Headlight problems

If anybody can help I'd appreciate it. When I put my headlights on after anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes the lights start flashing on and off, I am not sure where to begin. I have a 1990 anniverary sc.

supermike

check for any loose connections or grounds, check the bulbs for a loose filament. i know my lights started bliniking when the capacitor started going bad. This mounts to the coil pack. the old one was a small round one but the new one is flat and rectangular. not sure exactly what to tell you unless you give some more description on what you mean by blinking (ie. on and off, flickering.....)



Chris

It might be your mutlifunction swtich at the steering column, see if you can push back and forward for the highbeams, my problem started at first as flickering headlights that would do it once or twice and then would stop, eventually it got worse, and now I dont have any headlights.

I got a new multifunction switch for $68 at fordpartsnetwork.com and when I took the old switch you can see it got pretty hot, and the wiring harness was melted, so I just got a new wire harness and I just bought the competition limited headlight hookup so it doesn't happen again.

Hopefully you dont have my problems but it seems common.

Hi, supermike.

Maybe these links will help.

http://www.35ththunderbirdregistry.org/HeadlightsFlicker.htm

and

http://www.35ththunderbirdregistry.org/RewireFogs.htm

I hope so.
Have a great week.

headlights

it is your headlight switch the one u turn them on and off with mine had that problem and they are probably worse on brights than dims let me no if that is the prob it dont have to be a sc switch either

hmm I wouldnt say it is defiantly the headlight switch, mine was the MFS, and I had the flickering and a bunch of other crazy problems, but heres a way to sorta test it,

make sure your highbeams go on, push the lever back and see if they stay on, then do a quick flash and see how that works. If the highbeams dont go on or only work by pulling back then its probably the MFS...

For the headlight switch try it, push it in and out and see if it stops and twist the knob and see if the dimming works and all that...

I would take off the MFS before you buy anything and just inspect the harness and wires, if its melted then you know

headlights

change the headlight switch problem solved i have had this on many cars and it is a more common problem with fords the breaker is biult in the switch and over heats which makes the headlights blink on and off and they will start doing it sooner on brights and will be worse

Did I get the "retard" Edition for my SC? because my headlight switch was fine but my MFS wasn't. I Wonder if I should just replace it anyway because ya know, your the expert and since "you've have had this on many cars " , we should just drop everything and change that damn headlight switch, funny though because we own three fords and never had a problem with the headlight switch... I Guess we got defective fords...


So anyway I take back what I said and listen to the grammer king, scextreme.


LOL I'm finished here, supermike, feel free to PM me if you want some actual advice besides telling you to replace parts.

SCextreme, could you work on your grammer skills, its hard to understand your posts.

Thankkyou for the advice

Thankyou all for youre help. I am gonna probably start by changing the switch. Its a pain driving at night. Everybody thinks I am trying to pass

the wiring used in the harness for the headlights in early SCs was really to small a guage for the amount of draw out through them. I had the same problem with my 91. I spoke to Bill Evanoff and he suggested a replacement harness available through SCP. Its like 130.00, but its an upgrade well worth the money. It allows the use of High, Low, AND foglights all at the same time. It also comes with high output xenon bulbs. I ordered it for mine and am very happy. It takes about an hour to install.

Is the harness from SCP just the competition limited one?

Otherwise you can get one at Competition limited for $54.95 ( no bulbs ) , just got mine, well ordered on thursday so... hopefully it comes soon

Hey Billabong,
No you don't have a retard SC (or maybe we both do???), my MFS went bad and I would have to bump the turn signal to get the headlights to come on. The brights would always work and so would the turn signals. I replaced it and the problem went away (for a while). Now, if I turn on my foglights (which I have rewired using a relay to isolate the switch) my lights will turn off and on after about 10 minutes. The headlight switch, multifunction switch, and the foglight switch are all on the same "hot" circuit. The switches get hot causing the circuit to get interrupted. Eventually the connectors melt and the switch fails. The only way to totally fix the problem is to install relays to isolate each switch from the power circuit and upgrade the wiring with a heavier guage. (Another design flaw from our friends at Ford).