Flickering and flashing 64

[SaltySeabee]

Hey all,

I have a 64 landau that I've had for over 30 years. It was involved in a pretty major wreck and I finally got it out of the shop a few weeks ago. Since then when you turn on the lights the taillights flash and the headlights pulsate or flicker. There is also a faint clicking in the dash on the driver's side. Any ideas on this issue?

SaltySeabee

[simplyconnected]

Your headlight switch includes an internal self-resetting circuit breaker. Somewhere, you have a short circuit. The short may be caused by a pinched wire between sheet metal parts. Start looking in areas that were disassembled then re-assembled.

If the short doesn't present itself right away you will need to follow sound troubleshooting practices using ALL your senses. For example, feel for warm wires

Your car uses wire harnesses that plug into each other. Start in the wrecked area and unplug wire harnesses BEFORE that area. If your problem goes away, carefully follow the wires downstream, looking for the obvious. Also, look inside your plugs for green or melted plastic.

My cousin has a Coleman trailer that he converted the lights to LED. (Good move.) After he changed bulbs, the lights wouldn't work and the plug at the trailer tongue was warm. Since he worked on light housings, I went there first. Sure enough, one of his pigtail wires was folded sideways and grounded inside the lamp holder. For classic cars with pigtail-style lamp sockets, I always pull the wires back first before twisting the lamp, then I let the wires and springs contact the lamp. This helps preserve the keyed Bakelite disk, springs and contacts inside the lamp holder by keeping them in-line and straight. These parts become fragile after many years but the good news is, all the parts are still available. - Dave

[jopizz]

To your knowledge did the shop disconnect the turn signal switch or wiring under the steering column. It almost sounds like you have turn signal wires that were connected wrong. The clicking you hear is probably the flasher.

John