Expert: Skip Bollinger - 3/12/2008

Question
As I'm driving to work today, doing around 65-70, radio on, heater turned on low and my son's DVD player plugged in the cigarette lighter, the front lights just went out. Why is this happening? It has happened before and nothing I can do will make them turn back on, they just come back on after 15-30 seconds. My dashboard lights used to flicker about a year ago, but this has not happened for about a year. Please help!

Answer
Monica,
  I am NOT qualified to answer this question but will offer these thoughts for you. I'm a Parts Professional, NOT a tech. Okay. If you don't like my answer, just don't leave any feedback. I could have clicked on the "I'm not qualified to answer this question" button but I wanted to give you an opinion.
  I'm not that familiar with an 05 Stratus but let me ask you this, is the switch that controls the headlights the same switch that controls the dash lights? IF it is, it is probably just a loose connection at the plug. If it isn't, I'd check both plugs.
  It may look like they are 2 separate switches on the dash because of the bezel. Someone may need to crawl under the dash to look at the switch. (or switches). Usually when a switch goes out, it is out and will not recover but your problem seems to come and go. This leads me to believe it just a loose connection. I hope this helps a bit and good luck.
Skip
P.S. It just occurred to me that this problem is happening during darkness as opposed to daytime running lights. There could be a problem with the nighttime sensor also. I'd check the plugs first since they come back on.
S.