, so do that too. There must be an Autozone by you that will do that for free. As for the worn starter solenoid contacts, you can varify that rather easily yourself. If the no start condition happens again, go under the hood and tap the starter's solenoid with a small hammer or a wrench. Give it a good tap, but don't try to break it. If the starter now turns you have varified the worn starter solenoid contacts problem. This test works even better if you have a second person inside the car hold the key in the start position while you tap on the solenoid.

Mike

[fenixus]

retro, i had almost same trouble with my car shortly after purchase. you could still probably find my posts about it. although you may have more serious trouble like mentioned above, I would start checking wires for loose connections first like ground wires, battery terminal wires, etc. make sure they are all tight and secured.

my problem back then was that one loose wire sitting on positive battery terminal. prev owner installed an aftermarket remote starter which was directly wired to battery positive terminal wire, screw holding it was loose - this was enough to produce exactly same symptoms as you described (lights flickering, no power on start sometimes, etc.).

good luck!

[Retrospekt]

Originally Posted by fenixus

retro, i had almost same trouble with my car shortly after purchase. you could still probably find my posts about it. although you may have more serious trouble like mentioned above, I would start checking wires for loose connections first like ground wires, battery terminal wires, etc. make sure they are all tight and secured.

my problem back then was that one loose wire sitting on positive battery terminal. prev owner installed an aftermarket remote starter which was directly wired to battery positive terminal wire, screw holding it was loose - this was enough to produce exactly same symptoms as you described (lights flickering, no power on start sometimes, etc.).

good luck!

I checked the main connections, that's the first thing that popped to mind. They're all making full contact.

I'll stop by AutoZone tomorrow after school and get both the battery and alternator tested. The guys over there know me pretty well by now.

If it is in fact the solenoid contacts, how much am I looking at to replace? And could I do that myself?

[Mike Gerber]

"If it is in fact the solenoid contacts, how much am I looking at to replace? And could I do that myself?"

Here's a thread on replacing the starter's solenoid contacts. It has some great pictures. You may have to check around to see if someone like Schaumburg Toyota stocks the contacts. I doubt whether Autozone has them, but you can ask while you are there. Remember, you have to remove the starter from the car first. It's not too hard of a job to do.

http://www.nipponautoparts.com/startercontacts.htm

Mike

[73sport]

He never said if the original problem healed itself or if its even an issue anymore.

How can we progress to replacement of anything with so little information? Would the starter contacts make the lights flicker and the dash misbehave? It seems it all stems from a major repair. I'll lay odds there is a common thread to all ailments. How many miles on the car? How old is the battery?

Just my 2 cents on alternator testing with a volt meter. Lets say it reads 12.85vDC at idle. Good right? Maybe not. The question is will it do it under load. Example: a valid alternator test would be reading the voltage from the alt while the blower Fan, AC, and headlights are on AND it stays above 13.5vDC. Obviously if it reads 11vDC, somethings wrong but a slight increase in voltage due to RPM increase isn't a valid test all the time.

These threads remind me of the BORG on StarTrek. The colloctive is chimming in forming an opinion. . .

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by 73sport

These threads remind me of the BORG on StarTrek. The colloctive is chimming in forming an opinion. . .

hehehe, most forums ARE a borg kind collective knowledge
pls mind the quote under my username on left

[Retrospekt]

Originally Posted by 73sport

He never said if the original problem healed itself or if its even an issue anymore.

How can we progress to replacement of anything with so little information? Would the starter contacts make the lights flicker and the dash misbehave? It seems it all stems from a major repair. I'll lay odds there is a common thread to all ailments. How many miles on the car? How old is the battery?

Just my 2 cents on alternator testing with a volt meter. Lets say it reads 12.85vDC at idle. Good right? Maybe not. The question is will it do it under load. Example: a valid alternator test would be reading the voltage from the alt while the blower Fan, AC, and headlights are on AND it stays above 13.5vDC. Obviously if it reads 11vDC, somethings wrong but a slight increase in voltage due to RPM increase isn't a valid test all the time.

These threads remind me of the BORG on StarTrek. The colloctive is chimming in forming an opinion. . .

Miles: 154k
Battery: Not sure. It has the same one in there as when I bought the car. It doesn't look too old, and it wasn't too corroded when I bought the car. Everything in the engine looked as if it were untouched, so I doubt they would clean the corrosion.