Driver's Side Headlight Goes Out and Then Back On

The driver's side low beam headlight on my '69 keeps turning off and then comes back on. Seems to go off sometimes when I step on the brake. What connections other than at the headlight itself should I check?

--Steve

It could be a bad contact in the headlight bulb itself, but not too likely. What you might do is pull the plug off the back of the bulb, clean the contacts as well as the inside the plug and smear some electrical gel (I forget the real name if the stuff) on the contacts. The gel reduces the chance of corrosion and makes for better electrical contact and transmission.

Dielectric grease. You can somtimes buy it under the name bulb grease.
The reason it changes when you step on the brake is likely due to just the g-force of stopping, and not the actual brake electrical system. Sometimes a bad bulb filiment will do this, but as Gunslinger says, not very often.

Ken Styer

Those problems that come and go are really hard to troubleshoot. I would start at the headlight and work back to the fusebox. I have had problems in the past with brakefluid dripping from the master cylinder onto the wiring bundle and causing some really strange electrical issues. Once I identified this as the problem, I was able to insulate the wiring and haven't had any issues since then.

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll check out the headlight this weekend and let you all know what I find.

Steve