Pushead

Ok, this might be an odd one. I'm not even exactly sure where to start describing it, so my apologies if this is in the wrong spot, or something that's been discussed elsewhere. I had this posted in the External Engine accessories forum, but someone suggested I move it here instead.

I have a 98 Formula Firebird. I was driving home last Sunday night, when all of a sudden my dash lights flashed and my headlights shut off and closed. I pulled over, tried swapping a few fuses around, but couldn't get the lights to come back on. I drove the last 5 minutes home with my fog lamps and hazards on, and noticed that my tach was blipping/spiking every 20 seconds or so.

This weekend, I read up on some of the headlight motor issues people have had. I manually brought up the headlights to check the connection on the motors and tried cleaning off the connectors. I also checked and cleaned all of the fuses and connectors (there are about 8 different fuses that the manual says deals with headlights.)

I took the car out (during the day) and the lights would pop up and turn on when I turned the light dial. But every time I did so, I smelled ozone (that burnt electronic smell.) And as I turned it to full-on, the tach would spike again.

I'm sort of lost as to where to start looking into an issue, though as I type this, I realized I replaced my head unit last spring. I haven't noticed any issue with the headlights until just recently. I did turn the head unit off, on the night the problem occurred. The lights still did not respond. I haven't had the time to pull the head unit yet. Luckily, it's not my daily driver.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Pushead

For those following along, one of the power lines running to the headlight module was grounding out to the frame. The headlight module is mounted behind the head unit.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Just for clarification... that module behind the head unit is the DRL module. Mostly it controls the switching between daytime running lights and turn signals but it also controls the automatic headlights on Canadian models and US Camaros (US Firebirds aren't equipped with automatic headlights). That means that there are headlamp power inputs and outputs at the DRL module even in US Firebirds. You were lucky that the short didn't do more damage - unlike most cars, f-bodies don't have a circuit breaker that auto-resets for headlights. The headlight circuit is protected by a fusible link that can be difficult to replace.