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Headlights turn off once High Beams are turned on

ChallngeAccpted

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Hey everyone, I have a 72 Challenger that has been sitting for over 30 years. Bought it a couple years ago and just finally got it on the road a few weeks ago. All of the electrical works, except once I turn on the high beams. I have already put over a thousand miles on in the past few weeks (I have a long commute for work lol) and almost half has been night driving. The low beams work great and I have no issues there, but once I turn the high beams on, after a few minutes the headlights will randomly just shut off and then turn right back on a second or two later. This will continue to happen until I turn the high beams off and then the headlights will be fine. I hae replaced the floor dimmer switch twice now which is making me think that is not it. This sounds like a switch problem to me however. Any ideas?
 

Adam

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This is a good time for an upgrade, even if you fix the issue your lights will be subpar. Please read all tech articles on Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply
This will give you a good understanding of your light circuit and why you should upgrade to relays. Whether from Daniel Stern or another source.
 

Chryco Psycho

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Probably the light switch on the dash , I agree you Must upgrade to relays for the headlights , this removes the load from going through the firewall twice & 2 switches inside the car & your headlights will be brighter also .All modern cars use relays for the headlights BTW

Welcome to the site as well !
 

ChallngeAccpted

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This is a good time for an upgrade, even if you fix the issue your lights will be subpar. Please read all tech articles on Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply
This will give you a good understanding of your light circuit and why you should upgrade to relays. Whether from Daniel Stern or another source.
Great! I did plan on doing the relays, but since I have only just gotten her on the road I have been enjoying driving lol. I just put Octane lighting's H4 kit into it last night and it is much brighter. Same issue with the high beams however. I thought it could possibly be a ground? but seems unusual that the low beams work. That is why I decided to ask all of you. Also put LEDs into my gauge lights and it is a whole world of difference. I highly recommend you all do that.
 

ChallngeAccpted

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Adam makes a good solution to your fix! That's good advice!
Yes! that is the plan to do very soon, but I did not think that in itself would fix the high beam issue, I was hoping to solve that first so I would have no problems with the relays in the future.
 

ChallngeAccpted

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Probably the light switch on the dash , I agree you Must upgrade to relays for the headlights , this removes the load from going through the firewall twice & 2 switches inside the car & your headlights will be brighter also .All modern cars use relays for the headlights BTW

Welcome to the site as well !
I was hoping the dash switch would not be the issue. I did not think it was since the low beams work but it is possible. And thank you! I have always loved E Bodies and was very happy I got one! My 16 year old brother decided it was too much of a project for hi so he sold it to me! this is my third car that I have restored so him and my parents thought it would be better for me to have and he can learn while I spend my money on it.
 

Chryco Psycho

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the switch maybe overloaded with all 4 headlights on , the relays will drop the load to milliamps through the switch
 

Adam

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I bought the kit from Stern for my Challenger; but now just make my own for my other projects. Easy to do.
 

ChallngeAccpted

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Just installed my LEDs and so far so good! I’d like to fix the underlying problem but I’ll take this win for now.

458F95FF-F4EC-483B-879B-8E647AF369CF.jpeg
 
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