I just had this issue present itself while driving home. I had the brights on while going down a poorly lit back road when they went out. Not just the brights, but all the headlights were knocked out. The car was still running, the parking lights were still on, but just the headlights went out. Then they started to flicker on and off in quick sucession, went out again, and finally came back on. I shut off the brights and put on the hazards for the rest of the trip home in case it happened again. Question is what could it be? I have no clue how to work on electrical so I don't know how to diagnose this kind of problem if it's something other than a bad fuse.
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1985 Mercury Grand Marquis "Shelley"
-- Donated and gone to auction -
the headlamp switch has a circuit breaker built into it....if it gets too hot,it will shut off power to the headlamps to prevent an electrical fire in the wiring......after years of use,these thing break down and become "weak"...also check for a "melty" looking connector were the wiring hooks to the headlamp switch....this tends to happen to these cars also when this happens......my guess is you will need to replace the headlamp switch (not actually being there to look at the car,this is an "educated" guess.....it is also possible that you may have other issues,but id check the headlamp switch first) -
ditto03 Marauder DPB, HS, 6disk, Organizer Mods> LED's in & Out, M&Z rear control arms, Oil deflector, U-Haul Trans Pan, Blue Fuzzy Dice
02 SL500 Silver Arrow
08 TC Signature Limited, HID's Mods>06 Mustang Bullet Rims 235/55-17 Z rated BFG G-Force Comp-2 A/S Plus, Addco 1" rear Sway, Posi Carrier, Compustar Remote Start, floor liners, trunk organizer, Two part Sun Visors, B&M Trans drain Plug, Winter=05 Mustang GT rims, Nokian Hakkapeliitta R-2 235/55-17
12 Escape Limited V6 AWD, 225/65R17 Vredestein Quatrac Pro, Winter 235/70-16 Conti Viking Contact7 Mods>Beamtech LED headlight bulbs, Husky floor linersComment
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X3. I would also try wiggling the big connector on the drivers side fender towards the front of the car, see if they flicker. Big white half moon sucker.
All front lights run through it.
PeteOriginally posted by gadget73
2003 Grand Marquis Ultimate, the "Stealth Bomber": http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...-Grand-Marquis
1991 S-10, 'Bulldog', 2.5l 5 speed: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...375#post698375
1985 Town Car, 'Faded Glory', gone but not forgotten. 84/87/91/97 MGMs too.Comment
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If you have to go the route of replacing the switch (it's rather a PITA to change), I would definitely consider the headlight relay mod to reduce the draw on that circuit breaker.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
Originally posted by gadget73
... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
Originally posted by dmccaig
Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.Comment
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Could you possible (or someone) post a pic of what it looks like? I'm sure it's staring me right in the face and I'm just not paying close enough attention. But I just want to be sure and have something to go off of.Originally posted by Piece-it pete View Post1985 Mercury Grand Marquis "Shelley"
-- Donated and gone to auctionComment
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Is this just a different type of switch altogether or an alternate version of the same thing? (if that makes sense)Originally posted by slymer View Post1985 Mercury Grand Marquis "Shelley"
-- Donated and gone to auctionComment
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You would purchase a normal replacement switch. The relay mod he is talking about consists of adding in relays to power the headlights so the entire load is not carried through the headlight switch itself. It is usually preformed to prolong the life of the headlight switch while actually allowing more voltage to reach your headlights resulting in brighter lights altogether.~David~
My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz
Originally posted by ootdega
My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."
Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck
Originally posted by gadget73
my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.
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The reason the light switch gets hot in the first place is all of the current going through it, the headlights draw their power from the battery via the switch.sigpic
- 1990 Ford LTD Crown Victoria P72 - the street boat - 5.0 liter EFI - Ported HO intake/TB, 90 TC shroud/overflow, Aero airbox/zip tube, Cobra camshaft, 19lb injectors, dual exhaust w/ Magnaflows, Cat/Smog & AC delete, 3G alternator, MOOG chassis parts & KYB cop shocks, 215/70r/15s on 95-97 Merc rims
- 2007 Ford Escape XLT - soccer mom lifted station wagon - 3.0 Duratec, auto, rear converter delete w/ Magnaflow dual exhaust
- 2008 Mercury Grand Marquis Ultimate Edition - Daily driver - 4.6 2 valve Mod motor, 4R75E, 2.73s. Bone stockComment
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Gotcha. How would you go about finding one and installing it? Due to severe night blindness, brighter lights would be fantastic. But wouldn't additional power to the lamps eventually cause them to overload and blow?1985 Mercury Grand Marquis "Shelley"
-- Donated and gone to auctionComment
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More voltage would result in somewhat shorter lamp life. That is the tradeoff for brighter lights.03 Marauder DPB, HS, 6disk, Organizer Mods> LED's in & Out, M&Z rear control arms, Oil deflector, U-Haul Trans Pan, Blue Fuzzy Dice
02 SL500 Silver Arrow
08 TC Signature Limited, HID's Mods>06 Mustang Bullet Rims 235/55-17 Z rated BFG G-Force Comp-2 A/S Plus, Addco 1" rear Sway, Posi Carrier, Compustar Remote Start, floor liners, trunk organizer, Two part Sun Visors, B&M Trans drain Plug, Winter=05 Mustang GT rims, Nokian Hakkapeliitta R-2 235/55-17
12 Escape Limited V6 AWD, 225/65R17 Vredestein Quatrac Pro, Winter 235/70-16 Conti Viking Contact7 Mods>Beamtech LED headlight bulbs, Husky floor linersComment
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Hmmm... It would be worth it though. From the sounds of it, I'd much rather take 10 minutes of my day to change a lamp than 2 hours changing a switch. That and lamps for these cars is dirt cheap.1985 Mercury Grand Marquis "Shelley"
-- Donated and gone to auctionComment
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running the wires and relays for the mod though can be a pain too... but if you check out the "cheater's method" that I used on my 88 (in my readers rides thread somewhere... link in my signature), you'll see that the only wire I ran was the new power wire from the battery to the relays and just spliced them into the mess on the driver inner fender.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
Originally posted by gadget73
... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
Originally posted by dmccaig
Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.Comment
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Same here. Easy. Cheap. Huge difference.
The plug I mentioned is right near the regulator, a silver square box screwed to the fender. Iirc the plug has 8 wires in/out.
PeteOriginally posted by gadget73
2003 Grand Marquis Ultimate, the "Stealth Bomber": http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...-Grand-Marquis
1991 S-10, 'Bulldog', 2.5l 5 speed: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...375#post698375
1985 Town Car, 'Faded Glory', gone but not forgotten. 84/87/91/97 MGMs too.Comment
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It doesn't really shorten the lamp life significantly. They are designed to run on about 14 volts, which is what you get with a relay harness. With my car, before I put in the relays I was getting not quite 12 volts, 11.8 or so at the lamps. With the relays, I get just over 14, roughly 2.5 volts difference. Even with very old headlights, the difference was quite impressive. I ran those old headlights another 3 years until I had the car painted. I haven't got a clue how old the low beams were, but the high beams were original 1986 lamps and still working when removed in 2011. I know that I did not put those low beams in the car though, and I've owned it since 2004, so they were at least 7 years old when I took them out.86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley
91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry
1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal
Originally posted by phayzer5
I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousersComment
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