i know this isn't a hot rod but i could use some help. my 95 Dakota blinks its head lights in pretty regular rhythm,and seems to speed up the longer they stay one. I've checked fuses and relays, replaced the light switches and as far as i can tell nothing is wrong with the wiring(still open to suggestions on the wiring). if you've fixed this problem or know of a way to fix it please let me know
Years ago my F100 had the bad habit of having the wire harness connector at the switch vibrate loose. Drove me nuts
Try replacing the relay. Just go to your local u-pull-it and snag one cheap If that fixes the problem, THEN go and get a new one from the store. Relays sometimes develop hot shorts where the coil that holds the relay in will get warm and the wire inside will separate, then cool and reconnect. This sounds likely as your problem gets worse the longer your lights are on (and the hotter the relay gets).
check out this thread I found....http://www.automotiveforums.com/t469294-2001_durango___headlights_blink.html
ground wire from the fire wall to the dash board, or from the body to the fire wall would be the first things I looked at.
hey, make sure no one has incorrectly installed an aftermarket alarm, chryslers have a very sensitive asd. relay system (auto shutdown relay), if you can when the headlights are blinking put your hands on the underhood relays in the underhood distribution center, to feel if any relays are "clicking". if you find one clicking it is possible that it is cross feeding thru to the headlights, unplug one if found and see if it stops. dakota's seem to have alot of connector problems right under the relay center junction block under the hood. the a-7 wire feeding the headlights to be corroded and burnt(so just replacing the switch doesnt fix, and the connector will need to be replaced.- spliced in) finally if the 4 way flasher switch in the column. has gotten hot it may in turn have burnt a terminal and is backfeeding to the headlight switch. when they are flashing wiggle the high/low beam switch lever and see if it stops, usually if that is the cause it will interupt the blinking momentarily. hope some of this helps, george
I had a Ford Crown Victoria follow me with blinking head lights..Not only the head lights but had he red and blue ones blinking too.
ford did have issues with head light switches causing this problem..maybe Dodge is buying old ford headlight switches to help save cost with the ford switch it was a short in the switch itself.( think they would get hot and short out..than cool off and go back on ..they would keep a cycle like that).I would look into this , and the relays
really not sure,other then the fact it's a late model dodge, have you performed an exorcism on it yet? after owning several dodges i've become convinced they are possessed. Christine was a Plymouth and she liked to blink her headlights a lot too, usually right before she killed them.
BINGO! Why do you think it gets faster the longer it is on. Headlights are on a self resetting circuit breaker so you will never (well almost never) completely loose your lights do to a short. The longer they are on the faster the breaker will cycle.
LowFat48 already found this guy's problem. It's the CTM. This one should be dead, actually should have never been on here.
when i was in the army not too long ago a lot of the old hummers had head lights that flashed from bright to dim over and over. usual diagnostic was that the voltage regulator in the alternator was going out.
POWER OVERLOAD. Too much power being taken from the wrong source! A friend of mine had that same thing happen to a Ford pickup he bought. Several repair places, including the Ford dealer, couldn't figure out why, but simply kept replacing the headlight switch. Sometimes the problem would go away for a while, then return. The current from the lights kept making the switch hot, and a small built in link would disconnect the lights for a second to prevent things melting, then turn the lights back on. Flash flash flash... After the others gave up, I found the problem. Someone had wired in too many lights into the wrong power source. When the outside clearance lights were turned off everything was fine. The problem only happened when certain outside lights were turned back on. But nobody noticed the "coincidence". What nobody seemed to discover was that the power to those lights was taken from a source that was only one terminal away from the correct terminal that could handle the load. When the outside clearance markers were turned on, much of the power went through the gauge-dimmer section of the light switch, and made the switch get too hot, so the protection breaker kicked in. When I unplugged the power wire to the outside lights and plugged them into another port, the problem went away. On most cars when that happens, look for a breaker or a switch that is not able to handle the power requirements, and look for the possibility of too many power drains plugged into the wrong power source. The idea of looking for a short or pinched wire has good merit, but also keep in mind that if the "short" was a true "short", or rather a capable short, or a "heavy short", the lights most likely wouldn't get enough power to light up at all. It would go straight to ground. This may sound funny the way I describe it here, but this may get the idea across-- What you are looking for is most likely a "partial short" or "half-short". What I mean is don't just look ONLY for a pinched wire, but also be on the lookout for other power-draining things that may have been plugged in where they shouldn't be. Think of it as possibly having way too many extension cords plugged into one too-small outlet. That overloaded light switch on my friend's truck had many people puzzled for a while. Did someone wire in some extra lights to the wrong power source or terminal? Did someone hook up something like driving lights or fog lights, and direct-wired them without a relay? Is something else running off the same power terminal, such as a powerful amp or heater blower? I have seen stranger things. Even though I would have guessed that a pinched or shorted wire would have burnt itself out by now, there might still be a pinched or grounded wire somewhere. Look for rubbing marks everywhere the wires go through a panel or firewall, or rub against a mounting clip... I had one car that smoked a bit of wiring just because the harness was too close to a hood hinge.
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