Took the 69 out for a drive tonight. Drove it for about 15 minutes and the headlights started flashing on and off ever 5-10 seconds or so. It does this once in a while, so its not all the time. I replaced the dimmer switch about 8 months ago. It has had this problem for a good few months now. I have checked all of the wiring, and the plug on the dimmer switch. Does the headlight swtch have a breaker in it like most others? Or could it be a bad switch? Also, none of the headlights light up when you click the brights on. They have never worked since Ive owned the car. The low beams turn off too. This is getting irritating. Any ideas?

Yes the headlight switch can cause the blinking. Have you checked the bright lights for juice when you click the dimmer switch. If you have fire in and out of the floor dimmer on dim then you need to see if you have power out on the other side of the dimmer when you go to brights. If you do then you have either a wiirng problem on the brights or bad bulbs.

This could be the circuit breaker in the head light switch. please look in to doing the head light relay set up. http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/brighter-headlights.shtml
and the amp bypass http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml

I did the amp bypass on my Bee. the head light relay was done on my truck the Bee is next.

Joe

The blinking is because the circuit breaker built into the headlight switch is overheating & opening the circuit... Once it opens the breaker cools & resets & the process begins again... The cause is likely a combination of problems... High resistance in the wiring & connections creates a higher current load to run the headlights, eventually the breaker has gotten weaker & now you are at a point where the breaker routinely fails.. The quickest, cheapest & best solution is to use the current headlight wiring to control a pair of relays... The relays only require a fraction of the power driving the headlight requires so the current headlight switch will probably be fine... Go over all the connections in the rest of the wiring & it will be fine.. just add a pair of relays, supply power to them off the battery post on the starter relay, use the current headlight wires to trigger the relays, ground the other side of the trigger coils & use the relay output to run the headlights..

could be the switch but i had a problem years ago like your in a 69. I started by cleaning and regrounding all the wires in the headlight harness, and swaped out the dimmer switch. One of those fixed the problem.

my 68 switch burnt the bakealight plastic and burt the term right out and did that

I would R&R the headlight switch and replace it if its a 69 stock one...got your $ out of it by now

dont let it burn the car up..put it on the relays

Looks like I have some more investigating to do. I sure hope its not the headlight switch. Those babies are expensive!

got mine from napa for less than 20$

but you say charger and it may go up

Yeah, the Charger doesn't have the typical push/pull headlight switch. It's a rocker switch, and also controls the vacuum operated headlight doors

Has anyone ever had one of these headlight switches apart? I've taken wiper and fan speed switches apart to clean them. I wonder if it would be worth pulling it apart and trying it while I'm at it. It's an original AZ car, so corrosion seems to be minimal, but ya never know what could be hiding in there.

So I could use a switch from a 68-70 Road Runner or Coronet (or any b-body in those years) and just swap the vacuum assembly onto the new switch?

More than just the vacuum switch, also the chrome rocker knob of the light switch... The Charger one has a lever molded to it to operate the vacuum switch..

Ah, ok. I forgot what it looks like, its been so long since I've looked at it. I've got some work to do

Glad to see I'm not the only person with this problem. When I bought my 69 Charger back in 1988, it was my daily driver. I guess around 1990 I started to have the headlight problem. No internet back then, so I was pretty much own my own... And I wasn't, and still am not a mechanic.

First thing I did back then was changed the dimmer switch. Still did it. Went to the dealer and bought a NEW dimmer switch... Yep, still did it. Back then, (early 90s) you could go to just about any junkyard around here and find 2nd generation Chargers with many parts still intact. I would buy every headlight switch or whole gauge cluster I could get my hands on. I became a pro at changing headlight switches. All the switches did the same thing. Some might have lasted a little longer than others. I remember, I used to drive around with the vent window open to try to keep the headlight switch cool. But hey, it worked!

The plug for the headlight switch on the harness was badly distorted from heat. So at one point, I cut one out of another harness and had my local mechanic splice it into my harness. (I know, I know. ) However, this repair lasted the longest. Back around 94 the headlight problem was back and worse than before. At that point, I stopped driving it at night. The car got used less and less while I got other Mopars and enjoyed them without headlight problems. Got a house, got married, had a kid and the Charger sat for about 13 years. Just got it out and on the road again in 2010 and I'm enjoying driving it... As long as it is light out.

Since I got it on the road, I have posted a question on here about the headlights. I went through all the connectors on the headlight harness and made sure everything looked good and clean. Still has the same problem. Recently, I got caught in the dark, three miles from my house and the headlights started flashing before I could get home.

I'd LOVE to get this problem solved. I will keep an eye on this topic. The relay thing looks interesting. However, like I said, I'm not a mechanic. While I do work on these cars, I absolutely HATE doing anything electrical other than changing switches and harnesses. Maybe I can show this relay information to my buddy that does my "more involved stuff" and I can finally drive my Charger at night.

Had a 69 R/T that did the same thing. there is a plug/disconnect under the battery tray that was corroded badly. Cleaned it up and no more problems. Hope yours is that simple.

I replaced my 68 charger's wiring harness with a painless kit last year but not because of the flashing lights as I didn't even know about the problem. Later this year I was driving in the evening for the first time and the lights started flashing. I turned the switch off and on a few times and the problem stopped. So it has to be the switch. I'm going to do the relay thing.

While I never had the flashing headlight problem with my Charger, I did the relay conversion back in 2003...not hard at all.

Lots of things can make them blink. Before sinking more money into switches, make sure you go over ALL the connections in the headlight circuit. The connector near the battery sounds like a potential problem. Another bad connection spot is at the bulk head connector where the wiring passes from the dash to the engine compartment. It is not uncommon to find that connection corroded green and burnt up. When a connection is nearing complete failure, it can blink the lights as the electricity struggles to bridge the increasingly burnt up wire and/or connection. Of course, the more this happens, the hotter the connection gets and the worse it burns. The same problem happens at the headlight switch. As said above, if the switch burns up, it can also damage the bakolite connector on the harness. If the connector is melted or damaged, replacing the switch itself and plugging the damaged connector back on a new switch will not solve the problem. Doing this could also cause the new switch to heat up and fail. BTDT!

Hey thanks everybody for the great info. Gonna check it out tomorrow. Hopefully its something simple (it usually is)

Yea, from a previous post it looks like it is next to the battery, still a very bad place to put a plug. Bought that car in 72, sold it in 74 and the quarters were already rusted through! Chicago winters.

I have checked this connection near the battery and found no problems. Headlights still flash.