Flashing Brights on Renix

OK, this is wierd:
The other night when I hit the brights they started flashing on and off every 2-3 seconds. Happened about 2 minutes after hitting the switch and would get faster. When I turn the brights off, all is OK. This is quite repeatable and can happen in the driveway with the engine off. The brights are still bright when they are on, but with 'em flashing on and off, not useful at all.

Any ideas where to look first?

Its acting as though there's a flakey circuit breaker in the path.

I can't remember if I put a new dimmer switch in when I rebuilt the column, but I think I did.

sounds like a bad relay

It's the circuit breaker, and it's not flakey, but doing what a headlight circuit breaker does, which is to leave you with at least some kind of headlights to find your way to the edge of the road, instead of dropping dead all at once.

My guess is a short somewhere, unless you recently upgraded to bulbs that draw too much current. I'd start by pulling one bulb at a time. See if the flashing stops. If it doesn't, look in the wiring.

Back in HS, a buddy of mine had an old Polara, would do the same thing, it was the headlight switch.

Annoying isn't it?

Matthew Currie said:

It's the circuit breaker, and it's not flakey, but doing what a headlight circuit breaker does, which is to leave you with at least some kind of headlights to find your way to the edge of the road, instead of dropping dead all at once.

My guess is a short somewhere, unless you recently upgraded to bulbs that draw too much current. I'd start by pulling one bulb at a time. See if the flashing stops. If it doesn't, look in the wiring.

Click to expand...

Is the a circuit breaker for this circuit on an 89? Mine electrical manual shows fuses.

Its behaving exactly like you describe, as if there's a short and the Circuit Breaker is kicking in.

Nevada City Sparky said:

Is the a circuit breaker for this circuit on an 89? Mine electrical manual shows fuses.

Its behaving exactly like you describe, as if there's a short and the Circuit Breaker is kicking in.

Click to expand...

I don't have a wiring diagram, but I'm pretty sure there's a circuit breaker there. I just don't remember whether it's in the fuse panel or tacked on to the switch.

Nevada City Sparky said:

Is the a circuit breaker for this circuit on an 89? Mine electrical manual shows fuses.

Its behaving exactly like you describe, as if there's a short and the Circuit Breaker is kicking in.

Click to expand...

the curcuit breaker on my 89 is at the bottom of the fuse block. its a silver block in the horizontal position. i had to get a new one from the dealer because i could not find one the same size anywhere else.

make sure to check the wiring harness connector near the airbox too. They will come apart or get corroded and cause a poor connection.