Headlights flash after driving a while.

[72mino]

As the title says, my headlights started turning on and off randomly after I've been driving for 10 minutes or so. I replaced the headlight switch a couple years ago when all my lights were flashing, but this time I think it is just the headlights because I don't lose my dash lights.
The first time I was a couple blocks from home, so I just got home. The second time I pulled over to see if my tail/marker lights were flashing, but when I stopped, they quit acting up. They didn't give me any more problems going home, about 20 minutes.
I tried wiggling the wires going to them thinking there was a short, but they wouldn't flash. If I hold the dimmer the brights will stay on, but act up if I let go of the switch.
I'm baffled, any ideas are appreciated.

Dustin

[MagicRat]

Your headlights are protected by a seperate self-resetting circuit breaker whick works independedently of all other fuses and circuits.

Your breaker is overheating and tripping, causing the light to go off. After a few seconds, it cools down enough to reset itself, which turns the lights on........ only to turn them off again as soon as it heats up again.

Either your breaker is faulty and needs replacement, or your light circuit is drawing too much power, either because of a short in the wiring or the lights, or because the lights are higher wattage than stock. Try changing the breaker first, they are cheap to buy. If the problem persists, look to the wiring or lights themselves.

[72mino]

MagicRat,
Thanks for the advise. Do you have a part number, or know where the circuit breaker is located? I checked advance auto and did some searching online, but I couldn't find a circuit breaker for my jeep.

Dustin

[Jack4161]

Probably several different threads on Jeep Headlights Flashing but I'll post here. It was happening frequently on my 2005 Grand Cherokee. I do not have the rain sensor feature that automatically turns the wipers on but I disabled the feature that turns the headlights on when the wipers are on. My headlights would flash whenever they felt like it night or day and the wipers were off and dot operating but apparently there was likely some small voltage spike or something that sensed wipers were on which made the headlights flash for several seconds. It was happening quite often but ever since I disabled the "Headlights On when Wipers On" several months ago it has not happened. You just have to manually turn on your headlights when using your wipers when the law requires it. No problem for me because I don't like automatic stuff anyway.

[72mino]

I should have posted my fix sooner. My headlight switch fried again. I had aftermarket halogen headlights that were 85 watts compared to the stock sealed beams at 65 watts (if I remember right). It was just too much current for the headlight switch. I could have wired in a relay, but was too lazy and just put the stock headlights back on it. Never had another problem.