The other morning while driving a very dark back road to work My head lights cut off all on their own...completely off. The dash lights and everything else in the van stayed on and worked fine.

They stayed off for a while and by the time I was pulled off of the road the came back on all by their selves..... Can anyone offer some insight on what I should check to find out why? I really don't want this to happen while my wife or son are using the van.

No fuses were bad, no relays were loose, and as far as I can tell by visual inspection the wires are fine as well. Oould it ba a bad switch? or something else?


Thanks

 

Upon closer inspection of the light switch I discovered that the switch doesn't stay 'latched' in the on position like it is supposed to, so when riding down a bumpy road the switch can move around and in turn cut off the head lights....All in all it turned out to be just a bad switch and not a bad problem. For now I just keep pulling the switch back out all the way so it doesn't cut off.

I don't know why I didn't notice thtis on my first inspection of the switch....

anyone have a guess as to what a replacement switch would cost me?

thanks
-Mike-

 

Depending on your model year, there are usually some used and new ones for sale on Ebay. Someone just recently was selling the entire panel with switch, not sure if it is still there or not. Local junkyards are good source. www.fordpartsonline.com has new Ford parts at fairly reasonable prices.

 

OK this is mike's son.....

By the way our aero is a 1992 2wd with the 3.0l

I was driving the van last night and after running the highbeams fro a little over i'd say 5min the lights blinked out and back on and then the same again. I did notice that the dash lights and the parking lights stayed on the whole time, so the only thing that turned off was the Headlights. It has only done this with the highbeams on, not once has it happened on the lowbeams.

I Think that the headlight system has a thermal circut breaker on it, so it there was a short somewhere or if one or both of the lights were defective somehow and drawing too much current, it would do what I described right?

I am starting to think against the light switch as a problem, because it only happened while running high beams and not low's. We are going to go to a junk yard and pick up a switch and see if that fixes it. I am also thinking that we will change the bulbs to see if that fixes it. I am not sure if the high/low beam switch on the stearing column could be the problem, and I am guessing that it would be very expensive and involved to replace.


Anyway we hope someone can point us in the right directiion here, it sure is haard to see in the dark with no headlights.

Thanks.

 

There have been a few ford recalls on headlight switches, but what it sounds like is the dimmer switch on the column(of course, dealer only, around $90-$100), and the same thing has happened to my mom's 1992 sport T-bird 5.0 HO, and a few other vehicles I know of. All were fixed with the new dimmer switch. The ford lighting system should have some relays on the headlight end, but do not, and therefore smoke the dash and dimmer switches alot.

 

Either that, or someone installed a General Motors Energy Star* approved light switch in it, which shuts off at random times to conserve energy......GM, the Leader in Innovations!

 

I had the same problem with my 95 Aerostar. At first the headlights would come back on if I wiggled or "slammed" the switch in & out. Then it started to get worse. The last straw was when the problem went chronic while driving through one of the seedier areas of Buffalo, NY on a family weekend roadtrip (I was lost). The lights started flashing on and off at will & there was nothing I could do. This was, of course well after dark.

Another driver started following me and flashing high beams and a flashlight at me. Once the badge was waved out the window I realized it was an unmarked cop car. They thought I was trying to attract help. Time to fix it.

The local Ford parts guy helped me out. A new headlight switch and socket/harness were the cure. Once the switch goes, it usually melts the socket and wire insulation on the harness. The replacement socket had about 8" of wire on it that had to be soldered into the original harness. You could use crimp connectors, but I don't trust them in an application like this.

Coincidentally, when I took the van in for the spare tire carrier recall, I noticed the tech's work order listed a second recall. I asked the service advisor about it & he told me there was a recall to add a jumper to the wiring harness because "under some conditions the accessory circuit can overload". My guess is this is related to the headlight switch. Also, this recall never showed up on any paperwork I was supposed to see.

Total cost of the headlight switch and socket was under $100 Canadian.

Cheers,
Eric

 

Located this on Ebay today, thought it worthwhile posting for those with similar headlight problems. May want to record the business and part number as the ebay listing will become inactive when listing ends. (Headlight switch repair part)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=33710