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88 TC headlight prob.


Copper88TC
02-23-2004, 04:17 PM
I just picked up an 88 Town Car last week, and am also having a problem with the head lights flashing on and off. It started with just the high beams but now the low beams do the same. I can tell when its going to happen because the lights start to dim b-4 they go out. I was told that the high/low dimmer switch was the most likely cause so I spent 50 bucks and an hour changing it to end up still having the problem. I'm assuming the car doesn't have the auto-dimmer feature, as there is no switch for it. Has anyone had luck diagnosing this problem?

Towncar
02-24-2004, 12:37 AM
I was told the most likely cause was bad connections.
Every plug and terminal needs to be verified corrosion free and clean.

Also the grounding points need to be cleaned, treated and secured. There are several grounding points where the main harness branches off to components, and a ground if secured to a body or engine point.

I don't believe there was a control module on the circuit in 88, but they most likely made use of power relays so the light switch wont take the full load of the lights, could be relay(s) or connections there too.

I have heard of 1995, 96 and 97 folks adding realys to their systems 'cause FoMoCo did away with power relays in those models, causing full load going through the switch, and problems because of the design flaw.
Relay additions in those models also made the lights noticably brighter, and the system runs cooler.

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