I had my XJ '97 out for a night drive the other day, and all of a sudden the headlights turned off for a split-second. It, unfortunately, happened a few times during my 1-2 hours ride! Did anyone experience anything similar before? Or know where I should start troubleshooting?

A few notes:
- The battery was still running when this happened.
- The headlight turned off, but I am almost 100% sure that the lights on the dashboard was still on.
- I recently changed the battery and the terminals, could this cause issues?
- I checked all fuses and none is broken.

Any ideas what could cause this mess?

 

I'm assuming you had Hi-beam so it might be the switch heating and failing.

 

Has the headlight harness upgrade been added to the factory headlight harness?

 

And on the note of the factory harness, I assume the 97 is similar to the 95. If so, there is a large connector behind one of the headlights which connects the headlight harness to the vehicle harness. It would be good to check that out for corrosion.

I would also like to x2 Ralph and say if you do not have the headlight harness upgrade, you should look into it.

mmelop's theory is exactly why the harness upgrade is advised, all of the current for the headlights runs through the switches which eventually burns them out, the upgrade greatly reduces the load on the original circuit.

 

Actually where I was going with that was to check the relays in the harness upgrade.
Due to my own stupidity I positioned the relays poorly, they got all messed up, and were
causing issues with the headlights working and not working.

But yeah the headlight harness upgrade is always a good thing.
Just don't do what I did when positioning the relays. LOL.

 

I have to pull my battery to mess with my relays, so far no issues luckily.

 

most older vehicle that doesnt have relays for headlights will eventually burn up the switch, connectors or wiring, its just a matter of time