1999 Town Car, headlights get brighter when pressing the brakes?

10

Asked by Sean Feb 09, 2018 at 12:13 AM about the 1999 Lincoln Town Car Signature

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Already have new alternator, new battery, new battery ground, and new
output cable from alternator to battery.  Here is the issue:
When I press the brake pedal, the headlights pulse up much brighter all of a
sudden and quickly "settle" back the brightness they normally are at.  This is
quite noticeable and happens every time I hit the brakes.


Some other issues/notes that might be related: headlights are always
flickering slightly.  always.  headlights dim noticeably in time with turn signal.  
headlights are not affected at all by stereo volume, but the aftermarket stereo
is wired directly to the battery + and -.  Headlight outlets do not get enough
power to them to power LED bulbs that had the same power draw the
standard bulbs have, which would indicate the headlights are not getting
proper power maybe?

Is this maybe a bad ground on the headlights?  If so where are the headlights
grounded to?  If that is not the issue then I am totally lost.

4 Answers

188,405

Here is the outside light wiring diagram, on the lights there are three wires and the black wires are the ground for each of them, So I find it hard to say you have a bad ground if each light has it's own ground. There is a lighting control module that may be bad. You want to check the Brake pedal switch for a good connection. BY THE WAY IS THAT A KLEE KAI IN YOUR PHOTO ? (COPY AND PASTE ) http://wenkm.com/wp- content/uploads/2017/05/lincoln-town-car-stereo-wiring-diagram-with-blueprint-pics.jpg

1 people found this helpful.
10

Hm.. Yeah probably not the headlight grounds then... I will check the brake pedal switch tomorrow, too. Is there any way to test the LCM? I can get a reman'd one for around $100, but I already bought a battery and alt that I didn't really need so I'd like to avoid buying more things that end up being unnecessary ha. PS: Nope, that is my old puppy Lincoln, he's half GSD - half Husky and was just a couple months old in that pic

1 people found this helpful.
188,405

I dont know of any way to test it...

1 people found this helpful.
10

Well I decided to throw caution to the wind and rebuilt the wiring system for the headlights with new cables and relays, bypassing the LCM except for the ON/High Beams signal. Flicker seems to be gone, and lights seem brighter (only been a day so far, so might just be my imagination), but they still get brighter momentarily when hitting the brake pedal. As the headlights are only getting power directly from the battery as this point, I think the remaining issue is related to the brake pedal/brake lights themselves, maybe a short or faulty ground somewhere. Will try to check that on Sunday. Thanks for your help so far, though!

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