I have a 2001 Saturn SC1. Recently, whenever I used the turn signal while my headlights were on, I noticed that the lights on my dashboard/cd player would flicker on and off. After a while, once I started the car, the lights would be out (when I turn the headlights on). Instead of flickering, it would be out for a good amount of time. That’s when I noticed that when this happens, my tail lights would be out as well. Well, lately, it would be out for days if not a week at a time. Occasionally, it came back for a day or so. But now, it seems I have no hopes for them to come back on. Now, I would love to just get a new car, but I’m a college student who barely makes ends meet. So I have no extra cash to see what is going on. Yet, in January, I’ll be starting a full time job where I can easily get a new car. Yet, I drive 25 miles home from work on the interstate. So, this seems to be a big problem for me.
The obvious suspect would be the headlight switch. You might try removing it for testing, or simply replace it and hope for the best. There are no guarantees, but that is where to start.
Would this be so if my front headlights always come on?
On many cars the dash lights and the tail lights are on the same circuit and protected by the same fuse. If this is the case for your Saturn, you might begin by changing the fuse for this circuit and see what happens. The fuse may not be tight in the socket or the link in the fuse may be broken just enough so that sometimes it makes contact.