Ok, so here goes, tonite was the first time I drove my xj at nite. I started down the road and about 15-20 seconds in the headlights quit, brights and dims. so I pulled back on the bright switch and they came on, but only while i held the bright switch. after 30 seconds or so they would stay on, and then 20 seconds and back off. As long as I was holding the bright switch, they worked fine, but if I let them go, they seem to be cycling off. Is there a relay on the headlight somewhere??? HELP???

 

Looks like you have solved the problem. The low/high beam lever might be going bad. ie not making a good connection. Try taking the lever out and cleaning it and seeing if the contact in there are making good connection. You can buy some electronic grease.

Good luck

 

I just finish fixing that same problem. My switch had short circuited so it was doing the same. It gave my brother a little strugle, cause we have a 87 waggy, but its a simple 20 bucks part and will save you later from some PITA'sssss

 

Apparently there is a thermal circuit breaker inside the headlight switch, this I learned from another source on the web. Since it seemed that the headlight would stay on and then cycle off, and then back on, this sounded like it was the problem. I got a new headlight switch yesterday. installed it , everything is good. Seems like alot of people have had this same problem, but it took me awhile to find an answer, especially since I could not log on to here all day yesterday. Part was twenty bucks, install was a PIA,because the plug isn't long enough to make it out of the dash, But having headlights at nite.....Priceless.

 

Tell me, ours broke the plastic where it sits, so we had to fix it somehow