bright lamps cutting out

Does anyone have some advise to help me troubleshoot why when I use my bright headlights for a minute or two all my headlights start to cut out (don't dim, actually goes on and off)?

I do have an upgraded stereo and I thought that was taking some juice away...but the lights still go on and off with the stereo off.

 

Clean the contacts on the back of the bulbs and inside the connector. They're usually corroded and filled with junk. Clean everything and make sure the electrical connections are strong.

 

just occured to me I should have posted this in "sparky's"...sorry, I'm new to this.

I was just reading on another post...

"the car ran a little funny, and the headlights would cut out at night for no obvious reason. Turned out that one tranny line was touching the block and the other was touching the frame, and they touched each otther, too- most of the time! When they didn't, I lost power."


I did just get some tranny work done, so could this be the problem? But it seems to me if this was the case, the low beams would cut out, and my problem only occurs when I turn on the brights.

 

Replace the bright light switch and be sure all of the contacts are clean. If the headlights are the only thing doing this, and it only happens when the brights are on, I'd also look at the rest of that specific circuit. If the dash lights, tail lights ect wink on and off also, that is a bit more of a problem.

Do they do this when any thing specific happens such as a bumpy road, more when its rainy or damp?

I doubt the trans work would affect it but, hey, you never know until you look for sure.

By the way, what year/model are we talking about?

 

Check the integrity of the big main connector that goes through the firewall on the drivers side that distributes power to everything. It could have been bumped or moved while the tranny work was going on. You might want to just unplug it and plug it back up. Many years of oxidation can make funny things happen to low voltage DC connections. I had a situation where my headlights would not work after I rebuilt my engine. The fix was to unplug and plug this connector, go figure.

:grin:

 

Check the fusible link at the starter .

Sounds like a relay is getting warm and cutting out ...

puzzled:

 

There is a circuit breaker that I think is built into your headlight switch that is suppossed to do that when there is a short circuit, so you don't completely lose your headlights. Are your bulbs too bright, maybe they are not stock and are drawing too much current? (I'm talking about those super bright beamers that are only legal for off road use.):bglasses:

 

Thanks for all the input. I'll check everything out this weekend.

The dash lights don't cut out, but the high beam indicator light does, and it does this even on a smooth road with no dampness

and the headlights standard for the vehicle. I didn't have any problems until last weekend (after I got the car back from the trani shop).

It's a 1966 Skylark, I'll get some pics up as soon as I can!

 

Also check for a bad dimmer switch ..p

 

AS with all electric problems Check grounds first!