[DeTomaso] High Beam Fail

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/14/12 13 00 24, flashbangpop at yahoo.com writes:


> Hey Guys--
> 
> Thought I'd run this by you before I get at this:  While driving at night 
> on a mountain road last week with the high beams on, the lights suddenly 
> went out, the road went black, I switched back to low beams and they went 
> back on.  Only the low beams worked the rest of the drive, but the ride was a 
> bit uncomfortable due to the crap in my pants.  Sometimes this car can be 
> downright evil. 
> 
> I have a 73-L model, rectangular halogens and a Wilkinson aftermarket turn 
> signal/beam switch.  I'm thinking it's got to be the switch.  
> 
> Any thoughts are appreciated.
> 

Do you have relays controlling the lights?   In the stock scheme, all the 
power for the lights goes through the switches, and if you put too-powerful 
lamps in there, the switches get sizzled.   The fix is to install relays, so 
that the power for the lamps themselves passes from the power source, 
through the relays to the lamps, and the switches only function to control the 
relays.   There's a how-to article detailing how to make that fix on 
www.panteraplace.com

It's possible that you have sizzled the high/low beam switch.   If it was 
the headlight switch, I wouldn't expect the low beams to still work, since I 
presume (don't remember for sure) that power for the lights passes through 
the headlight switch, then goes to the high/low beam switch to get routed to 
the appropriate lamps.

Mike