When I am driving in to work at night I noticed that my headlights would dim slightly at about the same place every time. I thought that maybe it was just an optical illusion until I figured out that when the wheels are turning left or right the lights would dim every time. It must be that the power steering motor is drawing too much current to handle the entire load. Has anybody else noticed this and is it normal or do I have a potential problem with the power steering motor or wiring?

Research project: Go out at night and turn on your headlights, then turn the steering wheel back and forth to observe if the lights do in fact dim. Your input is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

First, do you have Xenons? I'm guessing you do, but I don't think you say.

Second, are you sure the lights are actually dimming...or are they only MOVING? The Xenons have auto-leveling motors which are constantly adjusting the lights by moving the whole light unit on its axis (up and down). Perhaps when you turn at a particular place in your drive, you're also causing the front end to dip, and this activates the auto-leveling motor...giving you the illusion that the light is dimming.

It's not out of the question that there's something wrong with your headlight circuit and a power draw is dimming the lights; if so, then I'm guessing that you DO NOT have Xenons as these probably wouldn't dim but would rather flash off (they use ballasts) if there was a voltage drop.

 

I DO NOT have xenons AND I have the same problem.
I will agree that it seems to correspond to power steering motor draw. It's uneasy at first, but I've learned to accept it.
I was able to monitor charging volts as I drove around at night. There was a 1-2 volt drop that occured while the lights dimmed. So, I guess I'm not crazy after all!

 

I do not have Xenons. Once I thought that I had a correlation, I tested my theory by aiming the lights in front of the garage door and turning the wheels slightly and the lights would dim every time.

 

Your altinator cannot produces as many amps at idle speed as it would at higher rpms. So with high power drain devices such as electric power stearing (defrosters, fans, exc...) will cause a dip in voltage at idle causeing the lights to dim. This is very tipical and quite normal.

 

They also dim on occasion going 65 mph down the highway.

 

If they dim while rpms are around or over 2000, then you have a short or loose wiring. I'd say its a good time to goto you dealer.