Headlights going CRAZY!!!

[rwgreen]

I am having an intermittent problem with my headlights which is driving me crazy. I have a 1996 S-10 2.2L. The problem is after driving the truck for about 10-15 minutes the headlights start clicking on and off really fast, and sometimes just cut off completely after clicking for awhile. Also I hear and feel a rapid clicking coming from one of the 3 relays (the first one closest to the driver) located in the glove box. The relay feels very hot as it is clicking. I replaced the relay (even though I believe the 3 relays do not relate to the headlights) and it did not solve the problem. What I can normally do (unsafe!) is cut off the headlights for about 10-15 seconds and turn them back on and it will be fine sometimes. This does not happen everyday,but when it does happen it is always at a very bad time (pitch black, traffic, people getting weirded out as too why I am flashing my blinkers at them...). One other thing, the daytime running lamps do seem to work fine when this happens.

I have the Haynes manual, and am thinking it could be the headlight switch. It appears the switch is located in the actual headlight control panel in the dash. Is this correct? The thing that is bugging me is why the relay (fuel pump?) in the glove box is clicking like crazy when this happens.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, and have a great weekend!

Robert

[BlazerLT]

are they flicking from high to low or from on to off?

[rwgreen]

They are flicking on and off as far as I can tell.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

[acemech129]

yes, your right it is the headlight switch, replace it. will fix your problem.

[rwgreen]

Thanks for the confirmation. I will try it and let you know if it works or not.

Thanks!

[Cam1959]

a few probs i found and solved are :

plugs attached to headlights get corroded and need cleaning or replacement... your problem seems related to something heating up, which these prongs would do. when they go off, open hood and wiggle plugs on back of headlight to see if any effect. also, when i had one light burn out or lose connection, the other cheap one soon burnt out. maybe too much current to one working cheap one.

ground wire leading to where horn attached to body was lose at horn.

unrelated to your prob but worth mentioning is i tried cheapest headlights that burnt out under a yr ... paid little more for better ones that have lasted so far few yrs.

[{XS}Slappy]

well my dimmer switch was fairly worn and when i went to high beams and released the switch the low beams came back on. so i was running both highs and lows at the same time, i didnt feel at the time that is was a problem more light is good right? well i after replacing the lamps with the sylvania silver star (i think thats what they are called) lamps it drew too much current and caused the thermal breaker to keep popping out. at certain temperature it was almost like a stobe light. a replacement of the dimmer switch fixed the problem. so you might want to check and see it the dimmer is allowing both the high and low beams to come on while in the high beam setting. just something to look at, it may or may not be your issue

[BlazerLT]

Excellent!