electrical problem, headlights

[83GT289]

So i have this problem with the headlamps in my stang. They're fine on low beam, but when i switch them to high beams they'll work for a few seconds and then cut out entirely. Kinda sux driving down the road and then plunged into darkness. Switch them back to low beam and they'll come back on after a few seconds. What gives? I did some searching and found a kit to repair this on 86+ stangs. It's a replacement dimmer switch and headlamp switches. this won't work on my 83. Different style switches. Think some circuit is overheating or something? I can't find any bad wires or anything..


J

 

[jerry beach]

My first suspect would be the dimmer switch itself. Is it a button on the floor that you push with your foot or is it a funtion of the blinker lever? The contacts in the switch is the first thing I would check. They are not blowing fuses, so you dont have a short to ground.

Turn them on , then check for power going into the highbeam switch to verify it is still there. Check to see if it is coming back out of the switch, if not its time to replace it. They have some pretty good diagrams at autozone.com now. Check them out for the wire colors in your car. All you should need is a cheap test light and some basic hand tools to find the problem.

 

[83GT289]

the dimmer is in the blinker lever. What's really strange is that i can't get it to happen when i'm not driving. So it's hard to be able to test the lines. Tonight i will see if i can reproduce the problem with the engine held around 2k in the driveway or something with the high beams on. I have a multimeter i can check the lines with.

J.

 

[83GT289]

anyone know where to find a replacment headlight switch for an 83??? grrr.

 

[83GT289]

screw it. i was doing some more searching and i believe i will just wire up relays for the high/low beams from a 12V battery lead using the headlight low/high beam wires as actuators. . Should solve my problem (i hope) and give me brighter headlights.

J.