Flickering headlight issue

[GriffinH]

About 2 months ago I was driving home and my headlights were flickering, I got home, turned the switch off and I could smell burning wires and see smoke. I replaced the switch and the headlights worked fine. About a month later they began flickering one day with just the brights on. They next night they were flickering with just headlights and I could turn them off and on and they would last a little longer. The third night they stayed flickering and I couldn’t keep them on. Both headlights flicker together at the same time. Does anyone know what my issue is?
Thank you!

 

[thinger2]

About 2 months ago I was driving home and my headlights were flickering, I got home, turned the switch off and I could smell burning wires and see smoke. I replaced the switch and the headlights worked fine. About a month later they began flickering one day with just the brights on. They next night they were flickering with just headlights and I could turn them off and on and they would last a little longer. The third night they stayed flickering and I couldn’t keep them on. Both headlights flicker together at the same time. Does anyone know what my issue is?
Thank you!

Always start with what year and which truck.
Make, model year, engine etc..
We need to know what you have before we can try to help

 

[AK49BWL]

Why? The headlights systems are pretty much the same for the entire GMT400 run.

Given the avatar I'm gonna go with 90-92 model. Simplest headlight system ever - flickering is often symptoms of either bad grounding or an intermittent short. Given the smoke, and knowing that the wiring is run along the bottom rail of the core support, I can say with some confidence that the wiring there may have lost some insulation and it's shorting out, either on itself or on the metal body. The headlight switch has a built-in auto-resetting circuit breaker, and before that, a fusible link at the power distribution center on the passenger side firewall under the hood, that's all you get for protection (which if you ask me isn't nearly enough). From the switch, power goes to the dimmer switch mounted to the steering column on the left (driver) side, then out to the headlights directly. On these trucks, it's actually pretty easy to check every inch of the headlight wiring for issues, be it cracks in insulation or whatnot.
Is ANYTHING else going strange during the flickering? Jumpy voltage gauge type things? Rest of the dash lights flickering too?

 

[JDGMC]

About 2 months ago I was driving home and my headlights were flickering, I got home, turned the switch off and I could smell burning wires and see smoke. I replaced the switch and the headlights worked fine. About a month later they began flickering one day with just the brights on. They next night they were flickering with just headlights and I could turn them off and on and they would last a little longer. The third night they stayed flickering and I couldn’t keep them on. Both headlights flicker together at the same time. Does anyone know what my issue is?
Thank you!

Do you have stock bulbs or LED? If stock then likely ^^^^^^^^

 

[GriffinH]

Always start with what year and which truck.
Make, model year, engine etc..
We need to know what you have before we can try to help

1990 Chevy Silverado 1500 5.7L, sorry

 

[GriffinH]

Why? The headlights systems are pretty much the same for the entire GMT400 run.

Given the avatar I'm gonna go with 90-92 model. Simplest headlight system ever - flickering is often symptoms of either bad grounding or an intermittent short. Given the smoke, and knowing that the wiring is run along the bottom rail of the core support, I can say with some confidence that the wiring there may have lost some insulation and it's shorting out, either on itself or on the metal body. The headlight switch has a built-in auto-resetting circuit breaker, and before that, a fusible link at the power distribution center on the passenger side firewall under the hood, that's all you get for protection (which if you ask me isn't nearly enough). From the switch, power goes to the dimmer switch mounted to the steering column on the left (driver) side, then out to the headlights directly. On these trucks, it's actually pretty easy to check every inch of the headlight wiring for issues, be it cracks in insulation or whatnot.
Is ANYTHING else going strange during the flickering? Jumpy voltage gauge type things? Rest of the dash lights flickering too?

Thank you for the help! Nothing else on the dash is flickering, the voltage gauge does not change with the flickering of the lights either. It’s just the headlights that do it when I have the parking lights on only, they are normal

 

[TechNova]

Why? The headlights systems are pretty much the same for the entire GMT400 run.

because the earler models have issues with the headlight switch that does not apply to 95 up.
Switch mounts that break allowing switch to move around and corrosion/loosness at the connector
cause the light to "flicker", especially over bumps. Any connector can go bad but I have not seen an issue with 95 up and lots woth 94 down.