So a couple weeks ago I ordered headlights off of ebay, and they were the 100w xenon bulbs. I didn't think anything of it, and installed them like normal when they came in. When I turned the car on, the bulbs burned out instantly and both the tail light circuit boards fried. I replaced the circuit boards, and put standard bulbs in, but now I'm starting to notice my car is acting weird. There are electrical surges throughout the whole car. The idle stays at 800-900 rpms, but the headlights will randomly get brighter for about a second, and the heater fan will blow harder at the the same time. I haven't been able to tell yet if it is all the eletrical in the car that is surging, but i'm sure it is. Any ideas on where I could start tackling this problem? Or what would of happened? The only mechanical issue i've noticed it, is it has been sputtering a little bit while warming up in the morning, or if I try to drive it before it's warmed up.

 

This sounds like a ground connection problem. I would start by cleaning where the negative battery cable attaches to the fender.

 

Can you measure the voltage across the battery posts? With all that catastrophic damage it could be an overvoltage situation. Hopefully, you can find some combination of events so you can duplicate the problems, and run it down. The intermittent ones are a pain.

 

I checked the voltage and it was reading right where it's suppose to be, with slight fluctuation. I talked to my mechanic, and he suggested replacing my voltage regulator, and I did. It definitely needed replaced, it was about shot, but it did not fix the problem. And now there is a weird whining noise coming from my alternator, I believe. Is this normal after replacing the regulator? Any other ideas on the surges? After closer inspection, I believe everything is running on low power, and occasionally surging to full power, because my dash lights and interior lights are pretty dim until it surges.