Head Lights Go Out - Intermittant

[jimnance]

Just a few times, for no apparent reason I lose my head lights. Tail and parking lamps remain illuminated. Sometimes they come back on in a second or two. Sometimes I play with the headlight switch and they come on while I'm doing that. I'm not sure if it's really in the switch or something else.



Any suggestions to diagnose?

 

[R C Cola]

Lites

First take a good hard look at the fuse. Smokey, or even slightly deformed, replace and recheck lites. A fuse that has suffered stress, from time or overload can act wierd. (easy things first) Most likely it will be either a loose connection at or near the switch (thus the wiggle reaction), or if the switch has tight solid connections it will need to be replaced due to corroded contacts inside the switch body. Another easy check is good tight clean connections at the lites themselves, voltage at the lites would like to be 12v, better would be 12. 5 .

 

[Boczech1]

I had a similar issue with the 1996 RAM I have and scared the poop out of the wife one night on one of the dark country roads. Found out from the dealer that there was a TSB where the tilt wheel would stretch the wires and cause a short. Replacement of the multi function switch (I believe that is what they call it ) fixed the issue. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[KOG]

Not to worry about fuses. Headlights have a breaker in the switch which resets automatically. You've got an intermittent short somewhere in the headlight wiring. If you have a tilt wheel, start there as suggested above. If not, start physically examining all of the headlight wiring for damage.

 

[DBrickel]

I had to replace the headlight switch after having the same problem. The switch had a bad burn mark on it. Apparently shorted out

 

[LMcCary]

Headlight switch or dimmer switch most likely.

 

[Midnite]

The headlight switch is a very common source for this problem because Dodge didn't use relays on the headlight circuits. If the switch turns out to be the problem in your case, do yourself a favor and get a headlight harness kit with relays. I bought mine from Summit for my '92 and loved it. The relays take the load off the switch and the larger gauge wiring caused less voltage drop and made for slightly brighter headlights.

Mike

 

[bmoeller]

Have had to replace the headlight switches on my last 2 Fords and the Ram due to the same symptoms described. Did the trick.

Get it done before you get hit. Had an 18 wheeler almost hit me when my lights flickered. He thought I was flashing him back over. Trailer duals weren't past my hood yet. Slammed on the binders and missed him. BARELY!

 

[RedRamAndy]

Yep, headlight switch. Did you recently put in bigger lights or hook up driving lights to this circuit? Had the same thing happen to me years ago. Put in some big aircraft headlights and the temp breaker in the headlight switch tripped. This all happened on a very dark backroad and I made a few turns and parked in a driveway all by memory in the pitch dark! What a freak-out! After a few-second cool down, it reset. Look into the relay solution of you have loaded the circuit beyond the typical factory lamps. If not, look for a drain somewhere.

Good luck!

 

[DBrickel]

Dodge had a TSB on the light switch. they sell a replacement kit that includes the new switch and plug. You do need to do some wire soldering to change out the plug. The kit was a little over $110. 00

 

[TWilkening]

My 93 does something similar. If I have had the hi beams on for a while, it will flash the headlights off and on. But if I keep the low beams on, it never happens. Would the switch be the cause on this?

 

[RedRamAndy]

Yes. That's when mine tripped.

 

[JLight]

Jimnance check the headlight switch for melting plastic as this is a common problem. (Pertnear) burnt my truck 93 up last summer and the guys here sent me in the right direction with part numbers for a new switch and relay setup for the dash and i purchased the towing harness for under the truck. No more smell of hot wires and loss of lights! I got all parts from the dealer. Do the update it was worth it! JLIGHT

 

[dpuckett]

Back to the tilt steering.



My mom's 92 (which I bought in 99) had a problem with the tilt not wanting to let the dim light light up if you tilted the wheel below a certain level (downward). She lived with it after she bought it, til it wouldnt keep the low beams lit on even the highest wheel position. Turned out the wire going up the column to the dimmer switch had come out of its hole in the connector, and was not making contact when the column pulled on it. The clip to hold the wire in the connector was broken, so I JB Welded it and let it sit overnight before reassembling (to lessen the temptation to drive it before it was set). Reassembled, and all has been well so far.



Daniel

 

[jimnance]

I think it's the switch. Tonight the lights turned off then back on while the truck was parked and idling. Same thing happened a few minutes later while I was driving. Both those times it happened with the high beams on.



Wiggling wiring, moving the switch, tilting the wheel, etc. did not help the problem. The suggestion that the switch is overheating then resetting itself is probably the answer. It has rarely happened on low beams, but most often on high beam when current draw would be higher.



I think I'll rewire and install a solenoid. Seems like a much better way to wire the lights.



Thanks to all for the insight.