Headlight gremlins Options

[john77]

My headlights have decided to randomly turn themselves on and off as I drive, which is a lot of fun at night on the I405 as drivers think some obnoxious d*ck is flashing them.

I cleaned up the grounds and all the ground wire connectors by both headlights but it’s still happening.

Could this be relay connected, or are they more a once dead completely dead kind of deal?

I thought i’d ask before I drop $20 on a new one.

For the record, I have those sealed GE led headlights, and it’s happening simultaneously to both, so I know it’s not the bulbs.

[john77]

I took the car out last night. Still no conclusive answer.

Warming up on my driveway, lights on, they work fine. 10 minutes sitting there, not a glitch.

I drove 20 feet down the street and they cut out. I tried waggling the switch, nothing.

I turn them off and back on and the lights either come straight back on (and then die) or they flip up, nothing for about 10 seconds, then they come back on, then they die.

Is waggling the switch supposed to have some effect if it’s the switch?

[Spoke]

I took the car out last night. Still no conclusive answer.

Warming up on my driveway, lights on, they work fine. 10 minutes sitting there, not a glitch.

I drove 20 feet down the street and they cut out. I tried waggling the switch, nothing.

I turn them off and back on and the lights either come straight back on (and then die) or they flip up, nothing for about 10 seconds, then they come back on, then they die.

Is waggling the switch supposed to have some effect if it’s the switch?

Wiggling the switch may not cause the issue to happen. Likely it's vibration introduced with the movement of the vehicle. Pounding on the dash may get the issue to occur but not guaranteed.

If it is the switch then you have to bypass the switch to test or just replace the switch. I'm not a fan of just replacing something w/o testing first. It could even be the connections to the switch or to the hi/lo beam relay.

Whatever you do to test or replace the switch, remove the negative battery terminal before touching any electrical components. There is no fuse between the headlight switch and the battery. Accidentally shorting something could result in burned wires.

[john77]

I took the car out last night. Still no conclusive answer.

Warming up on my driveway, lights on, they work fine. 10 minutes sitting there, not a glitch.

I drove 20 feet down the street and they cut out. I tried waggling the switch, nothing.

I turn them off and back on and the lights either come straight back on (and then die) or they flip up, nothing for about 10 seconds, then they come back on, then they die.

Is waggling the switch supposed to have some effect if it’s the switch?

Wiggling the switch may not cause the issue to happen. Likely it's vibration introduced with the movement of the vehicle. Pounding on the dash may get the issue to occur but not guaranteed.

If it is the switch then you have to bypass the switch to test or just replace the switch. I'm not a fan of just replacing something w/o testing first. It could even be the connections to the switch or to the hi/lo beam relay.

Whatever you do to test or replace the switch, remove the negative battery terminal before touching any electrical components. There is no fuse between the headlight switch and the battery. Accidentally shorting something could result in burned wires.

Oh yeah, been there done that and learned my lesson. I fried about 6 inches of the wire into the fog relay by accidentally touching two of the socket terminals when the relay was out. What a royal pita that was splicing new wires into the harness and making sure I found every last piece that was burnt.