Headlights Flickering

[Columbus]

Hello. Last year, I put in a new dimmer switch and headlight switch in my 1979 Camaro. It's been great the whole time, but recently the headlights started flickering. Sometimes they will stay on with the high beams, and sometimes they won't. But I noticed when I have the car off, I can hear a small clicking by the headlight switch. It almost sounds like a metal coil heating up and clicking. And the dash lights flicker when it does that. Ever since I put that new headlight switch in, sometimes if you grab it just right, the knob will pull all the way out. Could that be the cause of it? I made sure the dimmer switch has a good ground.

 

[d2cheer]

I have had to put a new dimmer switch in almost every year.

That switch has shorted out my lights a few times. Might be worth replacing.

 

[Knucklehead]

The clicking is your circuit breaker tripping -- or trying to and resetting. You have a partial short somewhere in your headlight circuit. The dimmer switch is a good candidate. Disconnect the connector to it and run a jumper wire from the hot contact to one of the others. Does the CB trip? Then from the hot contact to the other. What happens? If the headlights light up both times and the CB doesn't trip, it's the dimmer switch that is bad. If the CB trips on either headlight, it's the light switch.

 

[Columbus]

The clicking is your circuit breaker tripping -- or trying to and resetting. You have a partial short somewhere in your headlight circuit. The dimmer switch is a good candidate. Disconnect the connector to it and run a jumper wire from the hot contact to one of the others. Does the CB trip? Then from the hot contact to the other. What happens? If the headlights light up both times and the CB doesn't trip, it's the dimmer switch that is bad. If the CB trips on either headlight, it's the light switch.

Which hot contact are you referring to? I'm not good at electrical at all. When I got the car, the previous owner had bent one of the prongs on the dimmer switch to the side, and had a black wire spliced into another wire that looks white. I couldn't make sense of it, so when I got the new dimmer switch, I just plugged it in like you should and it worked for about a year.

 

[Twisted_Metal]

I would check the condition of that splice... It may be grounding out.

 

[Knucklehead]

Which hot contact are you referring to? I'm not good at electrical at all. When I got the car, the previous owner had bent one of the prongs on the dimmer switch to the side, and had a black wire spliced into another wire that looks white. I couldn't make sense of it, so when I got the new dimmer switch, I just plugged it in like you should and it worked for about a year.

There should be three wires connected to the dimmer switch. I don't have a wiring diagram for the 79 Camaro, but I think the hot wire to the dimmer switch is usually yellow. In any case, it doesn't matter. Let's call the wires A, B, and C. With the light switch on, jump A and B together. If nothing happens, then neither A nor B are hot -- they are the leads to the low and high beams. That means C must be the hot lead.

If the either the high or the low beams light when A and B are connected, then either A or B is hot and the other is the lead to either the low or the high beams. So jump A to C. If the headlights light up, then A is the hot lead.

 

[Columbus]

There should be three wires connected to the dimmer switch. I don't have a wiring diagram for the 79 Camaro, but I think the hot wire to the dimmer switch is usually yellow. In any case, it doesn't matter. Let's call the wires A, B, and C. With the light switch on, jump A and B together. If nothing happens, then neither A nor B are hot -- they are the leads to the low and high beams. That means C must be the hot lead.

If the either the high or the low beams light when A and B are connected, then either A or B is hot and the other is the lead to either the low or the high beams. So jump A to C. If the headlights light up, then A is the hot lead.

Wiring diagrams never have made any sense to me. Thank you, but that sounds very complicated. I am a complete idiot when it comes to wiring, and I wish I was better. I may learn a little bit, but then I forget it in a week, and then a year later when I have another electrical problem I have to try and learn it all over again. I may as well just buy a new dimmer switch again.

 

[Columbus]

I would check the condition of that splice... It may be grounding out.

But it's not connected to anything on the end that I pulled off.

 

[hubedobeedo]

Which hot contact are you referring to? I'm not good at electrical at all. When I got the car, the previous owner had bent one of the prongs on the dimmer switch to the side, and had a black wire spliced into another wire that looks white. I couldn't make sense of it, so when I got the new dimmer switch, I just plugged it in like you should and it worked for about a year.

first clue po had issue and short cut to another problem. you need to do basic wiring check , something is not right .bent prong? not good

 

[hubedobeedo]

Wiring diagrams never have made any sense to me. Thank you, but that sounds very complicated. I am a complete idiot when it comes to wiring, and I wish I was better. I may learn a little bit, but then I forget it in a week, and then a year later when I have another electrical problem I have to try and learn it all over again. I may as well just buy a new dimmer switch again.

maybe find somebody close that knows about stuff like that.