A pressure washer I used has this same problem, pulsating output.
It was the dump valve (It is supposed to dump the high pressure side back to the low pressure side when you stop the output) but when you open the output agin, the valve is supposed to stay shut; it wasn't staying shut due to some crap in it.
Also, i had the same problem when the lance was partially blocked, the unit ramped up to too higher pressure, the dump valve operated, the pressure then dropped as the output was actually open, and then it just cycles like this. (In my unit, taking off the nozzle at the end resulted in water spraying out of 4 holes in the side, and one in the end - the one in the end was clogged with crap, clearing this cleared the fault.
Sparks...