[Dangerous Doug]

Relays can act intermittently. My headlight dimmer relay, a Mehle (sp?), was intermittent. This was a known problem that ERA had identified, so solving it was relatively easy. It was a relay used in Volkswagens, so I went to airheads.com and found what they use for a replacement for the Mehle part. Worked great ever since I replaced it.

I ended up taking apart the original Mehle relay, and I could see why it failed: the mechanism relied upon a small blade bending back and forth to flip a mechanical switch. the blade did not bend reliably.

Diagnosing it was easy, as all I had to do was repeatedly hit the dimmer switch and watch the headlights (normal, bright, then off...OFF?!!!), listening to the solenoid click back and forth.

Finding the correct replacement was an entirely different problem.

Good luck.

DD