Head Light problem, need help A.S.A.P. Please

SC90_Pete

Registered User
Well, the problem with my headlights started about two months ago when I was driving back from the mall with my girl. I had the fogs and low beams on and all of a sudden the low beams started turning on and off as if someone was pushing and pulling on the headlights switch. I turned off the car and started it back up and it did the same thing so I tried turning off the fog lights and that fixed the problem.

My friend who used to own a SC had told me about the poor wiring job Ford did with the headlights and fog lights so I thought the problem might have been that the fogs were overheating the wires and causing the low beams to short out or something.

Well, last night while driving back from Orland Park, I only had my low beams on with my recently installed Silverstar bulbs and all of a sudden on the way home they started shutting on and off flickering. They were fine on the way to the mall but as soon as I got close to home they started flickering. So now I'm at a loss, what could be causing this problem and what are my solutions? Thanks in advance.

P.S. Also the flickering does not seem to have any sort of rhythm, they will flicker on and off and then work for a few minutes then start flickering again, or they will work fine like the night before and on the way to the store.
 
What you were told is correct. Ford didn't use big enough wires when they did the headlights.

What you have to do is replace the main switch at the instrument panel and the multi function switch in the steering column. You also need to replace the harness ends at both locations otherwise you will be constantly replacing switches.

Good Luck!
 
Hock said:
What you were told is correct. Ford didn't use big enough wires when they did the headlights.

What you have to do is replace the main switch at the instrument panel and the multi function switch in the steering column. You also need to replace the harness ends at both locations otherwise you will be constantly replacing switches.

Good Luck!

I'm a newbie when it comes to anything electrical but do you know where I can find replacements for the main switch, multi function switch as well as teh harness ends. Thanks for your help.
 
The info given is basically correct, but the problem is that stock, the foglights can only be used when the low beams are on. The Ford headlight switch and multi-function switch cannot handle this much amperage going through them at the same timeand the switches will fail sooner or later. Only remedy is new headlight and multi-function switch. But, if you continue to use the fog's in the stock configuration the problem will happen again. So the easiest solution is to buy a kit from "Competition Limited" which has several advantages. It uses relays so very little amperage is going through the switches. You can use the fogs separately or with the headlights on. Also on high beam it's wired to use all four beams instead of just two like stock. Higher wattage bulbs are also available. There have been posts in the past that have detailed how to rewire the fogs on a separate circuit which will work too. Do a search. John
 
I thought about the competition limited wiring after I posted.

You will still need to do everything else also to help prevent any future occurences. You can get the switches from Autozone or Advanced Auto parts, the harness ends you may be able to get from there as well, if not go to a Ford dealer and they should be able to get them.
 
I had this same problem with my 91 SC. What I did was put a junkyard light switch and dimmer switch out of another 91 SC and then got an aftermarket headlight harness form supercoupeperformance(cheaper than the competition harness) and that fixed the problem. I have been running this setup now for over six months without a single problem. Both lights even come on when the high beems are turned on.

Shane
 
so its a bad idea to re-squeeze the metal connectors in the harness, open the headlight switch up rebend the bi-metallic spring and drill holes in the case? wtf?! :confused:
 
If you install the harness right away you may just save having to change out both switches. When I did my 93 I got away with just replacing the headlight switch. The multi-function was over $90 at the time and that's before Ford stopped supplying them. I don't know if SCP is cheaper but I paid about $55 for the one from Competition Lighting. I've had the harness in both my 93 & 94 for a couple of years now with no more problems.
 
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