Headlight oddity

[tugskipper]

Hello, has anyone had the following problem with your head lights?
Sometimes my lights will go off for no apparent reason. They don't stay off for long, just a few seconds and then come right back on. I have checked the wiring, replaced fuses, used dielectric grease on connections, etc., etc. Am I missing something?

 

[Chris]

You've got a bad connection somewhere, guarantee it.

 

[Flyer58]

When they go off try quickly switching between high and low beam.

Did you check the Hi-Lo switch attached to the steering column? They seem to go bad.

 

[Gilaguy23]

I'll bet you have bad grounds/dirty connections thus internally overheating an old headlight switch. This causes the headlight switches internal breaker to trip. This has happened on both my 91 YJ, 99 TJ.

 

[Torched]

Did someone put LEDs in there? There circuitry can do that or faulty relay.

 

[tugskipper]

Still original sealed beam

 

[tugskipper]

Still original sealed beam

Also when they go off, the blue high beam indicator light goes out also. When they go off it's both high and low beams

 

[tugskipper]

I replaced the head light on/off switch for $20 it fixed the problem. Apparently there is a relay in the switch that fails.

 

[machoheadgames]

Never saw this thread until now. There is a circuit breaker inside the headlight switch. It's often not actually bad and is just being overloaded by poor wiring resistance that gets worse over the years. I always recommend pretty much everyone to install relays for their headlight circuits so the headlight load is removed from the switch and places on the relays appropriately. Modern cars all have headlight relays, even for LEDs. The days of running the circuitry into the cab, through a headlight switch, and back out to the bulbs are long gone.

People often notice their halogen lights are brighter after adding relays due to the increased efficiency of the better wiring path.

 

[tugskipper]

The original setup lasted 30 years. I'm going to roll with the new switch until it happens again. Then I'll do the relay setup. I cleaned and dielectric greased all the power and ground terminals on my jeep before I figured it out.

 

[Gilaguy23]

I replaced the head light on/off switch for $20 it fixed the problem. Apparently there is a relay in the switch that fails.

I tol you mang.