Headlights come and go

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trebor75

trebor75

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Hey guys. I noticed something today when I was driving in the dark. My headlights come and go. For the most part they stay on, but then all of a sudden the will flicker and or go out. So I just pulled the knob on the switch in and out and they come back on. Never noticed this problem before, I washed the car recently, all I can think of.

Car is a 1970 Duster. I'm gonna look into it, but thought I just toss it out there if you have any ideas. Probably bad ground somewhere, just seem odd that they will go right back on if I pull the knob on the switch in and out again.
 
trebor75 said:
Hey guys. I noticed something today when I was driving in the dark. My headlights come and go. For the most part they stay on, but then all of a sudden the will flicker and or go out. So I just pulled the knob on the switch in and out and they come back on. Never noticed this problem before, I washed the car recently, all I can think of.

Car is a 1970 Duster. I'm gonna look into it, but thought I just toss it out there if you have any ideas. Probably bad ground somewhere, just seem odd that they will go right back on if I pull the knob on the switch in and out again.
Click to expand...
bad ground/connection. clean and check the connections at the headlight switch, hi/low foot switch, and headlight grounds. My truck did this for a while til I hammered out all that stuff
 
Both headlights use 1 ground screw at the radiator support behind the grille. Exercising the switch wouldn't have any effect on that though.
More likely culprit is thermal protection inside the switch. Replace the switch.
 
RedFish said:
Both headlights use 1 ground screw at the radiator support behind the grille. Exercising the switch wouldn't have any effect on that though.
More likely culprit is thermal protection inside the switch. Replace the switch.
Click to expand...
I didn't know if Mopar cars used the same ground system as the trucks
 
I think Red is on the right track, but if it's an intermittent connection, fiddling the switch might make it "arc over" and make connection.

I would check ground and connections at the harness up front

Check the condition of the harness connector at the light switch

ditto the harness connector at the dimmer switch

Does this happen on both high and low beam, or only on one? This might indicate a dimmer problem, or bad connection where the harness goes through the bulkhead.

As above, there is a breaker in the switch. These breakers can become weak, or if the switch or switch connector starts to generate heat from bad connections, this can cause breaker cycling.
 
As always help comes fast on this board. Thanks guys! I don't know if it happens on high beam, I had meeting traffic or cars in front of me all the time. I just tried to get home ASAP. The headlight switch is about 3 years old only. I'll check everything you suggested this coming weekend. Thanks again :)
 
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