[JoeD]

Hello,
I'm new to this board, and wanted to start by saying I'm glad to find a forum dedicated to owners of my vintage T-bird (1965).

I have an annoying headlight problem that just doesn't want to go away. The headlights flicker (cycle off and on) when the high beams are on. I had thought I fixed this problem a couple months ago when I replaced the headlight switch (with a brand new switch). The problem seemed to have been resolved, until last Thursday. The problem returned after an extended night drive (1.5 hours). The lights started flickering again after I had the high beams on for a few minutes.

I've noticed that whenever this problem happens, the headlight switch gets quite warm to the touch (which is why I had assumed it was a bad switch the first time around). Before, it happened even on low beams. Now it only seems to happen when I have the high beams on--I verified today that within five minutes of turning on the high beams, the circuit breaker in the switch starts cycling the headlights off and on.

Today I also looked at the dimmer switch (the foot operated switch that switches the high beams). It looks old (probably an original), but the wiring connectors looked clean, and that switch didn't get warm.

I've heard that a corroded connection could cause this problem, but I don't think any of my connectors are the problem--the lights don't look dim at all. I didn't check with a multi-meter, but judging by the brightness of the lights, they appear to be getting a proper 12 volts. I would have expected dim headlights if there was a bad connector or ground.

I'm kind of out of ideas here. The only two things left that I can think of are:

1. There's a high output halogen bulb on the driver's side low beam. One theory I have is that that halogen bulb is drawing more watts than the switch is designed to handle, and with high beams, I exceed the current carrying capacity of the switch.

2. Long shot, but maybe the voltage regulator is letting the voltage get too high. If the voltage going through the switch is too high, maybe that's overheating things.


Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone else had problems with using halogen headlights in place of conventional sealed beams? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, since I don't want to be without headlights at night.

Thanks,
Joe