Winking headlights have a mind of their own, and it's driving me crazy.

[Shervin]

The headlights on my '86 Accord LX are going up, down, up, down, up, down, down, up, independently and without any rhyme or reason. They do it when I turn on the headlights, when I turn off the headlights, when I prop the headlights up, when I turn on the vents, when I do nothing at all, etc. The left one goes up and down rapidly while the right one stays up. Sometimes the right one pops up and down even if the left one stays down.

I ordered a used headlight retractor unit from eBay, and hoping that could fix it. Does anyone else have any experience with this? How can I diagnose the issue?

[Oldblueaccord]

The headlights on my '86 Accord LX are going up, down, up, down, up, down, down, up, independently and without any rhyme or reason. They do it when I turn on the headlights, when I turn off the headlights, when I prop the headlights up, when I turn on the vents, when I do nothing at all, etc. The left one goes up and down rapidly while the right one stays up. Sometimes the right one pops up and down even if the left one stays down.

I ordered a used headlight retractor unit from eBay, and hoping that could fix it. Does anyone else have any experience with this? How can I diagnose the issue?

See if you can force them open with the manual switch on the dash. Sounds like a possible wiring problem but changing that relay box cant really hurt. The spot its bolted too has a tendency to be were the car leaks water.

[Shervin]

The button on the dash (to the right of the steering wheel) doesn't help anymore. It's just a giant circus all the time. And it comes and goes, too. Sometimes the headlights stay off, sometimes they start dancing again all on their own.

The other day, I happened to be driving by an elementary school around 3pm when all the kids were getting out. The amount of kids nudging their friends and pointing to the car laughing was so entertaining. It actually felt kind of nice to be driving a car younger generations actually notice! I've been such a car fanatic all my life, but I hardly ever see that same enthusiasm in kids today (though I don't personally interact with too many of them). My 1970 Volkswagen Beetle never even got this much attention.

That being said, I still would like the headlights fixed. It makes the car pretty undriveable.