88 Town Car headlight issue

I've posted this before over a year ago and haven't gotten a response. SOMEONE please help me!

My poor 88 TC has headlight issues after a period of time. That period of time is getting noticeably shorter. It started with the high beams flickering off after 5-10 minutes of use. A quick turning off of the light switch and back on fixes it for about 10 seconds. Once you switch back to low beam they come back on and generally stay on. This car does not have the auto dimmer or electronic cluster. I've been told it was the switch itself or a relay. Any suggestions???

Thanks!

...I've been told it was the switch itself or a relay. Any suggestions


Well, from what you describe; I too think it's either a switch or a relay.
The relay is the easiest and least expensive to replace, so I would do that first.

If the problem persists, you'll have a new relay installed and a spare :) then you can try to locate a new headlight or high-beam switch. That might be a bit difficult for your 1988.

We'll assume you've already inspected ALL the electrical connections for corrosion, tight fit, etc. This includes the terminals holding the fuses.

Why are you waiting over a year to git-er-done?

Well, from what you describe; I too think it's either a switch or a relay.
The relay is the easiest and least expensive to replace, so I would do that first.

If the problem persists, you'll have a new relay installed and a spare :) then you can try to locate a new headlight or high-beam switch. That might be a bit difficult for your 1988.

We'll assume you've already inspected ALL the electrical connections for corrosion, tight fit, etc. This includes the terminals holding the fuses.

Why are you waiting over a year to git-er-done?
It's been a year because the car has been sitting and part timing as an imobile storage unit ;-) It's needed a new radiator, water pump, thermostat and housing and that's why I parked it. I didn't have the time or money until today. I spent a good 4 hours on it and it's back to life again.

Do you have any idea where the relay's might be? I've traced what I could but since the car wasn't taken good care of by the previous owner, things are a bit illegible under the hood. Any help on locating that stuff will be greatly appreciated. THanks for the quick response also! :-)

...I spent a good 4 hours on it and it's back to life again...


Woo Hoo !!! Another fine vehicle back on the road :)


Do you have any idea where the relay's might be?


No, I don't have any reference material for 1988, the folks at www.lincolnsonline.com might be able to help you in that area. You should be hearing the relays "click" as their activated. Then again, you may not have any relays in those circuits which would explain the extra stress on the light switches.

Does the switch get hot?

Yeah. You can hear a relay click when you turn on the headlights. Sounds like it's coming from under the dash. The switch does get slightly warm to the touch after about an hour of use, not hot though. Certainly not hot enough to cause it to fail by my standards.

Well then, hopefully you can follow the relay sound and find it.

www.RockAuto.com has your Mutltifunction Switch for 60 something $ :yikes:

Sidenote; My Town Car has no relays and the stress is put directly on the switch. There was a tech article written by someone at LoL detailing why, and how to add relays to the lighting system. My switch does get hot; hasn't failed yet though. Then again, 90% of my driving (with the Town Car) is in the daylight.

Sidenote; My Town Car has no relays and the stress is put directly on the switch.

Well, I found 1 relay that was clicking. It clicks when you pull the high-beam lever forward to turn on/off the high beams but not when turning on just the headlights. This jarred something in my memory. When the lights flickered off when on high beam, i could hear the relay click and both high/low beams would go off. So it would seem to me that the high beam relay is failing because it's source of power failing?

I've had some weird problems with that car in the steering column as far as wiring. The ignition switch apparently shorted out leaving me with no instrument panel or radio, turn signals, brake lights, etc. I had noticed before that the turning lamps that my friends so lovingly refer to as "stadium lighting" weren't working. I replaced the charred switch and melted connecter and everything came back on, except for an intermittent right turning lamp. I wonder if the switch in the column is what's causing all this trouble? I've used Rock Auto for various other things (like the pigtail for the ign. switch) so I guess I could turn to them.

I'm really tired of troubleshooting that car. It's has soo many problems since I bought it a couple of years ago. The previous owners thought it could repair itself apparently. I paid $300 for it and I've put about $2000 into it over 2 years and it's still far away from reliable. I'm to the point where I just want to sell it for what I can get for it.

I own the same car, and had an Identical issue, They would come on bright for a short time then click back out, a clicking noise under the dash and such, my pull switch for lights was filled with crap, pulled it out and sprayed it full of parts cleaner and worked the action of it till it worked smooth, then let it dry and reattached it, seems to work so far