anybody familiar with newer Lincoln wiring? intermittant lights issue

[moparguy01]

I'm trying to help a friend troubleshoot a problem with a 2001 Lincoln Town car. well the headlights will intermittant turn on and off, along with all the exterior lights. it lasts around 10 seconds, and then goes back to normal. There is a clicking from the bottom of the steering column when it happens. Has anybody seen or heard of this problem before? In case it matters its in a 10 passenger limo.

[Charger RT]

back in the 90's ford started using a lighting module. most of the time it is located under the dash near the steering column. First off they are very reliable. I work on alot of fords and have only seen 2 bad ones. Everything lights go through it. Now are the lights coming on while off or going off when on?
Tim

[moparguy01]

They go off when they are on. then they flicker for about 5-10 seconds then they are fine again. its almost like a relay is overheating then cooling off real quick?

[moparstuart]

They go off when they are on. then they flicker for about 5-10 seconds then they are fine again. its almost like a relay is overheating then cooling off real quick?

call me monday at work and i can look the light module up on the computer and find you one

   816-230-4587

[Charger RT]

The modules don't work like our old school cars. They work on receiving a resistance signal. I am tring to post the wiring diagrams for this car hope it works. If you look at it the light switch is small gauge wires with resisters inside so what that means is if you turn on the parking lights a hot wire feeds a resister that is wired to the module and it knows you want parking lights . turn the switch to head lights and it adds another wire to the circuit. Newer cars go one step farther our 06 dodges head light switch uses just 2 wires one in one out. and each position is just a differant resistance the computer reads off is even a resistance. The last I checked a module was several hundred bucks new. It could be an intermittant switch or even a bad connection at a fuse. The diagram should show you which fuses are in the circuit. You should also be able to figure out which pin to do a voltage reading on at the module. If you do a reading and the reading stays the same as the lights act up it probably would be a module. if the voltage changes while acting up it is either wiring or a switch. I also posted the diagram for auto headlights
Tim
If you have trouble reading these email me and I will send the bigger version. ase3xmast@embarqmail.com

[moparguy01]

well I got back and think I had the problem figured out. They had already replaced the light control module with one from another of the town cars (they have 9 of them) and it still did it. well the relay under the dash they had not replaced and once the lights started flickering that sucker was HOT! so now its replaced and it ran half hour without the lights failing.

Funny how a $6 part can cause such a pain in the butt problem.
Thanks for that wiring diagram Tim, it helped out!

Russ

[Charger RT]

your welcome and glad you figured it out. 6 bucks beats a few hundred.
Tim