This would be on my 96 Dakota.

For a few months now, when running the brights after about 10 minutes the brights would start to cut out on me. Flip to dims and run those for a few minutes and I could swap back to brights for another 10 mins or so. I am on the road by 5:00 am, it's dark all the way to work. Sometimes it's dark the last few miles headed home too.
anyway now yesterday the dims started doing the same thing that the brights had been doing, too.
Looking at Mitchell on demand, there is supposedly a headlight relay under the dash to the right of the steering column.
Last night when I got home was the 1st time that I ever looked into what might be the problem. I went and bought me a new headlight switch and put that in. I sat in the driveway with it running about 10 mins and it stayed lit til I shut it down, the truth will be seen the next time I drive it to work. I drove the other one today. Anyway when I had the dash apart enough to access the headlight switch I hunted all over under the dash for any relays, all I found was the intermittent wiper control box anywhere near there.
There wasn't a headlight relay in the under hood fuse box either. Does anyone know where this relay might be?
Oh by the way I was surprised to see that the plug for the wire harness where it connects to the headlight switch was NOT burnt up like many of them that I see are, I've changed a few of those pigtails over the years.

 

my switch wouldn't go all the way back in a while back. I had to disconnect the battery every time I parked. When I installed the new switch I put dielectric grease on the connections and in the hole the plunger goes in. I did not see any scorching or arcing on the brass.

 

Volaredon - If you'll check the factory service manual (downloadable from the FAQ post in the sticky at the top of the subforum), you'll notice there ain't no relays in the headlight circuit.

I think the Mitchell On Demand got your Dakota confused with a RAM or something else ...

RwP

 

Do they make the heavy duty headlight harness for your dak? It shuffles things around, so the headlight switch/dimmer switch simply control a couple relays. Dramatically reduces the load on the headlight switch, and you get the side benefit of brighter headlights. (better current flow.)

 

They don't but do.

I like the Putco harness ... . For a 9004, the pins need to be rearranged (it's a 9007 harness).

RwP

 

Well so far the new switch seems to have solved the issue. I'm glad it t was that one and not the turn signal switch as those are more than 2x the price.
i just hope that the Taiwan version of Standard brand holds up. I dread Taiwan or Chinese products.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by volaredon

Well so far the new switch seems to have solved the issue. I'm glad it t was that one and not the turn signal switch as those are more than 2x the price.
i just hope that the Taiwan version of Standard brand holds up. I dread Taiwan or Chinese products.

IMO, one of the best upgrades to do, is put the lights on relays...... Take the load off of the switch.

 

This.

I back this 100,000,000%!!

RwP