Flashing headlights

[theripperman]

I have been working on a friends 1985 Town Car that has me stuck. The headlights flash off and on almost non-stop once you turn them on. Bright or dim, it makes no difference. I think it’s related to the auto headlights somehow but that’s about as far as I’ve gotten with it. The owner says that it started doing that last year but they quit using the “auto on” feature and it stopped. Now it’s doing it again even with that turned off. I have noticed that the park and tail light stay on as do the dash lights. It’s only the head lights that flash. Having not been around a lot of Ford, Lincoln or Mercury cars this may be a common problem that I just never heard of. Any ideas or thoughts would be helpful. Thanks.

[Towncar]

My books don't cover 1985 however I have a few ideas..

* The 90's Fords were (are) notorious for headlamp issues due to those clever engineers running the FULL load through the headlight switch. Many discussions and articles are running describing how to add relays to the system to correct overheating issues at the switch, and greatly improve lighting performance.

* If your 1985 Lincoln does have relays, they may be failing, or just subject to another of Fords notorious problems, corroding wire harness connectors. In later years this was improved by better splash guards, and contaminate-proof connectors in critical areas.
Tracing the connectors and cleaning them might bring the system back to life.

[theripperman]

It does have a couple of relays under the hood that I was suspecting might be bad. The thought crossed my mind anyway. Just hate to start hanging parts on the thing and still never get it fixed. It hasn't had the most well taken care of life but it isn't all that bad for it's age. I'll give those some more attention and see what happens. Thanks for your ideas.