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Okay 10-4, gonna try and get a video of the lights doing it tonight so you can see!

I will warm it up later today and check the temp of the tubes again.

I'm going to be honest, I don't see an issue there. It cranked just fine, and the dip sounded like the AC compressor kicking on. The slight electrical dip is likely just a product of a slight lag between a large electrical load kicking in and the duty cycle of the alternator being increased adequately to compensate.

Hey man I know this is super late reply so you may not even see this, but where did you get the puddle lamps? And were they plug and play or did you have to fab anything to get it mounted?

Good morning! So last night I took out the ABS fuse while I eas driving around. Unfortunately the headlights would still do the same thing I am still going to look into the sensors today as I do have a random grinding sound that will come and go from the rear, so maybe a bad wheel bearing. That being said do you think its something else since it still did it with the fuse out? I am also attaching a video of what the interior lights do at first start up. The noise and the way the lights act are very similar to the what the headlights do when slowing down. I had my park brake on this morning so didnt check the headlights unfortunately. Thanks in advance for the help, im still new to electrical so excuse my ignorance on next steps! 20251218_072241.mp4

Seems unlikely that it would air-lock and then work properly, then air-lock again. Same with plugging the coolant flow path--I can only think of one thing that would plug the heater core sometimes, and not other times. So I'm at a total loss as to why both heater hoses are not "hot" whenever the engine is fully-warm, unless you have a faulty heater-control valve, or heater valve control mechanism--dash controllers, faulty vacuum hoses, etc.

Man thank you so much for all the info! Going to dive into this tonight and see what I find. Ill post tomorrow with the results

You don’t have to. I did because I was I was too cheap to fix it properly at the time. No ABS was far safer than unwanted activation. Sometimes, there is a bit of rust scale that builds up and lifts the sensor (rust jacking), changing the air gap and making the signal weaker and less reliable. Other times, the wheel hub begins to wear internally and can cover the sensor with metal filings, making the signal weaker. The sensors themselves can also go bad. If your scanner is Bidirectional, then the odds of it being able to read ABS data is pretty good.

Ah dang, so you just run without ABS then? My scanner is bi directional so I am going to try and drive it later maybe pin point a bad wheel speed sensor

I seem to recall my Regal doing that as well sometimes. I always attributed it to a delay between an increased electrical demand and the PCM increasing the duty cycle of the alternator to compensate. If your scanner can read ABS codes, you should be able to monitor individual wheel speeds. If it's just a generic OBD2 scanner, those usually can't read ABS data. That's how mine started. The odd random ABS pulse, or the occasional ABS light coming on that would disappear after a restart. Eventually, I had to pull the fuse because the ABS began activating randomly at lower speeds and made things dangerous.

Also just remembered when I first picked the car up one morning the ABS light did come on. All I did was shut the car off and it went away. Definitely think youre onto something now

Hmm I am not positive but that does seem to make sense given when its happening. Im not necessarily on the brakes when it happens, but sometimes just letting off the accelerator causes it. I have an Autel scanner. Would there be a way for me to watch for this using live data in some way?

Ok. Now this may sound like a really weird question....are you absolutely positive that the ABS isn't activating when you're slowing down? The ABS pump activates briefly during its self check shortly after startup (or when you first start moving...can't recall which). In every 90s/2000s GM i've driven, including a 2000 Regal, the ABS pump initially kicking in would often cause a bit of a power dip (headlights dimming slightly, blower speed audibly slowing slightly etc..). Something that I have also had issues with in some of those vehicles has been unwanted ABS activation from weak/failing wheel speed sensors and/or failing tone rings. You may need to really listen and feel for an unwanted ABS activation, as it can range from being a very quick and random engagement of the pump that you don't really feel.... to full on constant ABS activation with the pushback of the pedal and the sensation of a loss of braking power.

The latter would be a better description. It’s like a large draw and they will dim then go back to normal. Sometimes it does it once’s, sometimes a few times in a row

You'll have to define the pulsing. Is it like a continuous flicker, or is it more along the lines of a large draw where the lights briefly dim once and then come back up?

And it worked as designed yesterday...

8

Hello everyone! i have recently acquired a 2002 Buick Regal. This car was a one owner car and I picked it up in October with 74k miles on it. It has been very well taken care of. I bought this car because of the reliability factor, however I have fallen in love with how it drives! The only issue that I am having is intermittent headlight pulsing. It only happens when the car is decelerating and slowing down under 30mph or so. So far I have replaced the battery, had the alternator tested(tested good ), went and bought another alternator and installed just in case of possible voltage regulator. Also found and cleaned thee grounds under the fuse box, next to the drivers headlight, and the engine ground by the exhaust. I have also ran a big 3 wire upgrade (did this for future sound system) as well as an extra power wire from fuse box to alternator(saw some videos where people said this extra line helped)This seemed to make my headlights a bit brighter, but not affect on the pulsing. All that being said i am still getting the same result. The interior lights will dim for a moment when the car first starts and the the headlights on deceleration. From what I have found there is no headlight relay, only fuses. I have one friend who has suggested new bulbs, however I am not convinced this would fix anything as they are older but still light up well. Any suggestions on where to look next would be greatly appreciated!

Right. That's confusing; seems like it is routed incorrectly. Worked perfectly fine yesterday. Even more confusing.

Yep....that's what I was going to do until I ran into a couple of hurdles.....no supplier on this side of the border had the aluminum crimps available, no supplier on ebay in the states at that time who had them would ship across the border, no shop in the nearby area had the equipment to fabricate custom a.c lines. Go figure

Since this has turned out to be more complicated than I initially thought, I think I'm going to just go with custom made AC lines. I can use both stock 92 Cutlass lines from the evaporator, the drier, and condenser. Then all I need is to cut and splice the Impala compressor-end hoses to the Cutlass condenser+drier ends. Two hoses, 4 crimps, no problem!

I had a fun chat with ChatGPT and learned some possible solutions. One is to just use an aftermarket pressure switch, wired inbetween the Cutlass HVAC module AC Rquest and clutch relay. Another option is an 02-03 GTP PCM (also 00-02 Regal GS and 02-03 Bonne SSEi are potentials). It's an L67 with an 4T65-EHD, plus is has a discrete AC Signal request input instead of a Class2 signal from a BCM. I'll just have to repin a few wires at the PCM connectors. The GTP is probably a great choice because it has full support in HP Tuners, which I already own. The 04 Impala PCM is supported in HPTuners also but I don't think it supports all features.

I'm definitely not looking to go with a manual switch. Let me see if I understand how the system works in the 04 Impala... The HVAC Control Module has an AC Request Switch, when driver wants the AC on, it outputs a Class 2 Serial signal to the BCM. The BCM doesn't appear to have any other direct inputs related to the system, so it might just pass that along to the PCM. The manual does specifically state that the AC Request signal comes from the BCM, not from the HVAC module. In any case, the PCM needs a Class 2 Serial input containing the AC Request On signal. Then the PCM decides along with the other inputs if it should engage the clutch. If it doesn't get this signal, the PCM will never trigger the clutch relay to engage. So if that's all correct, I think I have three options. 1) Find out if there's a PCM that will run the L67 but doesn't use a Class II signal for the AC Request Signal. 2) Simulate a Class II Serial signal with an Arduino including an AC Request On message. Other forums have decoded the signals, further research is needed to determine if this is feasible. 3) Bypass the PCM entirely, again with an Arduino. Take the AC Request signal from the Cutlass HVAC module (which I think is actually just 12v switched?), the AC Pressure Switch, optionally Power Steering pressure switch, throttle position, and coolant temp sensors, all into an Arduino programmed to power the clutch relay under the right conditions. None of these options sound fun! What is different about my swap that makes this neccessary? Tons of people have put 3800's in W-bodies and I've not seen anyone talking about AC issues.

I doubt that any of those PCMs would do what you’re wanting them too. I don’t know about the Lumina, but even 97 2nd gen cars would have used class 2 data from the BCM to receive the AC request signal. The Lumina PCM being from an NA car would also pose a different set of challenges altogether though. GM was famous for changing things like the crank/cam correlation, crank sensor patterns, sensor types etc….on the same engine over the years, so an older PCM for a series 2 L67 may not even work with a newer one. Also take into account when those write ups were written. In the mid-latter 2000s, using a 2004 as a donor car wouldn’t have been common as they were still too new, which might be why the references are to older ones. Assuming this isn’t a daily driver, I’d almost consider going the manual compressor switch route. The power steering and WOT compressor cutouts aren’t overly critical, and the low and high pressure refrigerant switches should be easy enough to integrate into a manual AC compressor switch.