OP, your post has been moved to the correct forum and your 2 id's merged.
Sounds like a sticking or lazy IAC, try cleaning it before replacing. If replacement becomes necessary use only a Motorcraft part, aftermarket replacements cause more problems than they solve.

 

Lights pulsing is odd, hows the battery connections and alternator? How old is the battery?
Do the RPMs follow along with the lights pulsing?

Slight bounce at idle, IAC cleaning is a good idea, are there any vacuum leaks? PCV, PCV hose, emissions hose, uim and all that good stuff sealed up?
*edit*
Any check engine codes?

 

Put a new IAC valve into it, still have a headlights dimming problem.
Seems like i have a much smoother idle, but still idling at about 650 rpms with a much slighter bounce

Checked all fuses, all were good to go.

The sputtering problem has not happened again, but it isnt that often it occurs anyways, so i shall see in a day or two.
This morning fist start of the day, had a very bad sputter, i let it sit and run never died. Had a funny run to it like maybe it wasnt firing like it should, i went ahead and drove it. Got just up the road and it straightened itself out and never sputtered again. Cpl hours later was when i changed the iac valve. So heres to hoping that problem is fixed.

 

OP, your threads have been merged. Please keep it to one thread, it helps us help you.

 

Keep us updated if things change. My car actually does this randomly, usually only on warm starts.

I am wondering if your battery has a weak cell or your alternator is not putting out enough juice with the lights.

Do you get any type of gas smell when the cars sputtering?

 

sorry about messing this thread up so badly lol

No gas smell

Havnt had it hooked up to a computer

The rpms following along with the lights pulsing is hard to tell as i always have a small bounce. like from 650rpm idle to like 700rpm

Vacuum leaks is next to check if problem persists
Im going to clean my battery posts up, they dont appear to have corrosion.
The battery was bought late last year, was rural king battery, maybe its crap. Can autozone test the battery for weak cells?

I bought a new iac as my old one had a little rust on it and was horribly dirty, and for some reason didnt have the bigger gasket sealing it. figured id just spend the cash.

 

My 2006 has had pulsing lights which lead me to an alternator that had slip rings that were worn badly. How many miles on the car? Never completely got rid of the pulsing and it has been happening for the last 60k miles. Rebuilt alternator and new battery didn't make it totally disappear. The PCM controls the voltage on these alternators and I see the voltage fluctuate on a voltmeter actually to the high side rather than to the low side. Never dropped below 14+ volts at idle but actually moves closer to 15 volts. Whats your voltage range?

 

My 2006 has had pulsing lights which lead me to an alternator that had slip rings that were worn badly. How many miles on the car? Never completely got rid of the pulsing and it has been happening for the last 60k miles. Rebuilt alternator and new battery didn't make it totally disappear. The PCM controls the voltage on these alternators and I see the voltage fluctuate on a voltmeter actually to the high side rather than to the low side. Never dropped below 14+ volts at idle but actually moves closer to 15 volts. Whats your voltage range?

Old school rule ~13.8V nominal have changed at least for '02 and later PCM managed Alt. Attached pic, chart of my '03 Wagon with new Alt. New is not rebuilt. My '03 Sedan, same level. My Lin Cont (non pcm volts) stays about 13.8 V. So, for me, 2 Bulls both manage volts above 14. I have checked volts at the power port with digital and they agree.

Reason for new alt on the wagon, had light come on but was still charging fine, but at 13.8. From time to time, it would drop to 13.8 and the light would be on. No harm but was a pain to see the light come on for a time then go out. It acted like the regulator did not get the message from the PCM.

Others might want to chime in with their measured volts and what year range.

-chart-

 

now my car is sputtering every cold start until the engine is warm then straightens out.

took it to advance and had the bat/alt tested, i was told one of my diodes in my alternator is bad.

so judging from the attached pics of the test, is this whats causing my sputter? could that cause this to only happen on cold starts until warm?

also the car was tested from a warm engine start, no sputter and whatnot, if that matters.

 

also thought of something else the car does, dunno if its common or even has anything to do with the problem, sometimes on a cold start all my gauges will shoot all to the left and click and jump going nuts for about 5 seconds, then go back to where they are supposed to be.

 

I believe the cluster is going into a self test mode or at least that is what I found on the internet as a reason for the gauge action. It has happened to me on my 2006. Cure was a new battery but maybe you need to clean your connections. I wouldn't rely on just one test, go to a couple of different parts places. My experience on my alternator was that multiple tests showed a bad alternator but 60K miles later the alternator is still going strong. I would use a volt meter and test at positive and negative post of the battery while someone cranks the engine. It needs to be above 9 volts.

How old is your battery?

Here is my link on parts store tests. http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/82-...om/forum/82-maintenance-repair/218682-how-good-parts-store-alternator-test.html

Self test mode on gauges http://www.fordforums.com/f59/ford-self-diagnostic-mode-166568/

 

I also looked at the starting voltage graph and see it is dropping to 8 volts which is low. I would suggest also to try jump starting your car with another when it is could to see if you can raise that voltage and stop the sputtering. I 2006 has issues with quick starts and both times it was the battery getting weak.

 

Your AC ripple was only .24 volts and my alternator had .40 volts and was considered ok and passed. AC ripple is a test of the diodes.

 

The momentary drop in batt voltage to 8 V during initial crank worries me. I would check batt connection for looseness, corrosion, etc at both ends and check major grounds. Even momentary system voltage drops below 9.5 V will cause many of the modules to go "wacky". A volt drop test on the batt cables might be a good idea also.

 

The momentary drop in batt voltage to 8 V during initial crank worries me. I would check batt connection for looseness, corrosion, etc at both ends and check major grounds. Even momentary system voltage drops below 9.5 V will cause many of the modules to go "wacky". A volt drop test on the batt cables might be a good idea also.

Good call and I might add my plan. Found 10X the allowed drop on pos side of year old Lin which had problems with the instruments. Dealer fixed with new pos cable. OE was made incorrectly. Dealer shop could not find the issue, I did. Old school method. (like me)

Battery cable/wiring check
This should take about 5-10 minutes.
Tools. Digital VM, range 200MV to 2.0V.
Hood open.

1. Key on (not start) Blower on high, lights high beam.
2. Probe leads, Pos battery post to mega fuse (or older cars use post on fuse box) Not the cable ends, but, post to post to bridge the cable.
3. Volts range ~100 mv or less. ( 0.10V or less)
4. Neg bat post to engine metal 50 mv or less.
5. Neg bat post to body metal 100 mv or less.

On the pos side, high reading = bad cable, or ends not good connection.
On the body ground (fender) high reading = bad cable or ends not good connection.
If you have a high number, then measure one step at a time; that is post to clamp, clamp to wire, wire to eyelet, eyelet to fender etc. Find the weak connection, and fix it.
On the negative side, the ground is split with one to the body, one to the engine block and then the ground strap from the block to the body near the passenger side firewall. Thus the body is double grounded. You need both. Engine strap to firewall is important as this is the ground to the PCM.

Ground strap test. Key off . Remove the battery ground to the fender from the fender. Turn HL on high beam. They should light normal. If not the ground strap from the block to the firewall/PCM post is bad. Clean the fender where the neg cable bolts on, put the ground cable back. Fix the ground strap. The ground strap keeps the PCM and engine block/Alt at the same ground level. When the engine is running, the negative current path is mostly engine block-ground strap to the body, bat cable to fender is secondary.

 

well i did the jump start from a cold start
sputter started to occur then stopped within the same second.
so jumping the car rids the sputter

 

So dirty connections to the battery, weak battery or outside chance of a starter that is drawing too much current during starting. How old is the battery and how good are you jumper cables?

 

I went out on a limb and replaced the alternator, and my sputter problem is gone!!!! for now.... lol knock on wood its fixed. ill know within a cpl days

Battery connectors are a lil rusted and dirty, gonna clean them up just for safe measure. My idle is now steady, headlights no longer dim, but interior lights still have a barely noticeable flicker.

I had the battery tested and all is well with it.

Cars seems to be running better, and smoother.

 

I guess I will never get the answer I asked two times."How old is your battery?"

 

Or the first order of business:
Clean the battery terminals.
JY is full of cars which did not have this maint. done.
But makes for nice used parts for most of us who do maint.
And makes it the last thing you might find at the JY is a GOOD cable.
-chart-

 

i swear i thought id answered that lol. sorry
the battery is about 7-8 months old. came from rural king.

havnt had another sputter since putting in the alternator, no crazy gauges either. Much quicker startup and not half as rough.

also thought my alternator was crap because i ran a pretty powerful stereo system in the car for quite a few years.
prolly shoulda mentioned that.

but all in all, i figured it out.... i think lol
i think what was happening was my fuel pump wasnt getting the juice it needed to idle on its own from a cold start, cus i had a bad diode. could be super wrong, as ive stated before im car illiterate, but its what i summed up with a lil googling.