Re: Electrical woes & Hot switches/bulbs

[FBFISH@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/12/99 5:26:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com writes:

<< Chances are that your headlight switch (and possibly the electrical
 connector that connects to it may need to be replaced... unfortunately,
 excessive heat can create additional oxidation which increases resistance
 which makes the resistance higher and the contacts hotter.  You might be
 able to help things out by using something like deoxit, but it may not help
 much.  One thing that you may want to consider is adding a headlight relay.
 This will eliminate the primary source of high current from the switch ...
 and might even get you better voltage at the headlamps, with the associated
 brighter light.  By doing this you may be able to reduce the amount of power
 required to pass through the switch to the point where you won't need to
 replace the switch/connector.  
 
 One other thing that adds to the warmth of the switch is the fact that some
 headlight switches have a small bulb which illuminates the headlight switch
 whenever the ignition switch is on.  
 
 You also report that some of your light bulbs are cooked ... this may be a
 sign of a bad connection and/or water in the light.  Pull out the tail lamp
 units and make sure that all of the connections to the bulbs and to the
 wiring loom are in good shape.  There are issues with the grounding at the
 point where the loom attaches to the taillamp units which have been
 discussed in the past ... hopefully an archive search will get them for you.
 
  >>
What Steven says is true, but skirts over "its all happening at once" piece 
of data. Check the voltage with engine reved!!
Frank Santoro