Had a great weekend did about 500 miles in the beasty but coming home late Sunday I encountered a very frightening element. Lights on dip beam no problem, got to the lanes put the lights on main beam, everything fine then suddenly without warning all lights went off, doing 60mph down country lanes without any lights is a bit scary, then suddenly they came on again. Pooing myself I started to play with the lights, on dip beam no problems, then main beam a bit further on down the road off they went again, wife now pooing herself. (car starting to get a bit smelly). I thought it might be a loose connection somewhere that when I went over an uneven surface it disconnected the power or something. It certainly seems to be related to bumpy roads, however it doesn't do it all the time, sometimes we managed a couple of miles before they went out and it doesn't do it at all on dip beam. I eventually got home, shovelled the poo out the car and started to grab handfulls of wiring loom in the engine bay, under the dash and around the lights themselves but I couldn't make the lights go off. Could there be a short circuit somewhere in the steering column or is there a relay on its way out? Any help much appreciated, don't want to just drive the thing on sunny days, but poo power is not good I can tell you. Thanks in anticipation

it very well could be the switch itself
did you try wiggling it..

the guts of those headlight switches have a tendency to crap out..

Do you have halogon bulbs?

The lights are protected by a circuit breaker. When it get hot, it shuts down the lights. When it cools, they come back on.

The factory lights were not halogon. And the halogon lights pull more power. The is not a problem with low beams. But when the high beam is on there are 4 headlights pulling power. The demand exceeds the circuit breaker, and the lights go out, then come back, over and over.

You may be able to replace the headlight switch and therby have a new circit breaker. They do wear out. If that cures it, good. If not, you are simply pulling more power than the switch can handle. Or you can use one of two cures, with or without a new switch.

1. Only use halogon lights in the high or low beams, not both.
2. Use relays to feed some or all of the lights. The power can be switched from another source. The original light switch will operate the relay, and turn on the lights. This is really fairly easy to do. Just be sure to use a fuse or breaker to feed the relay, just in case. If you need details let me know. I will be glad to explain how to do it.

Yes it does now have holgen lamps. When I got the car only three of the lights worked and I now recall that it did it then on one journey. I have since installed 100watt hologens to the main beams only. If this is pulling too much power then fine I will do as you suggest and put in some relay's, my only question really then is if it's the breaker overheating it would appear to cool very quickly as sometimes the lights go out for a very short time ie a second or two. I can't get to my baby untill this weekend as I'm working away so I won't be able to tell if wiggling the switch makes a difference or not, but will give it a go when I can. Thanks for the info and I'll let you know what I find.

The sooner they come on the better, you don't want to drive with no lights. Depending on the condition of the breaker reset can take a few to many seconds.

The 100W bulbs would do it. One the relays are in place, make sure the alternator has enough power to keep up.